Schulich Researches PPE Supply Disruption Risks
The City of Toronto has established a new research partnership model with Toronto’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), including the Schulich School of Business.
“The COVID-19 virus has heightened the City’s need for research and innovation so that we can truly understand the impacts this pandemic has had on our city and its residents. I am pleased that the City has established a partnership model with Toronto’s Higher Education Institutions to collaborate on its research priorities,” said Mayor John Tory.
Schulich partnered to complete the research project: “Supply disruption risk for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) procurement” to enhance the City’s decision-making processes regarding PPE purchasing, consumption, and conservation, and to improve future decision-making with insights into best practices for forecasting, purchasing and internal demand management.
Working in partnership with Ryerson University, Professor David Johnston and Professor Johnny Rungtusanatham, as well as four Schulich Master of Supply Chain Management alumni (Xiaoyu Wang, Wen-Yen Wang, Shuxin Yu and Joel Persaud) analyzed data about PPE inventory and usage during the first 6 months of the pandemic. The project culminated in a report that offered insightful recommendations and enhancements to existing policies and procedures to more effectively protect the approximately 35,000 City employees and the nearly 3 million residents they serve.
“We welcomed the opportunity given our in-house expertise on strategic sourcing, inventory management, supply disruptions and health and safety issues,” said Professor Rungtusanatham. He is the Government of Canada funded Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management.
“Our recommendations should help the city be more resilient in maintaining services in the face of future supply disruptions,” said Professor Johnston. He is the Centre Director for the George Weston Ltd Centre for Sustainable Supply Chains. “This will be a long challenge for sustaining supply chains whether firms or public organizations.”
More information is available at toronto.ca/post-secondary-partnerships.