{"209341":{"#nid":"209341","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Costa Rica TIP Center Moves Forward with Major Projects","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESweeping revisions to Costa Rica\u0027s medical-products registration process are receiving one last in-house review before the final recommendations are delivered to officials at the Ministry of Health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project, initiated at the request of Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, is one of three major initiatives on the docket at Georgia Tech\u0027s Costa Rica Trade, Innovation, and Productivity Center (TIP). The other projects involve development of a food traceability system and a proposal to create a methodology for prioritizing future infrastructure projects in terms of their value to the country\u0027s trade chain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Costa Rica as in most countries, certain medical products \u2014 primarily pharmaceuticals, either produced in-country or imported \u2014 must undergo a registration process before they can be sold there. The problem is that the procedure takes 12 months, strong evidence that it\u0027s riddled with inefficiencies. The cumbersome registration process not only results in higher costs, but the long delay prevents patients from receiving the most up-to-date treatments in a timely manner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIndustrial engineers at the TIP Center modeled the registration procedure in detail. \u0022We determined there was a lot of duplication and unnecessary steps in the process,\u0022 said Emmanuel Hess, general manager at the center.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing software developed by Amar Ramudhin, director of Supply Chain Management \u0026amp; Technology at Georgia Tech\u0027s Supply Chain \u0026amp; Logistics Institute (SCL), the routine was re-engineered and a series of recommendations for its implementation was drawn up. When fully operational, the newly streamlined process will \u0022lead to savings in time and cost not only for the Ministry of Health, but also for the private producers and private distributors that are registering medicines here in Costa Rica,\u0022 Hess explained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe effort will open the door for additional TIP Center projects with other government agencies, said Jaymie Forrest, managing director of SCL.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022President Chinchilla has a Competitiveness Council that\u0027s using this project as a base study to show how other internal processes need to be improved, and how they can be more efficient in other matters,\u0022 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFood Traceability\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA product tracing requirement that documents Costa Rican agricultural exports each step of the way, from local farm to retailer in the U.S., will help ensure a safe and wholesome food supply, and could serve as a model for other Latin American countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStarted four years ago, the TIP Center\u0027s food traceability project presaged the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, a U.S. law passed in the wake of several high-profile cases of food contamination. The law mandates a number of health and safety measures for food imports, including a product tracing system requirement. The Act gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to unilaterally block any import or importer of fruits and vegetables even if there is only the suspicion of contaminated product in the food chain. Before, a problem had to be specifically identified \u2014 a painstaking process that could take months.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegulations detailing the law\u0027s requirements and implementation are still unfolding, with the FDA requesting industry feedback on the latest set of food safety standards it issued in January 2013.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Currently we are working with local authorities in giving back comments and making remarks with regard to these rules,\u0022 said Hess. \u0022We\u0027re also trying to create a sense of urgency among small- and medium-size producers around the country as to the need to adapt and abide by the law\u0027s provisions.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETightening import rules will have a significant impact on countries that rely heavily on agricultural exports, by spurring them to deploy a formalized, country-level structure so their governments can ensure that their products are traceable to point of origin, as required by the Food Modernization Act, and all the necessary documentation is readily available if something goes wrong.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Being able to know exactly where contaminated products came from is important to a developing country because it would be devastating to their economy if all of their U.S. exports of a particular product were shut off,\u0022 Forrest said, noting that more than 60 percent of the produce Americans consume is imported. \u0022The only way you can trace an international food chain in two days is if you have a well-defined, automated system where participants are talking to each other. It really has to be an integrated supply chain.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe added, \u0022We\u0027ve probably done more in this area than anybody else right now. We want Costa Rica to be the first country in the world to be able to say that their exports are traceable with a country-level strategy.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOptimizing Infrastructure Planning\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Costa Rica TIP Center has completed the necessary groundwork to conduct a structured value-chain analysis that will inform the country\u0027s decision making regarding current and future infrastructure investments. The next step is to secure funding to implement the proposal, but to date, an appropriation has not been forthcoming. Hess, however, remains optimistic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027re hopeful to get funding through the Costa Rican government and the Interamerican Development Bank in the next few months,\u0022 he said. \u0022We feel this is going to happen, but we\u0027re not sure if this is going to be done under this administration, which has about a year left in its term.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe proposal, developed at the request of Vice President Luis Lieberman, calls for Georgia Tech engineers to examine selected infrastructure projects already built, under construction or on the drawing board, in terms of their overall value to the national trade chain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022After analyzing the cost-benefit opportunities of these particular investments, we\u0027ll create a methodology of how to make better decisions in the future,\u0022 said Forrest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWorldwide Outreach\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Costa Rica TIP Center is one of six international logistics research centers operated under the auspices of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECenters are located in Atlanta, Singapore, Shanghai, Panama, and Mexico. Their common purpose is to develop insights, strategies, and methodologies to improve the productivity of existing trade chains while promoting innovation for identifying and enabling new trade-chain opportunities. In addition, the centers support a range of educational activities related to trade-chain infrastructure, innovation, and productivity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWritten by: Gary Goettling\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESweeping revisions to Costa Rica\u0027s medical-products registration process are receiving one last in-house review before the final recommendations are delivered to officials at the Ministry of Health. The project, initiated at the request of Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, is one of three major initiatives on the docket at Georgia Tech\u0027s Costa Rica Trade, Innovation, and Productivity Center.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Costa Rica TIP Center is one of six international logistics research centers operated under the auspices of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026 Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta."}],"uid":"27511","created_gmt":"2013-04-25 15:25:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:55","author":"Ashley Daniel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"209371":{"id":"209371","type":"image","title":"Emmanuel Hess, general manager Georgia Tech\u0027s Costa Rica Trade, Innovation, and Productivity Center","body":null,"created":"1449180001","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:00:01","changed":"1475894869","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:49","alt":"Emmanuel Hess, general manager Georgia Tech\u0027s Costa Rica Trade, Innovation, and Productivity Center","file":{"fid":"197037","name":"ehess_color.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ehess_color.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ehess_color.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":27551,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ehess_color.jpg?itok=FUYxUeb_"}}},"media_ids":["209371"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"}],"keywords":[{"id":"64961","name":"and Productivity Center"},{"id":"234","name":"Costa Rica"},{"id":"64951","name":"Costa Rica Trade"},{"id":"54571","name":"Emmanuel Hess"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"341","name":"innovation"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"12167","name":"Jaymie Forrest"},{"id":"64941","name":"Laura Chinchilla"},{"id":"167077","name":"scl"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}