Design redundancy in agile and resilient humanitarian supply chains

This paper proposes a design redundancy framework for countering the risks inherent in humanitarian supply chains (SCs), particularly those operating in conflict zones. This framework deals with humanitarian SC design and risk management, drawing from literature on agility and resilience. The humanitarian SC operation directed by the logistics cluster in Yemen is analyzed using system dynamics simulation and network optimization. Real data is used as input to the models to create and five alternative SC designs which can be implemented depending on the current risks to the humanitarian SC. This constitutes the new concept of design redundancy, whereby humanitarian SC managers can analyse multiple alternative SC designs for humanitarian operations. Each design is fitted to a potential risk scenario which is likely to occur during that crisis. The approach developed empowers the decision-makers to ensure the continued flow of aid to beneficiaries despite disruption providing decision-making support for humanitarian SC managers and communication with donors.