IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v52y2022i6p485-507.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shield-Net: Matching Supply with Demand for Face Shields During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca Alcock

    (Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706)

  • Justin J. Boutilier

    (Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706)

  • Auyon Siddiq

    (Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095)

Abstract

The initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic were marked by widespread shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) because of surging demand and a fragile global supply chain. In response, many domestic suppliers pivoted to producing PPE, such as masks and face shields, made possible by low material costs and simple designs. A key challenge that remained was the lack of an established marketplace for nontraditional suppliers of PPE to connect with healthcare facilities in need. To address this inefficiency, we launched an online platform, Shield-Net , to match requests for face shields with new suppliers of PPE. Our platform was based on an optimization model that produced supplier-requester pairs and took into account request urgency, request size, production capacity, location, and product type. During the period of March to September 2020, Shield-Net produced 390 matches, resulting in the shipment of more than 50,000 face shields to 68 unique requesting organizations. Supplier-requester proximity was found to be the only statistically significant variable in the success of a match. In this paper, we discuss the development and impact of our matching platform, as well as lessons learned during its operation.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca Alcock & Justin J. Boutilier & Auyon Siddiq, 2022. "Shield-Net: Matching Supply with Demand for Face Shields During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 485-507, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:52:y:2022:i:6:p:485-507
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.2021.1112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.2021.1112
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.2021.1112?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jun Li & Serguei Netessine, 2020. "Higher Market Thickness Reduces Matching Rate in Online Platforms: Evidence from a Quasiexperiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 271-289, January.
    2. Mark Zastrow, 2020. "Open science takes on the coronavirus pandemic," Nature, Nature, vol. 581(7806), pages 109-110, May.
    3. Cohen, Jennifer & Rodgers, Yana, 2020. "Contributing Factors to Personal Protective Equipment Shortages during the COVID-19 Pandemic," MPRA Paper 103496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Sabbaghtorkan, Monir & Batta, Rajan & He, Qing, 2020. "Prepositioning of assets and supplies in disaster operations management: Review and research gap identification," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 1-19.
    5. John J. Horton, 2019. "Buyer Uncertainty About Seller Capacity: Causes, Consequences, and a Partial Solution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3518-3540, August.
    6. Altay, Nezih & Green III, Walter G., 2006. "OR/MS research in disaster operations management," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 475-493, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ram Bala & Kumar R. Sarangee & Shuhan He & Grace Jin, 2022. "Get Us PPE: A Self-Organizing Platform Ecosystem for Supply Chain Optimization during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaehwuen Jung & Hyungsoo Lim & Dongwon Lee & Chul Kim, 2022. "The Secret to Finding a Match: A Field Experiment on Choice Capacity Design in an Online Dating Platform," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1248-1263, December.
    2. Peng Shi, 2023. "Optimal Matchmaking Strategy in Two-Sided Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1323-1340, March.
    3. Lydia Novoszel & Tina Wakolbinger, 2022. "Meta-analysis of Supply Chain Disruption Research," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, March.
    4. Rodríguez-Espíndola, Oscar & Ahmadi, Hossein & Gastélum-Chavira, Diego & Ahumada-Valenzuela, Omar & Chowdhury, Soumyadeb & Dey, Prasanta Kumar & Albores, Pavel, 2023. "Humanitarian logistics optimization models: An investigation of decision-maker involvement and directions to promote implementation," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Kamyabniya, Afshin & Noormohammadzadeh, Zohre & Sauré, Antoine & Patrick, Jonathan, 2021. "A robust integrated logistics model for age-based multi-group platelets in disaster relief operations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Shu, Jia & Lv, Wenya & Na, Qing, 2021. "Humanitarian relief supply network design: Expander graph based approach and a case study of 2013 Flood in Northeast China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    7. Tippong, Danuphon & Petrovic, Sanja & Akbari, Vahid, 2022. "A review of applications of operational research in healthcare coordination in disaster management," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(1), pages 1-17.
    8. Hunt, Kyle & Narayanan, Adithya & Zhuang, Jun, 2022. "Blockchain in humanitarian operations management: A review of research and practice," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Ni Huang & Gordon Burtch & Yumei He & Yili Hong, 2022. "Managing Congestion in a Matching Market via Demand Information Disclosure," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1196-1220, December.
    10. Amin Eshkiti & Fatemeh Sabouhi & Ali Bozorgi-Amiri, 2023. "A data-driven optimization model to response to COVID-19 pandemic: a case study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 337-386, September.
    11. Allahyari, Somayeh & Salari, Majid & Vigo, Daniele, 2015. "A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the multi-depot covering tour vehicle routing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(3), pages 756-768.
    12. McLay, Laura A. & Boone, Edward L. & Brooks, J. Paul, 2012. "Analyzing the volume and nature of emergency medical calls during severe weather events using regression methodologies," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 55-66.
    13. Jingxian Chen & Liang Liang & Dong-Qing Yao, 2017. "Pre-positioning of relief inventories for non-profit organizations: a newsvendor approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 259(1), pages 35-63, December.
    14. Sahin, Halenur & Kara, Bahar Yetis & Karasan, Oya Ekin, 2016. "Debris removal during disaster response: A case for Turkey," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 49-59.
    15. Vasileios Kosmas & Michele Acciaro & Maria Besiou, 2022. "Saving migrants’ lives at sea: Improving search and rescue operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1872-1889, April.
    16. Shuhei Nomura & Ryoma Kayano & Shinichi Egawa & Nahoko Harada & Yuichi Koido, 2021. "Expected Scopes of Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health EDRM): Report on the Expert Workshop at the Annual Conference for the Japanese Association for Disaster Medicine 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-10, April.
    17. Cailin Wang & Jidong Wu & Xin He & Mengqi Ye & Wenhui Liu & Rumei Tang, 2018. "Emerging Trends and New Developments in Disaster Research after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    18. Marion Rauner & Michaela Schaffhauser-Linzatti & Helmut Niessner, 2012. "Resource planning for ambulance services in mass casualty incidents: a DES-based policy model," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 254-269, September.
    19. Fattahi, Mohammad & Keyvanshokooh, Esmaeil & Kannan, Devika & Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "Resource planning strategies for healthcare systems during a pandemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 304(1), pages 192-206.
    20. Rameshwar Dubey & Nezih Altay & Constantin Blome, 2019. "Swift trust and commitment: The missing links for humanitarian supply chain coordination?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 159-177, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:52:y:2022:i:6:p:485-507. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.