Emergency Logistics Management of Public Sector Organizations Treating
Incident
Shao-juan Feng1, Meng Wang2, Hai-chuan Feng3, An-qi Shen4, Min-yi Yang5
1,2,3
Public Acquisition Department of Wuhan Economics Institute, Hubei, China
Information System of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
5
Advanced Information System of Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
(shaojuan@hotmail.com, menzide@eyou.com, 1123321727@qq.com,
165586886@qq.com, 799045676@qq.com)
4
Abstract – This paper aims to analyze the characteristics
and metrics of emergency logistics to public sector
organizations, in order to manage emergency logistics more
efficiently and effectively. Based on analyzing the
characteristics of emergency logistics management for
incidents and reviewing past practices, it applies integrated
supply chain management theories to the performance
assessment, and sets up a three tiers’ index system with 39
indicators, involving reliability, agility, flexibility, and costeffectiveness in the first tier as goals, to assess the all-round
performance of emergency logistics management. Then it
combines hierarchy analysis process (HAP) and fuzzy
comprehensive evaluation into the performance metrics.
Also, it explains the results of the reliability evaluation of
emergency logistics supply chain management, taking the
Wenchuan earthquake incident as an example. By this
performance assessment index system, some specific
problems in emergency logistics management, such as
operation coordination, supply chain links, and information
communication, could be found and measured.
capacity. Hereinto emergency logistics is vital to support
people lives as soon as the possible in the golden rescue
time. Although literatures have studied many emergency
logistics management issues, such as manpower
mobilization,
operation
procedure,
contingency
coordination, command chain, there is little information
available in literatures about performance assessment for
the multi-components[4]. As facts, practical problems,
including delayed decisions, separated resources, choked
transportation, occur not uncommon. Here, we present
integrated supply chain management into emergency
logistics. The purposes of this paper are analyzing the
characteristics and putting forward to metrics of
emergency logistics supply chain management.
Keywords – Emergency Incident, Emergency Logistics,
Integrated Supply Chain Management, Performance
Metrics, Public Sector Organization, Wenchuan Earthquake
Because of the incidents taking places irregularly,
public sectors would get the response orders at any time
and should implement in the tight hours. In such a
context, it is critical factors constraining emergency
logistics that if the public functional areas could
response as soon as possible and the readiness
deployments are in the right places. The most character
of emergency logistics is the surging requirements
immediately and non-forecasting. It results in very rigid
time effectiveness for emergency logistics operations
and management, from acquiring the necessary materials
and equipments to distribution them in right time, in
right items and in right places[5]. So, the contingency
logistics procedure should be both reliable and simple.
And a quick response system and coordinating logistics
management mechanism are needed to insure a powerful
logistics support.
I. INTRODUCTION
Since 1980s, more literatures have been referred to
emergency incidents. By a summary review, they are the
kinds of incidents with abnormal, occurring abruptly and
treating immediately[1],[2]. Moreover, some incidents could
take government into crisis for the critical negative impact
on people and/or society. So, governments concentrate
efforts on emergency incidents. For examples, in China,
emergency incidents are classified into natural disaster,
accident disaster, public health incident, and society
security incident; in USA, they are biology class, disaster
nature, computer cyber, food and agriculture, nuclear
radiation, oil and hazardous materials, and terrorist
incident[3]. Although the emergency incident classes are
varying with the different countries as their challenging
with the different securities and/or threats, all of the
emergency incidents are impacting on people lives, society
stabilization, and country interests.
It is the varying non-traditional threats under highly
changing and complex environment that governments all
over the world make efforts to improve the emergency
II. CHARACTERISTICS ANALYSIS
A. Surging Requirements and Orders Immediately
B. More Cross-Functional Areas and Joint Commands
Because incidents are very different features and
affect society extensively, it should be joint
governmental, military, civil, non-profit, and volunteer
forces involved in the operations. With such crossfunctional organizations and different command chains,
a mess and poor emergency logistics operations may be
occurring. In the other words, it makes emergency
logistics command and coordination more difficultly. A
supply chain management concept could take an
important place[6].
C. Frequent Adjustment and Changing Deployment
As it can not be estimated exactly for when incident
may occur, how long it could sustainment, where it ranges
from incidences, and what intensity it could take, all of
these factors make emergency logistics resource starting
and items acquiring indefinitely. Additional, even in the
sustainment operations, the support activities are varying
with the incident dealing conditions. So, a varying
logistics would result from a frequent adjustment and
changing deployment. Moreover, a short lead time by the
contingency materials demands is coming here and there.
Then, emergency logistics management should improve
the support timeliness and supply chain flexibility.
With the worsening environment, more and more
governments have been concentrating on improving
emergency logistics management. For examples, the
American has set up a robust emergency logistics
management system to get a well joint commands and
coordination; the Japanese values on definite emergency
logistics operation stages to improve deployment[7]; the
German takes advantages of civil organization into
emergency logistics operation to adapt the changing
demands; and the Chinese pay more attention to construct
an integrated military-civilian emergency logistics system.
Taking the Wenchuan Earthquake in China on May 2008
as an example, the emergency logistics management of the
public sector organizations is performed with the
followings:
 Organizing and commanding of emergency logistic.
As hearing from the earthquake incident, the Chinese
government started the Overall Emergency Response Plan
for the National Public Emergency Incident immediately
and established the headquarters of national earthquake
rescue. Relevant functional department did the tasks of
logistics support, such as capacity support, traffic control,
reserve utilized, distribution handling and emergency
delivery.
 Procurement of emergency items. There are many
ways of emergency goods and service procurement, for
example, using of the usual reserve, compulsory
acquisition directly, the market emergency procurement,
organizing the assault development and production,
organizing the donations in society, and receiving
international assistance. Through the ways above,
government raised large quantities of materials in
earthquake rescue.
 Warehousing of emergency items. The Ministry of
Civil Affairs issues thousands of tents from central stock
points as soon as possible, the national stock management
agency mobilizes strategic stock foods, the Army supports
first-aid medicines, and local medicine agents present
epidemic prevent medicines.
 Distribution of emergency items. In two hours of the
earthquake, kinds of government sectors and the Army
forces start emergency support plan. The distribution
solutions are included in controlling the access roads entry
to Sichuan, and channeling a multimode transportation
system for emergency materials. But communication
system is not good enough that makes the emergency
demand information is delayed.
As stated above, public sector organizations are
involved in emergency logistics supply chains by their
different ways. Anyway, the emergency logistics
management of public sector organizations treating
incident, dealing with cross-functional areas, is a complex
systems engineering[8]. Meanwhile, practical problems,
including delayed decisions, separated sources, choked
transportation, occur not uncommon. So, performance
assessment of emergency logistics supply chain
management is needed to facilitate an efficient and
effective public sector organization system getting more
powerful capability for the kinds of incidents.
III. PERFORMANCE METRICS
A. Performance Idex System
Emergency logistics supply chain management is a
complex and systematic project with multi-components,
high timeliness and effective coordination. It is required
for a better reliable, flexible and agile performance.
Meanwhile, costs effectiveness should be taken into
account as well. Based on literature reviews and
questionnaire[9]-[15], we get the following performance
index system that takes care of about 39 different
indicators, as shown in Table I.
TABLE I
PERFORMANCE INDEX SYSTEM
Goals
Objectives
Reliable
Sourcing
Indicators
Reliable
Pipeline
Right
Materials
Reliability
Efficient
Command
Reliable
Organizing
Qualified
Personnel
Contents
Contingency and
sustainment procurement capability, materials
stock and mobilization capability
Right quantity,
variety, and
specification
Establishing an
integrated organization system,
good support
relationship, and
clearable
responsibility
Whether the personnel qualifies
the know-how on
contingency resource acquiring,
shipping and
receiving, and
distribution
Adequate
Facilities
Cooperating
Operation
Transport
Availability
Reliable
Transport &
Distribution
Rational
Transport
Layout
Conveyance
Arrangement
Vehicle
Routing
Robust
Emergency
Distribution
Network
Information
Acquiring
Capability
Reliable
Information
System
Information
Transmission
Capability
Information
Sharing
Capability
Information
Processing
Capability
Sense Speed
Response
Agility
Agility
Response
Speed
Support
Agility
Contingency
Procurement
Lead Time
Whether the activities, facilities,
and equipments
are satisfied by the
requirement of
task, expressed as
fill rate
Integrated
military-civil
system, joint links
Transportation
coordination
mechanism,
involving both
civil-military and
public- private
sector, including
airway, railway,
highway, and
waterway
Whether transportation network is
available to multimode transport
Efficiency of
multimode
transport, Level of
integrated
transport
Whether the
vehicle routing is
unimpeded
Throughput in
distribution
center, distribution operation
process, adequate
distribution
facility
Measuring the
quantity and
sourcing channel
of information.
Measuring the
transmission
speed of
information
Measuring the
scope and quantity
of sharing
information.
Measuring to the
speed and quantity
of information
processing
Mean time from
incident occurring
to the moment
emergency
logistics agency
recognizing the
requirement
The time from the
moment through
receiving
customers’
requirement to
developing
emergency plan.
The time from
order fulfillment
to supplier
delivered to the
assigned places
Contingency
Shipping and
Receiving
Time
Transportation
Operation
Time
Distribution
Operation
Time
Green
Channel
Mechanism
Flexible
Planning
Flexible
Process
Flexible
Acquiring
Flexible
Inventory
Flexible
Distribution
Flexible
Organizing
Structure
Flexibility
Flexible
Organizing
Flexible
Organizing
Management
Flexible
Organizational
Culture
Flexible
Human
Resource
Flexible
Supplier
Relationship
Organizing
Resource
Flexible
Facility
Flexible
Mobilization
Capacity
CostEffectiveness
Procurement
CostEffectiveness
Purchasing
Fund
Efficiency
Stock CostEffectiveness
Warehouse
Resource
Efficiency
The time cost by
loading and unloading of storage,
transiting, stowing
The total transport
time from loading
to unloading,
including transfer
time and stop-off
time
The mean time
from the
requirement
application to
receiving
materials
Simplified
procedure and
endowed the
emergency
material priority
Alternative of
emergency plans,
Adjustability of
plans
Quantity, quality
and approaches of
acquisition
The breadth and
the in-depth
storage
Capability of
changing distribution time, place
and quantity
Capacity of
organizational
modularity and
cross-function
Cooperation of
phases and
department.
Organizational
culture
compatibility
Learning
competence and
innovating
capability of
workforces
Transferring time,
cost, and scope
with supplier
relationship
Currency and
restoration level of
establishment and
facility
Mobilization capacity of material,
transport and
human resource
Purchasing
entities makes
more with less
money in the
specific time
Utilization ratio of
land, ware-house
area and capacity,
and facility
Capability of
Storage
Conveyance
Capability
Transport
CostEffectiveness
Transport Unit
Cost
Military and
Social
Effectiveness
Warehouse
stability, inventory
cost, inventory
turnover rate
Utilization ratio of
loading and
transport distance, productivity
of transport
Total transport
costs /total freight
turnover
Military and social
effectiveness
during transport
operation
WA= (0.3,0.2,0.3,0.2)
WB= (0.6,0.4)
WC= (0.3,0.2,0.3, 0.2)
WD= (0.1,0.2,0.1,0.3,0.3)
WE= (0.2,0.3,0.2,0.3)
Step 2: 10 experts are chosen to score each measure
indicator with the specific situation of emergency logistics
reliability in Wenchuan rescuing, from 9 to 1.
V = (V1,V2,V3,V4,V5）=（9,7,5,3,1）
Collecting the scores, we can get the evaluation of
weighting coefficient matrix, shown in table II.
B. Evaluation Technique
Table II
EXPERT EVALUATION
Performance assessment of emergency logistics
management for incidents is a complex problem. Also is
the evaluation index system involving tangible and
intangible factors and multi-tiers, and the uncertainties of
many critical factors. Therefore, this paper integrated
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy
Comprehensive Evaluation to consider both qualitative
and quantitative factors in evaluating the performance of
emergency logistics management.
Goals & Weights
Goals
Reliable
Sourcing
(B)
Reliable
Organizing
(C)
Wei.
0.3
0.2
C. Experimental Illustration
Step 1: Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)
and combining with the reliability of individual indicators
in the emergency logistics management evaluation index
system, the reliability hierarchical model could be
established (in Figure 1). Also the weights of each index
should be calculated.
Reliable
Information
System (E)
Reliability (A)
Reliable
Sourcing
(B)
Reliable
Organizing
(C)
Reliable
Transport
&
Distribution
(D)
Reliable
Transport &
Distribution (D)
Reliable
Information
System (E)
Information Processing Capability (E4)
Information Sharing Capability (E3)
Information Transmission Capab. (E2)
Information Acquiring Capability (E1)
Contingency Distribution Network (D5)
Vehicle Routing (D4)
Conveyance Arrangement (D3)
Rational Transport Layout (D2)
Transport Availability (D1)
Cooperating Operation (C4)
Right Facility (C3)
Qualified Personnel (C2)
Efficient Command (C1)
Right Materials (B2)
Reliable Pipeline (B1)
Fig. 1. Structure Model of Reliability of Evaluation Level
0.3
0.2
Objectives
& Weights
Obj. Wei.
Scores Distribution
9
7
5
3
1
B1
0.6
3
3
2
2
0
B2
0.4
5
3
1
1
0
C1
0.3
4
4
1
1
0
C2
0.2
5
2
1
1
1
C3
0.3
3
3
2
2
1
C4
0.2
3
4
2
1
0
D1
0.1
4
3
2
0
1
D2
0.2
4
3
3
0
0
D3
0.1
5
4
1
0
0
D4
0.3
0
0
2
4
4
D5
0.3
3
5
1
1
0
E1
0.2
3
4
2
1
0
E2
0.3
4
4
2
0
0
E3
0.2
3
3
4
0
0
E4
0.3
2
5
2
0
1
Step 3: Calculating the fuzzy evaluation in the
minimum layer.
To the reliability B of source of materials, the weight
of the fuzzy subset and the fuzzy evaluation matrix are
shown as follow:
WB=(0.6,0.4); RB= 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0
0.5 0.3 0.1 0.1 0


And the corresponding
evaluation set is：
fuzzy
comprehensive
UB=WB*RB= (0.38,0.3,0.16,0.16,0)
In the same way, the corresponding fuzzy
comprehensive evaluation sets for the reliability of
organizational strength, transport distribution
information system are exhibited respectively:
and
UC=WC*RC=(0.37,0.33,0.15,0.13,0.05)
UD=WD*RD=(0.26,0.28,0.18,0.15,0.13)
UE=WE*RE=(0.3,0.41,0.24,0.02,0.03)
Step 4: Calculating the value of the target layer.
To the reliability (A) in the target layer, the weight is:
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
WA= (0.3,0.2,0.3,0.2)
So, the reliability of the fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation set in the target layer is:
 0.38 0.3 0.16

 0.37 0.33 0.15
U  WA * R  (0.3,0.2,0.3,0.2)
0.26 0.28 0.18

 0.3 0.41 0.24

0.16
0 

0.13 0.05 
0.15 0.13 

0.02 0.03 
 (0.326,0.322,0.18,0.123,0.055)
The comprehensive evaluation value of the
evaluation target is: G=U*VT=6.512
Through the methods stated above, we can find out
the evaluation of disposing the other aspects in incident of
emergency logistics management performance index and
find out the overall performance level of emergency
logistics management in the practical work.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
IV. COUNCLUSION
The result shows that 32.6% of the experts argue that
the performance of emergency logistics management
treating the incident is Very Successful, 32.2% is
Successful, 18% is Fairly Successful, 12.3% is Marginally
Successful, and 5.5% is Not Successful. In addition,
reliability of sourcing, organizing strength, and
information system have a better mean score, as about
70% of the experts approves that they are very successful
or successful. While reliability of transport distribution
should be strengthen because nearly 30% thinks it
marginally successful or not successful. The results are
able to assist decision-makers to examine the strengths
and weaknesses to further promote the ability to treat
incident.
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