Transport and logistics giant UPS Inc. has teamed with Resilinc, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-based supply chain mapping and disruption monitoring services, to create a hospital-to-hospital exchange that serves thousands of healthcare organizations and could ease shortages of medical products and supplies during the coronavirus crisis.
Known as "The Exchange at Resilinc," the cloud-based platform will launch in mid-April and be offered at no cost for hospitals and healthcare organizations. The system will allow hospitals to interact with vetted peer organizations to locate and then borrow or exchange items listed on the platform. UPS Healthcare, a provider of commercial and clinical logistics solutions, will contribute by locating and delivering critical medical items and equipment.
UPS enables hospitals using Resilinc's exchange platform to leverage their existing logistics and transportation infrastructure and commercial agreements to trade and ship items conveniently. UPS also recently joined efforts with the White House Coronavirus Taskforce, state health agencies, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide supply chain services for the agency's distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and necessary materials throughout the U.S., including respirators, N95 masks, and gloves for healthcare workers across the country.
And in other examples of the logistics industry dedicating its assets to the coronavirus fight:
- iTradeNetwork, a provider of supply chain software for the food and beverage industry, has launched a platform to respond to the critical need to connect global food supply with demand by addressing the food supply chain trading gap created by the Covid-19 crisis. Launched April 7 and offered for free to any company in the food and beverage supply chain, the "iTradeMarketplace" is a service for buyers, suppliers, packaging companies, and industry associations to gain visibility into where food supplies exist and where demand gaps lie. The platform facilitates new trading partnerships, since the coronavirus pandemic has rendered many traditional trading relationships temporarily obsolete, impacted the global food supply chain, the company said.
- Autonomous material handling technology vendor Vecna Robotics is working with a team of companies to develop and bring to market an automated manual resuscitator for use in emergency overflow during the Covid-19 crisis. Vecna Robotics, along with its sibling divisions Vecna Healthcare and the nonprofit arm VecnaCares, have teamed with the Toyota Research Institute and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Together, the group will produce a device called "Ventiv," an automated manual resuscitator compressor, and provide it to hospitals for a sliding scale price of $0-to-$250. The unit is meant to ease the shortage of traditional ventilators being caused by the high number of patients currently being treated for impaired lung function brought on by Covid-19.
- Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corp. has developed a platform for its North America Managed Logistics Services (MLS) customers to bring them real-time freight visibility as shipments move through and around areas affected by Covid-19. The technology gives customers a risk assessment tool for freight impacted by embargoed transportation hotspots, and measures the impact it will have on their supply chains. Odyssey customers get immediate access to visual dashboards highlighting freight movement and destination drop-offs, so they can optimize their operations and minimize delivery disruptions.
- Shipt, the delivery service owned by Target Corp., is supplying its contract shoppers—who fulfill online grocery orders for e-commerce customers—with gloves and masks to wear through pickup at their local Target stores during the coronavirus pandemic. Although those items are in high demand, the firm is expediting the supply of individual safety kits to equip its most active shoppers and those in high-risk areas, Shipt CEO Kelly Caruso said in a blog post.
