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1. Introduction
The Earth is increasingly witnessing natural disasters (Duran et al. , 2013; Cozzolino, 2012; Schwester, 2012; Balcik et al. , 2010; Altay and Green, 2006; Thomas and Kopczak, 2005). Earthquake measuring 6.1, for example hit Haiti in 2010. Hurricane Sandy hit New York City and New Jersey in 2012. Landslides hit the Washington state town of Oso in 2014. A strong earthquake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan in 2013. Nigeria faced massive flooding in 2012, and in 2013, it faced new challenges as a result of massive flooding from heavy rain falls. When natural disasters occur, policy makers and stakeholders are challenged to make quick and tough decisions with limited resources and information. It is important in these situations to be able to provide quality services responsibly and timely to disaster victims. The ability to deliver these services timely and professionally presents serious challenges. Thomas and Kopczak (2005), for example, identify five core challenges in the context of disaster relief operations:
lack of recognition of the importance of logistics;
lack of professional staff;
inadequate use of technology;
lack of institutional learning; and
limited collaboration.
These challenges may be addressed through supply chain management (SCM). The aim of SCM is to follow a structured approach to making decisions. Emphases are placed on order procurement and fulfilment as well as performance issues relating to the processes along the supply chain. Disaster relief execution begins with a good understanding of the unique attributes of disaster relief supply chain management (DRSCM). In Table I, a systemic view of DRSCM is presented and it is contrasted with the traditional SCM. Stakeholders are better able to deal with the challenges they face when they understand the unique attributes of DRSCM.
This paper explores the role of quality management models especially Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in facilitating planning, implementing, reviewing, and improving a DRSCM system. A LSS-driven disaster relief SCM system is referred to as the disaster relief supply chain quality management (DRSCQM) system in this study.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we present a unified DRSCQM focussing on three components: physical disaster relief supply chain systems, the disaster relief life cycle, and the context-intervention-mechanism-outcome (CIMO) logic (see Figure 1). In...