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.
]]>The project, initiated at the request of Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, is one of three major initiatives on the docket at Georgia Tech's 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's trade chain.
In Costa Rica as in most countries, certain medical products — primarily pharmaceuticals, either produced in-country or imported — must undergo a registration process before they can be sold there. The problem is that the procedure takes 12 months, strong evidence that it's 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.
Industrial engineers at the TIP Center modeled the registration procedure in detail. "We determined there was a lot of duplication and unnecessary steps in the process," said Emmanuel Hess, general manager at the center.
Using software developed by Amar Ramudhin, director of Supply Chain Management & Technology at Georgia Tech's Supply Chain & 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 "lead 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," Hess explained.
The effort will open the door for additional TIP Center projects with other government agencies, said Jaymie Forrest, managing director of SCL.
"President Chinchilla has a Competitiveness Council that's 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," she said.
Food Traceability
A 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.
Started four years ago, the TIP Center's 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 — a painstaking process that could take months.
Regulations detailing the law's 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.
"Currently we are working with local authorities in giving back comments and making remarks with regard to these rules," said Hess. "We're 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's provisions."
Tightening 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.
"Being 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," Forrest said, noting that more than 60 percent of the produce Americans consume is imported. "The 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.”
She added, "We've 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."
Optimizing Infrastructure Planning
The Costa Rica TIP Center has completed the necessary groundwork to conduct a structured value-chain analysis that will inform the country's 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.
"We're hopeful to get funding through the Costa Rican government and the Interamerican Development Bank in the next few months," he said. "We feel this is going to happen, but we're not sure if this is going to be done under this administration, which has about a year left in its term."
The 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.
"After analyzing the cost-benefit opportunities of these particular investments, we'll create a methodology of how to make better decisions in the future," said Forrest.
Worldwide Outreach
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 & Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Centers 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.
Written by: Gary Goettling
]]>According to the report, “The result of this study points to the need of an integrated intermodal sea-land network to foster global trade and trade exchanges between the various countries. The recommendation for governments of the region is to optimize road infrastructure and connectivity between regions of production/consumptions and develop strong and resilient road links to ports. Access roads should be developed to support container traffic and reduce delays in container pick-up and delivery.”
The study, conducted by Ramudhin with the Georgia Tech Logistics Innovation & Research Center Panama, included individual country reports and the Think Piece assessing overall port performance and the impact of the widening of the Panama Canal on the countries studied.
“The expansion of the Panama Canal will very likely create one or more mega hubs on the Atlantic side and it is crucial that countries work with the carriers and liner services to develop good connectivity with these hubs,” said Ramudhin. “The ports in Panama and Caucedo in the Dominican Republic are natural candidates as no other ports in this study, whether in the Pacific or Atlantic, can handle the larger vessels that will come through the expanded Canal. But even these ports have to improve their performance and capability to handle the larger ship efficiently.”
Click here to view a pdf of the full report.
]]>For the past three years, faculty, staff, and partners of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute’s IFC have contributed their thoughts on various aspects of the food chain to Food Logistics Magazine under a column called Cool Insights.
Previous installments of the Cool Insights column:
Food Logistics, July/August 2012: Nick Pacitti, co-founder of Sterling Solutions LLC, authored the Cool Insights column titled “Fresh Needs Fast—Rail is Up to the Challenge.”
Food Logistics, June 2012: Donald Ratliff, executive director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL), and Amar Ramudhin, director of SCL, authored the Cool Insights column titled “An Integrated Framework for Managing Standards and Operations of the Food Industry.”
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For the past three years, faculty, staff, and partners of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute’s IFC have contributed their thoughts on various aspects of the food chain to Food Logistics Magazine under a column called Cool Insights.
Previous installments of the Cool Insights column:
Food Logistics, June 2012: Donald Ratliff, executive director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL), and Amar Ramudhin, director of SCL, authored the Cool Insights column titled “An Integrated Framework for Managing Standards and Operations of the Food Industry.”
Food Logistics, April/May 2012: Susan Wilkinson, a Subject Matter Expert with IBM Global Business Services, authored the Cool Insights column titled “The Value of Supply Chain Visibility: Traceability is Just the Start.”
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Finally, the food logistics industry will have a research and resource center to utilize for questions about and solutions to every aspect of managing and monitoring the food cold supply chain. The Georgia Tech Integrated Food Chain Center, formed by the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) and by Sterling Solutions LLC, will be housed within the SCL in Atlanta. The Center – integrating academia with seasoned industry experts – will launch this May and will operate as an international center for applicable knowledge in the fragile cold chain.
Click here to read the article in its entirety.
]]>"We are delighted to have a presence in Costa Rica that gives our faculty and students an opportunity to participate in this exciting activity," said Georgia Tech President G. P. "Bud" Peterson. "One of Georgia Tech's strengths is working with business and industry around the world to apply scientific principles and to provide needed education to help meet business challenges. Through the Trade, Innovation & Productivity Center, we will utilize our strengths in technology research to develop innovative solutions and enhance logistical productivity, keeping business moving."
The Inauguration Ceremony was hosted by Dr. Steve Salbu, Dean of the College of Management, and featured special guest speakers Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, Tech President Peterson, and Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of Costa Rica.
"Today is a memorable day for the Costa Rican people. The first link of a chain that will bring prosperity and knowledge to hundreds of companies in our country is forged today... Today, as a nation, we change the course of our history by changing the course of our trade-chains," said Arias. "The TIP Center will not be just a marginal consulting or advising firm. It will be an open university, a place for our small entrepreneurs and for our big business men to train and re-train, with the speed demanded by a world where any university degree becomes outdated before the paper turns yellow."
On the second day of the inaguration ceremonies, the Center hosted an International Commerce & Logistics Seminar featuring a keynote presentation from Dr. H. Donald Ratliff, executive director of SCL and the TIP Center, on the role of innovation and technology pertaining to international supply chains.
"The TIP Center will utilize a combination of research, education, and innovation to improve logistics productivity within Costa Rica and trade productivity between Costa Rica and other countries, particularly the United States," said Ratliff. "This is a great opportunity for us to collaborate with enterprises in Costa Rica to address issues that are critical for economic growth in all of Latin America. Good supply chain and logistics capabilities are essential in order to be competitive in global markets."
Following the keynote presentation were three panel discussions on logistics challenges in Latin America and strategies that might improve productivity, international commerce expansion, and information technology.
The first panel discussion focused on defining what supply chain and logistics productivity means and issues that contribute to, and detract from, improved supply chain productivity for Costa Rica domestically, regionally, and globally. Dr. Chelsea White III, School Chair of the Stewart School of ISyE, moderated the discussion. Participants included Dr. Juan Blyde, economist, Inter-American Development Bank; Maria Alexandra Feoli, country logistics manager, Intel; and Sara Hagigh, deputy director, U.S. Department of Commerce.
The second panel discussion, moderated by Sebastian Urbina, managing director of the TIP Center, focused on international commerce expansion and Costa Rica's strategy of growth through trade. The panel examined the costs associated with expanding exports, discussed the challenges of maintaining security across the supply chain, and focused on the issue of food safety in international supply chains. Participating on this panel were Tomas Duenas, former Ambassador of Costa Rica to the U.S.; Dr. Paul Seligman, regional director, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Emanuel Hess, general manager, PROCOMER; and Enrique Ackermann, director, Coca-Cola.
The third panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Sridhar Narasimhan, senior associate dean in the College of Management, focused on technology and productivity. The discussions focused on how IT investments lead to improvements in productivity, why technology diffusing is sometimes so slow, why the benefits of implementation are not always realized. The panelists included Marco Lizano, director, Coca-Cola; Alicia Avendañao, director, Digital Government's Technical Secretariat; Roberto Sasso, president, Costa Rica's Club for Technology Research; and Dr. Sandra Slaughter, Costley Chair & Professor of IT Management, College of Management.
The seminar concluded with an overview of activities from the TIP Center, summarizing how the Center can help to resolve some of these issues.
For more information, visit: http://www.tip.gatech.edu/newsroom/.
]]>The logistics center, a joint development of Tech's Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, Stewart School of ISyE and College of Management in conjunction with the Costa Rican Chamber of Industries and trade promotion agency PROCOMER, will conduct research, teach professionals, and develop technologies to help Costa Rican companies export more efficiently. For more information, please visit:
http://www.globalatlanta.com/articlevid/17531/543/
]]>Global Atlanta - June 19, 2009
Georgia Tech's Don Ratliff discusses the new logistics center in Costa Rica. The Georgia Institute of Technology on Aug. 20 will open a center in aimed at improving foreign trade by helping companies there get products to market faster and more efficiently. The Georgia Tech Trade Chain Innovation and