Collaborative Research: Engineering Efficient and Equitable Food Distribution Under Uncertainty

合作研究：在不确定性下设计高效、公平的粮食分配

• 批准号: 1000828
• 负责人: Julie Ivy
• 金额: $ 19.75万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-05-01 至 2014-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1000828&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Engineering; Efficient; Equitable

This grant provides funding for the development of decision models to support the efficient and equitable management and distribution of supply in the resource constrained environment of food distribution. While most Humanitarian Supply Chain (HSC) related research has focused on the distribution and stocking of relief supplies or location of supply centers, in sharp contrast, issues surrounding donations management (i.e., the solicitation, coordination, distribution and management of donated goods, money and services that form inputs into the HSC) and its impact on the downstream relief recipient have been unexplored, particularly for food distribution. This research focuses on the development of predictive models to (1) characterize donor behavior, (2) quantify supply availability and (3) determine the equitable allocation of constrained supply. The models will account for the complexities associated with donations management such as uncertainty in both supply and demand, with demand often exceeding supply; the criticality of delivering goods to relief recipients at the right time; the appearance of sudden demand surges due to natural and manmade disasters; and perishability of donated items.This research offers substantial benefits to society in terms of improved supply allocation and donations management for non-profit relief agencies. The ability to characterize donor behavior and incorporate the objective of equitably distributing supply enables relief agencies to make informed inventory and supply allocation decisions and strategically target donation solicitations. It also has the potential to enable humanitarian relief organizations to satisfy greater demand by more efficiently allocating available resources, thus impacting human life. The research addresses the critical intersection of humanitarian relief and engineering by linking donations management and food distribution to supply chain management (inventory policy) and forges a relationship necessary to address the significant issues in humanitarian relief in terms of equitable satisfaction of need, cost and human outcomes faced worldwide today.

这笔赠款为决策模型的开发提供资金，以支持在资源有限的粮食分配环境中有效、公平地管理和分配供应。 虽然大多数人道主义供应链 (HSC) 相关研究都集中在救援物资的分配和储存或供应中心的位置上，但与此形成鲜明对比的是，围绕捐赠管理的问题（即捐赠物品、资金的征集、协调、分配和管理）以及构成 HSC 投入的服务）及其对下游救济接受者的影响尚未得到探讨，特别是对于食品分配。本研究的重点是预测模型的开发，以（1）表征捐助者行为，（2）量化供应可用性，以及（3）确定有限供应的公平分配。 这些模型将考虑与捐赠管理相关的复杂性，例如供应和需求的不确定性，需求往往超过供应；在正确的时间向救援对象运送货物的重要性；由于自然灾害和人为灾害而出现需求突然激增的情况；这项研究在改善非营利救援机构的供应分配和捐赠管理方面为社会带来了巨大的好处。描述捐助者行为并纳入公平分配供应的目标的能力使救援机构能够做出明智的库存和供应分配决策，并战略性地瞄准捐款募集。它还有可能使人道主义救援组织能够通过更有效地分配可用资源来满足更大的需求，从而影响人类的生活。该研究通过将捐赠管理和食品分配与供应链管理（库存政策）联系起来，解决了人道主义救济和工程的关键交叉点，并建立了必要的关系，以解决人道主义救济中在公平满足需求、成本和人力方面的重大问题。当今世界面临的结果。