The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) announced the publication of a new Technology Brief focused on automating the production and distribution of critical supplies in the event of future pandemics.
This new strategy for automated inventory management will help companies ensure that essential parts, medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other vital products are available where needed. The forecasting model offers the opportunity for government leaders to make informed decisions to ensure that hospitals and other critical infrastructure remains operational, to sustain the unimpeded flow of food, water, medical supplies and to safeguard basic quality of life products and services.
As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains across sectors including manufacturing, NCMS launched an initiative to facilitate the production and distribution of critical supplies in the event of future pandemics. The collaboration brought together two industry partners, Presage Technologies and SIMBA Chain, along with supply chain and logistics leaders from the DOD.
The team made two breakthroughs. First, they created a deep learning model that accurately predicts outbreaks of COVID-19 and can be used to forecast other infectious diseases. Second, they successfully used this model to automate supply and demand logistics decisions, enabling just-in-time inventory management of critical products and equipment.
