The Institute for Defense and Business and Lockheed Martin Collaborate for a Disaster Response Integrative Logistics Exercise
SUFFOLK, Va., Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Defense and Business (IDB) and Lockheed Martin held a Disaster Response Integrative Logistics Exercise (DRIL) on Nov. 5-9, 2012, at Lockheed Martin's Center for Innovation facility in Suffolk, Va.
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The organizers brought together a consortium of disaster relief-focused organizations from the private sector, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and the military to design, develop and deliver a joint humanitarian relief exercise in logistics.
"This multi-day, scenario-based, disaster logistics exercise immersed participants in the complexities of post-disaster logistics challenges in Lockheed Martin's high-tech Center for Innovation. The combination of design and location provided a powerful learning experience," said Ambassador (Ret.) David C. Litt, the Executive Director for the Center for Stabilization and Economic Reconstruction (CSER) of the IDB. "Given the nature, frequency, location and severity of disasters, and exemplified by the concurrent response to Hurricane Sandy, inter-organizational collaboration in logistics is becoming increasingly critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response."
"Today's crisis response efforts generally struggle with effective logistics collaboration among the multiple public and private stakeholders engaged," said Lou Kratz, Lockheed Martin vice president & managing director, Logistics and Sustainment. "With our 21st Century logistics capabilities and global resources available from the public sector and private organizations, together we can develop solutions that will help our communities and businesses recover more quickly and effectively after a crisis."
One of the unique features of the DRIL exercise, as compared to similar humanitarian relief exercises organized by the U.S. military or even FEMA, is that DRIL focused heavily on the private and voluntary sectors' logistical problems and challenges in disaster response, and what ways all responders can help to mitigate or resolve them. Though designed months earlier, the scenario was similar to Hurricane Sandy's near simultaneous path of destruction. It involved both domestic and international scenarios in the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean basin. The exercise focused on the planning, logistics, transportation, distribution, and other supply chain challenges to effective disaster response. During the exercise, participants discovered innovative ways to improve logistics integration and intergovernmental, interagency, and international collaboration.
Exercises like the DRIL provide opportunities to explore potential solutions to challenges and share successful practices among the diverse organizations. This exercise also provided unique opportunities for participants to learn from each other and share their collective wisdom while forming new relationships to foster future collaborations.
The exercise outcomes included:
- New ways of improving communication and cooperation among responding organizations
- Identifying supporting tools and technologies to enhance collaboration
- Guiding policy changes needed to improve disaster response
- Preparing the participating organizations for their next response to disaster
The IDB is a non-profit research and education institute formed in 1997 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina. The institute provides custom executive education programs in the areas of logistics and technology, life cycle systems, leadership and organizational transformation, strategic studies, and stabilization and economic reconstruction.
Media Contact: Maya Zumwalt, Director of Communications, Institute for Defense & Business
(919) 969-8008
SOURCE Institute for Defense and Business
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