Students Learn First-Hand about the Impact of Logistics and Supply Chain

September 14, 20181 minute read

Almost 100 new students to the University of San Diego campus began the school year by participating in a disaster simulation exercise designed to show how supply chain decisions affect people’s lives – especially during a disaster. Mary Long, director of USD’s Supply Chain Management Institute (SCMI) and an AWESOME Advisor, included the exercise in orientation activities as an engaging way to introduce more students to the impact of the supply chain field.

Using a “game” developed for the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), Mary (an ALAN advisor) and its Executive Director Kathy Fulton helped the students play the roles of manufacturers, government agencies, and food banks to distribute food, water, and medicine following a simulated disaster. Working in collaboration with others and using their phones to make transactions, they were challenged with moving supplies quickly, fairly, and cost-effectively.

Mary Long joined USD as Director of SCMI in 2017. She also organizes the annual SCMI Forum attended by supply chain professionals. This year’s forum on October 22-23 will focus on the topic of “Risk, Borders and Supply Chain.”