Post-earthquake Supply Chains

Empty shelves are not a welcome sight when we visit the supermarket to buy food.  Thankfully, that’s a rare experience in Aotearoa New Zealand. But recent pandemic- and cyclone-induced occurrences of empty shelves have exposed some of the complexities and vulnerabilities of our supply chain.

Early career researcher Cécile L’Hermitte of the University of Waikato is certain that by identifying constraints prior to disruption, you can more easily implement practical solutions to keep goods on the move. She is undertaking a QuakeCoRE project called, “Managing freight bottlenecks and transport capacity shortages in the wake of a major earthquake.”

Complex freight systems and disruptions are often studied with mathematical models. Taking a different approach, Cécile, and master’s student Yuping Qin, are adapting a management tool for application to post-earthquake transport operations. The Theory of Constraints provides a framework for visualising complex systems and their problems instead of using algorithms. Cécile believes, “If you can clearly see problems then you can start to solve them.”