Better management of blood supply-chain with GIS-based analytics

Dursun Delen, Madhav Erraguntla, Richard J. Mayer, Chang Nien Wu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents a novel application of operations research, data mining and geographic information-systems-based analytics to support decision making in blood supply chain management. This, blood reserve availability assessment, tracking, and management system (BRAMS), research project has been funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. (This DoD funded SBIR project is performed by the researchers at Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. (KBSI).) The rapidly increasing demand, criticality of the product, strict storage and handling requirements, and the vastness of the theater of operations, make blood supply-chain management a complex, yet vital problem for the department of defense. In order to address this problem a variety of contemporary analytic techniques are used to analyze inventory and consumption patterns, evaluate supply chain status, monitor performance metrics at different levels of granularity, and detect potential problems and opportunities for improvement. The current implementation of the system is being actively used by 130 mangers at different levels in the supply chain including facilities at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea and Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)181-193
Number of pages13
JournalAnnals of Operations Research
Volume185
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Analysis at multiple levels of abstraction
  • Blood inventory management
  • Data mining
  • Data validation
  • Geographic Information System (GIS)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Better management of blood supply-chain with GIS-based analytics'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this