When a big storm or tornado devastates a community, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) usually steps in to help state and local officials. But in recent years, FEMA has been getting some help of its own from an unexpected source – one you see on almost every highway throughout the Southeast: Waffle House.

The 24-hour restaurant chain prides itself on serving its customers at all hours of the day, seven days a week. And FEMA caught on to this. They discovered that if a Waffle House was closed after a storm, then that meant things were really bad.

“It just doesn’t happen where Waffle House is normally shut down,” said Philip Strouse, FEMA’s private sector liaison for the Southeast.

Strouse said Waffle Houses are able to bounce back relatively quickly after a natural disaster, and have a good sense of what their statuses are in a community.

“They’re sort of the canary in the coal mine if you will,” he said.

In 2011, the current head of FEMA, administrator Craig Fugate, was said to have coined what’s called the Waffle House Index.  There are three measures in the index: green, yellow and red.

Green means the restaurant is open as usual, yellow means it’s on a limited menu, and red means the restaurant’s closed.

The index isn’t necessarily scientific, Strouse said, but it allows FEMA to know quickly about how things are on the ground.

“It gives us a pretty good feel right away when, of course, there’s the fog of trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said.

Because Waffle Houses restaurants are in areas prone to hurricanes and tornadoes, the company has made it part of their business plan to be prepared, said Pat Warner, the vice president of culture at Waffle House...

“From the standpoint of an engineer, the hurricane menu makes absolute sense,” said Julie Swann, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems.

She said she uses Waffle House as an example of how to use limited supplies for maximum benefit for other disaster management agencies.

“What we found in discussions with [Waffle House] is that they really considered responding to emergencies part of their core mission to meet the needs of customers,” Swann said.

The team included ISyE students Nishi Anand, Dylan Buczek, Nicholas Buczek, Timothy Lin, Tanay Rajore, and Muriel Wacker, and the team was advised by HHS Center co-director Pinar Keskinocak. The paper was presented by Nishi Anand at Mississippi State University and will be entered in the Undergraduate Technical Paper Competition Global Finals at the IIE Annual Conference & Expo in Nashville in May 2015. 

For information on the paper or this senior design team project, contact Dawn Strickland at ds186@gatech.edu.

The Coca-Cola material Handling and Distribution Chair in the Stewart School for Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, Montreuil is catalyzing a forward-looking new approach to the business of transporting, handling, and storing tangible goods. He calls this system the "Physical Internet."

"We are trying to transform the logistics and supply chain system to  a new era of hyperconnectivity that is more sustainable and much more efficient than what we have now,” said Montreuil, who graduated from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 1978 and received a master’s and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Tech in 1980 and 1982 respectively.

“We’re using the Internet as a metaphor,” he explained, “but instead of moving data, we’re talking about moving physical goods. The Physical Internet takes some of the basic characteristics of the information Internet — open access, standardization,  interconnectedness, digitization, speed — and applies them to the operation of supply chains and logistics.”

At Georgia Tech, this ambitious effort is based at the ISyE’s new Physical Internet Center founded by Montreuil, who serves as its director.

The center’s mission is threefold. One is to provide worldwide scientific leadership in the development and implementation of the Physical Internet, and to position the center as the primary resource for education and innovation. The second is to pursue technological breakthroughs through the center’s research lab.

“In order for the Physical Internet to happen, we’re going to need technological innovation,” he said. “We want to steer that process and work with industry, technologists, and scientists to develop breakthrough technologies.”

Among the areas of research interest are supply chain analytics, digital platforms, optimization, stochastics and simulation, and system informatics and control.

The third aspect of the Physical Internet Center’s mission is to engage its corporate partners as “living laboratories to enable change in the field” for testing and applying new technological advances in real-world, practical situations.

To support its mission, the center plans to secure grants, pursue partnerships in academia and business, and participate in consortiums, Montreuil noted. It will also offer technical services in a range of areas related to the phase-in of the Physical Internet, which is expected to span decades, given the scope and complexity of the task.

 “It’s not something you can do overnight,” he emphasized. “The Physical Internet is a progressively deployable, long-term solution to achieving a more sustainable global supply chain.”

 As Montreuil describes it, the Physical Internet is an open market where the transportation, storage, realization, supply and usage of goods conform  to common physical and operational standards worldwide. In other words, supply chains and logistics operate, in effect, as a single integrated, coordinated system worldwide. The system is highly computerized, allowing for continuous real-time tracking and monitoring, and features asset sharing across industries over interconnected networks and transportation modes.

At present, “everybody has their own supply chain,” he noted. “They have their own logistics, and they have their own manufacturing facilities and distribution centers, or they deal with their own service providers.” Even companies that conduct international business typically pool only their own assets to meet their needs, he added. “In the Physical Internet, we’re rather talking open asset sharing on a massive scale.”

As an example of a potential Physical Internet innovation, Montreuil points to plans for new kinds of modular containers designed for efficient transportation, handling, and storage. Built to standard dimensions, they lock together somewhat like Lego blocks. They’d be durable, light, reusable, and fabricated from recyclable materials. Different structural grades would be available, notably transportation, handling, and packaging containers. These “smart” containers would be communication-enabled, giving each one a unique signature to facilitate tracking and provide relevant data about the container’s contents, and ultimately take autonomous action as needed along their journey through the Physical Internet.

Each link in the producer-to-customer chain — from conveyor belts to trucks to warehouse layouts — would be adapted or built to accommodate the containers’ dimensions with little or no wasted space.

The benefits inherent in an integrated, standardized supply chain and logistics network include time- and energy-saving efficiencies that yield lower costs while boosting productivity, according to Montreuil.

He cites a study by the National Science Foundation indicating that if only one-fourth of U.S. manufacturers adopted the Physical Internet, and even if the transportation segment of that fraction was limited to trucks, the industry could realize $100 billion in annual savings while achieving a 32 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Physical Internet Center draws upon the research capabilities of resources from multiple disciplines, including ISyE centers such as the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems, the Center for Analytics Research and Engineering, the Center for Predictive Analytics and Real-time Optimization, and centers across campus, such as the Center for the Development of Applications of the Internet-of-Things.

“We’re going to work with the top minds on the academic side,” he said. “At the same time, we want to be closely aligned with industry. We’re going to be very collaborative in Atlanta, and across the U.S. and the world. Many of the  large companies based in Atlanta want to move forward. They understand that the status quo is not going to work for the medium term, and they want to put themselves ahead of the game. We’ve got several companies lined up through next year to work together with us on projects.”

A number of Physical Internet investigation and implementation efforts are taking place around the world, Montreuil observed, several with his assistance. Substantial investments already have been made in Europe, where the Physical Internet is the “official grand vision for all logistics and supply chains in the 2030-to-2050 time frame.” China has already established a Physical Internet research laboratory.

In addition, the continuing globalization of the economy has fostered a number of free-trade agreements that make a case for deployment of the Physical Internet because it would help “make these agreements feasible and work at the ground level.”

In North America, “achieving critical mass for the Physical Internet requires exploiting existing infrastructures and means, then gaining momentum through large-scale adoption and innovation,” said Montreuil. “We want to make sure we’re following a road map that makes sense in enabling this vast space of investigation, innovation, testing, and implementation.

 "At the Physical Internet Center, we’re the nexus of this activity.”

“The road to economic opportunity and prosperity begins with great preparation, and we want to help our youth be ready to compete for and secure jobs that will lead to a strong future,” said David Balos, market leader for JPMorgan Chase and head of commercial banking in the area.

The first class will be open to 100 students, who will be invited to participate with tuition costs covered through the grant. Students will have the opportunity to train in various supply chain domains with a goal of receiving an industry-recognized certification. 

“Georgia Tech is pleased to be providing an opportunity to an audience who may not yet know about the numerous potential job opportunities and career paths in logistics and how to prepare to capitalize on these opportunities,” said Tim Brown, managing director of Georgia Tech’s SCL.  

Four main areas of instruction will be covered, based on input received from Atlanta supply-chain intensive companies, including Coca-Cola and UPS:
•    Supply Chain Management Principles
•    Warehousing Operations
•    Transportation Operations
•    Customer Service Operations

Students will be able to learn at their own pace while progressing toward certification.  In addition to the course content, students will receive career coaching and resume advice, and participate in a career fair. To learn more or for information on how to apply, https://www.scl.gatech.edu/LEAP.

Georgia Tech’s SCL is the largest supply chain and logistics leadership institute in the world providing comprehensive research, education, and outreach programs. SCL was founded in 1992 and is responsible for professional development of more than 8,000 professionals.

JPMorgan Chase is committed to enhancing and growing the economies of the communities in which it operates.  Increasing the accessibility of job readiness for first-generation higher education families is a key element toward creating a more sustainable and growing economy.

But Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Global Atlanta that the trip was as much about learning from Atlanta’s people and institutions as anything else. Entrepreneurs in metro Atlanta, including Dutch companies that have made it in the region, have important lessons for the firms that traveled with him, he said.

Read the story in its entirety within the Global Atlanta website.

• Identify and pursue pre-competitive and industry-focused research inspired by significant promise for economic and social impact and contributions to the body of knowledge,
• Accelerate and de-risk the path from knowledge discovery to innovation and commercialization,
• Nurture and develop the Next Generation supply chain & logistics workforce,
• Provide up-to-date business intelligence to better understand today’s competitive landscape.

During the inaugural ceremonies, Georgia Tech Provost Rafael Bras noted, “Logistics is a major player of the U.S. economy comprising over eight percent of the U.S. GDP, and Georgia, in particular, is a U.S. logistics hub.  In parallel, Singapore and its container port thrive on expert logistics know-how. The new generation of logistics must integrate supply chains, movement of goods, manufacturing innovation, data analysis for predictive logistics, and growth of urban regions and megacities. It represents the future, and we are thrilled to define that future together with our Singaporean partners.”

Chelsea C. White III, Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics and Professor in the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, has spearheaded Georgia Tech’s participation in this initiative and is co-leader of the center with the NUS principal investigators, Professors Lee Loo Hay and Chew Ek Peng. 

“We are delighted to be collaborating with NUS in an area of research and innovation that has such potential societal and economic impact for both our countries. Next Generation technology, data availability, customers, manufacturing innovations, and demographic trends will shape Next Generation logistics and supply chain systems, and it is critical that both nations are leaders in these areas to insure sustainable economic growth and prosperity,” said White, who presented the Center vision during the inaugural ceremonies.

Georgia Tech has collaborated with NUS for more than 15 years as the co-founders of The Logistic Institute – Asia Pacific, and the new Center will further expand this collaboration. 

The Center has received seed funding from Georgia Tech and NUS over a two-year period to develop the Center concept and expects a 5-year initial funding commitment of $3 million annually from collaborating government agencies and industry partners to support approximately 25 faculty and graduate researchers.

The programs are diverse: some students take Spanish while teaching English; others learn about tropical ecosystems or how to develop ecotourism programs. Study-abroad websites promising “life-changing” experiences show images of lush forests and students zip-lining, riding horses or whooshing down water slides. 

With its political stability, biodiversity, relative poverty and international accolades for “green living” and the world’s happiest population, Costa Rica has become a magnet for such short-term visits. But as President Luis Guillermo Solis comes to Atlanta next month to recruit investors from sectors like information technology and medical devices, he will be highlighting programs that engage the country on a more enduring level. 

Georgia Institute of Technology’s Supply Chain Logistics Institute in 2009 launched its Trade, Innovation and Productivity Center in San Jose with lofty goals: to change the way the country gets its export products to market, largely by using research to maximize domestic infrastructure and streamline regulations related to trade. 

Read the article in its entirety within the Global Atlanta website.

Going online to order a hammer that shows up at your door a short time later is a technological feat that few consumers are able to appreciate. Technology must be able to find the right item in the warehouse, pull and package for shipping and then be able to confirm shipment for the customer. It has to be done not just once, but hundreds and perhaps thousands of times a day. The explosive growth of online orders has forced a total redesign of warehouses and their operations.

“It becomes a challenge for warehouse and distribution centers, in that warehouses traditionally were designed to be pallet operations or case operations or detailed pick operations,” explains Tim Brown, academic program director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech. These days, warehouses have to be able to serve the “onesie and twosie” orders that serve consumers rather than the large cases that were typically ordered by stores. These problems have been good news for Georgia and its flagship engineering university, Georgia Tech.

“Because of that knowledge base at Georgia Tech, companies like Peach State Integrated Technologies have established their key operations here,” says Brown. In addition, material handling vendors – like Interroll – that make the equipment used inside these warehouses have also set up shop in the metro area. A prime reason has been access both to customers and to engineering talent.

Read Randy Southerland's article "Moving the World" in its entirety in GeorgiaTrend.