July 2010 | Case Studies | Casebook  Humanitarian Aid: The
Logistics of Doing Good  Tags: Reverse Logistics, Distribution,
Supply Chain Management, Health Care Logistics, Humanitarian
Logistics   Nonprofit organization MedShare distributes
recovered medical supplies to the places of greatest need.
Imagine receiving thousands of different products and pieces of
equipment from hundreds of sources around the United States, and
not knowing what each shipment will contain until it arrives at
your facility.  It may sound like a supply chain nightmare, but
it is business as usual for MedShare, a Decatur, Ga.-based
nonprofit organization that recovers and redistributes surplus
medical supplies and equipment.  MedShare’s inbound shipments
can include up to 25,000 different product codes. Volunteers and
staff sort the products delivered each day, enter them in
inventory, and allocate warehouse space to hold the items. Then
they pick and pack the items into custom orders, load them into
containers, and ship them to any