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Kathy Fulton is executive director of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). She leads the organization in facilitating donations of logistics services and equipment to enable delivery of millions of dollars’ worth of humanitarian aid. Fulton served as the organization’s director of operations from 2010 until her promotion in 2014.
Fulton’s passion is the intersection of supply chain and emergency management, focusing on the critical role logistics and supply chain professionals play in disaster relief. She serves on national workgroups focused on efficient coordination of logistics activities during disasters, including those hosted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Research Board, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, and the National Emergency Management Association.
Preceding her work with ALAN, she was senior manager of information technology services at Saddle Creek Logistics Services, where she led IT infrastructure implementation and support, corporate systems, and business continuity planning. Fulton holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and master’s degrees in business administration and management information systems from the University of South Florida.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 00:00
The logistics industry responds to the fires in Maui. More delays at the Panama Canal. And new applications for wireless charging technology.
Pull up a chair and join us as the editors of DC Velocity discuss these stories, as well as news and supply chain trends, on this week's Logistics Matters podcast.
Hi, I'm Dave Maloney. I'm the group editorial director at DC Velocity. Welcome.
Logistics Matters is sponsored by PERC, the Propane Education and Research Council. Propane is the safe, reliable energy for material handling. Propane-powered forklifts can improve air quality inside your facilities for a healthier, more productive workforce. See how propane can give your productivity a boost at propane.com/forklifts.
As usual, our DC Velocity senior editors Ben Ames and Victoria Kickham will be along to provide their insights into the top stories of this week. But to begin today, just within the past two weeks, our nation has been rocked by two very serious weather-related catastrophes: the wildfire tragedy in Maui, of course, and also Tropical Storm Hillary that brought unprecedented rain and flooding to western states. To talk about how our logistics industry is responding with badly needed relief and supplies, we welcome our good friend Kathy Fulton, the executive director of ALAN, the American logistics aid Network.
Welcome, Kathy.
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 01:31
Thanks, Dave. It's great to be with you, as always,
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 01:34
Kathy, for those who may not be familiar with the work of ALAN, the American Logistics Aid Network, can you briefly describe what you do and how the industry actually even got together to create this great organization?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 01:46
When you say "industry got together to create the organization," that's exactly what happened. Way back in 2005 — 18 years ago, now, so I guess we're old enough to vote — Hurricane Katrina really devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States, and from that, we saw a lot of logistics challenges emerge. And so a number of industry associations and supply chain professionals were all together at a conference that fall, and they said, "This is our problem to solve. We're the experts here, we're the professionals here. We should be doing something about helping ease logistics challenges during disaster," and so, that's kind of, really, how we were formed. Our work includes everything from coordinating logistics services on behalf of the nonprofits, helping them access donated or discounted resources, everything from warehousing, to transportation to material handling equipment or expertise, and then we also work a bit in supply chain resilience conversations. So, helping businesses understand what government actions were being taken during a disaster, and then, on the flip side of that, helping government understand what private-sector supply chains are doing during a disaster — kind of, what's the health check on private-sector supply chains during a disaster. So, all of that kind of works together so that we're touching business, government, and nonprofit, all with the goal of ensuring that disaster survivors get the nourishment, hydration, medical care, sheltering, everything that they need to continue after they've just had a really bad day.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 03:26
And it's a great organization, and we encourage all of our listeners who are in logistics to support the good work of ALAN. You've obviously been involved, the last couple of weeks, with the tragic outcome of wildfires that ravaged Maui. What can you tell us about what's going on right now? And the situation just seems to get worse and worse, with news every day of just how devastating that fire was.
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 03:52
Yeah, you know, this is a really sad and protracted disaster, because they haven't even found all of the human remains — as we're talking, at this point, you know, two weeks after the fires devastated the the city of Lahaina. And so that means that until that area that has been ravaged can be cleared, and they can recover the human remains, a lot of the other recovery activities can't start. Yes, people are being fed and sheltered through kind of the replacement supply chains or the supply chain that get — the disaster supply chains being, maybe, whether they're points of distribution or shelter locations, those types of activities, but the real work of helping people rebuild, you know, recover what they've lost, that's going to take months and years and decades, unfortunately for that particular community. A lot of the work that we're focused on right now in Maui has to do with helping support those immediate needs. And the communities, the islands have been very generous, so people have made lots of in-kind product donations, so, if you're thinking about loading up a container or a truck, and sending supplies to Hawaii, I ask that you please don't. They have plenty of resources already on the islands, and that's going to be the case for the immediate, you know, and short-term future. Once we get to rebuilding structures and helping people get into more permanent housing, that's when those items for longer-term needs will become necessary donations of those things. But the work that we're doing right now has to do with supporting telecommunications. So, we've supported one of our partners, Information Technology Disaster Resource Center, ITDRC. We helped to move, through a partnership with UPS, helped move equipment that's powering all of the shelter locations, all of the points of distribution, and some of the broader communications across the island. Really, I don't know if your listeners are aware of this, but there are still over 1,000 people who are listed as missing, they haven't been found yet, and so that communications equipment is critical to helping reconnect people who are listed as missing with their families. The other thing that we're doing right now is really just helping to be an information hub for our nonprofit partners. We're leading the logistics workgroup for the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, for the Hawaii VOAD, and then we're part of the task force, the planning task force for the donations group that's being jointly led by the state of Hawaii and FEMA. So, really, just bringing in information about what logistics capabilities exist — and that's everything from the ocean freight to the air cargo to ground logistics opportunities — as well as what we're seeing in terms of needed support. So, just trying to be that information hub, making sure that all, everyone who's part of the response has all of the logistics information they need to make good decisions.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 07:39
What are your needs right now, then, from the supply chain community. Is it is a cash donations? Is it just making services available? What are you looking for there?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 07:50
Yeah, so it's definitely both. As you can imagine, doing this type of coordination work and this type of information-management work is labor intensive, but it has a big impact, right? So, we like to say "a little bit of logistics results in a lot of good." So, there are immediate needs for things like air cargo, for those high-need, high demand items; ground transportation here and on the mainland of the United States to support getting those things to the airport or to the ports, ocean carriage, right? Anything that can be done and donated from a logistics perspective will reduce the amount that nonprofits have to spend, which increases what they can do to support the disaster survivors. Cash donations are always best, rather than, you know, we don't want to do product donations. We know that those things are already, the islands are already overwhelmed, so cash donations allow nonprofit organizations to purchase what they need, when they need it, where they need it, in the quantities they need it. All of those things that, as supply chain professionals, we want to make sure we get right — the right time, right place, right quantity, right location, the right quality, all of those things. And as well, you know, ALAN, ourselves is a nonprofit organization, so it's labor intensive to do the work that we're doing. We would love if your listeners would also consider making financial contributions, not just to the nonprofits, you know, who are on the ground doing the work, but our organization, who is really sitting in the background, trying to help coordinate the logistics to make sure that those organizations have things to work with. Yeah, and just one more thing, it's going to, you know, this is going to be a long recovery process, so we may not have a specific request that people can help with today, but we want people to tell us what their capabilities are, because a month from now, two months from now, something may pop up, and if we know who to call, if someone has already offered their service, we'll reach out to them and get that match made.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:16
Right. And you have a portal, I believe on your website where people can offer what their services are, and then you try to match them up with what their needs are. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 10:26
Yeah, that's exactly right on our website, ALANaid.org, A-L-A-N-A-I-D dot O-R-G, we just have a form that says, you know, :offer in-kind services," and you can tell us what your capabilities are, you know, do you have trucking that you can donate or warehousing or material handling equipment? Whatever your capabilities are, let us know. It is not a commitment to anything. We're always going to contact you and say, you know, "Hey, you said you might be able to do this. Here's a specific opportunity." Because ALAN is all about opportunity,, not an obligation. We're here because the industry thought that there needed to be a point person, you know, point organization helping both nonprofits do their logistics better, and helping businesses interface with those nonprofits more effectively. So that's our role.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 11:29
Does the distance and remoteness of the Hawaiian Islands also make this a little more difficult to be able to get the supplies that are going to be needed to rebuild that area of Maui?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 11:40
Does distance matter? Absolutely. These are big, bulky items, right? When you're talking about rebuilding, you're talking about plywood, you're talking about lumber, you're talking about shingles, all of those things, and those are not, you know, not lightweight items, they're not small items, and so that's going to take up a lot of cargo space. It's going to, you know — and most of them are manufacture in Asia, come to the U.S. West Coast, and then get transloaded and go back towards Hawaii. So thinking about, how can those things flow in at the right time so they're not sitting around — either sitting around waiting or getting there too late. So, yeah, the distance is a problem for both immediate response, but also the long-term rebuilding.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:34
Now on the mainland, of course, we've had Tropical Storm Hilary pass through many of our western states earlier this week. It's probably a little too early to know what the needs are yet with a lot of flooding and water damage, that sort of thing, but what do you anticipate there, and your role with ALAN?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 12:53
Yeah, the flooding, you know, in the desert, right, is always a surprise to people, but what we expect is going to happen is that as those homes and buildings get mucked out, so they get the debris flow out and they get the the waters out, there'll have to be all of the drywall and things pulled down. So, for homeowners who need assistance with that, we have a number of partners who do that type of work,and so we'll help them with the personal protective equipment that they need to safely do that work, the rakes and shovels and whatnot. We can help move and transport those things. We don't have any specific requests for that as of yet, but again, we expect that it's going to be coming, so anyone who wants to, again, make a preoffer of support is, we would very much appreciate that.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 13:56
You touched on this just a bit earlier in our conversation about how there are a lot of people who want to give but don't know how, or give the wrong way, and they actually strain supply chains in the way that some donations are made. Can you highlight that a little bit more?
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 14:12
Yeah. So, we actually did a little mini-research study earlier this year, not scientifically significant, I'll say, but just to understand ways in which businesses are giving to support disaster response, and one of the interesting things we found is that more than 50% of the people we surveyed had done some type of logistics, donation, right? They donated trucking or they donated warehousing. But even more than that, I think it was maybe around 70% or so had donated products, which is terrific if it's the right products at the right time. When organizations, and more often when individuals donate products without understanding what the clear need is — so, in supply chain terms, if they don't understand exactly what the demand signal is from the disaster area, then those things get in the way. There's not a lot of warehouse space in Maui, right, so that's one of the things that is a challenge right now for the Hawaii response. But it happens over and over again, regardless of where the disaster is. Well-meaning people, you know, fill up, they host collection drives, they announce it to their their neighborhood, they tackle these pallets, they take a lot of pictures, and then they realize, "Oh, we have to get this to the people who need it." So they're booking trucks, or they're, you know, loading up planes, in the case of Hawaii, and that's taking up space away from pre-existing supply chains, right? So, we always urge people, you know, connect before you collect. Make sure if you're collecting something, it's because there is a verified organization who is operating in the disaster area who has specifically said they need these items and they're not available anywhere else. So, we don't want to put additional strain on supply chains. We've been through enough with our supply chains over the past three years with with Covid. Let's ease the burden on our logistics and supply chain professionals just a little bit by being smart about how we give.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:31
Good advice. And again, we want to mention the website where you can get involved with ALAN, and that's ALANaid, A-LA-N-A-I-D dot org. Kathy, thank you so much for being with us again. Always, you guys do great work, and we're big supporters, big fans of ALAN and the work that you do.
Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network 16:51
Thanks, Dave. We love being partnered with you all, so thanks so much for having me.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:57
Our guest today has been Kathy Fulton, the executive director of ALAN, the American Logistics Aid Network. Now let's take a look at some of the other supply chain news from the week. And Ben, some of the same drought conditions that contributed to the tragic fires in Maui are also causing problems for the movement of goods through the Panama Canal. I know this week, they've put on some more restrictions. What's the latest there?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 17:22
That's exactly right. As we've been talking about on the show, we've seen a lot of crazy weather in the last couple of weeks. Of course, the Maui wildfire is still top of mind for everybody, but also there have been tropical storms hitting Mexico and California for the first time in some 80 years or something. At the same time, we're talking about Panama, because there's another example of some extreme weather in Central America, but this one's playing out kind of in slow motion compared to those tropical storms and wildfires, of course. So, what the deal is, is long-term drought in Panama, and it's affecting global supply chains now because it's slowing down the flow of maritime freight through that crucial canal. So, I needed to stop for a second and talk a little bit about, you know, why a lack of rain, which is freshwater, affects a canal that connects to oceans, which are saltwater. It's kind of obvious, but in talking with folks this week, we realized that we needed a quick refresher. Some of us learned about this in elementary school, but I had to look it up: Basically, the canal is not that short. The Panama Canal is something like 50 miles long. Almost all of that distance runs through a freshwater body called Gatun Lake, and that lake is at higher elevation than the oceans on each side, obviously, since the lake is on a continent, which is above sea level. So, the canal needs to use locks to raise and lower containerships to that higher lake. Those locks use fresh water, and without enough rain to fill up a series of these secondary feeder lakes in the country, they can no longer do that as much.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 19:02
Well, that makes sense, Ben, but do we know exactly what the impact is on logistics with that lack of rain? Traffic isn't stopped entirely, right?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 19:10
It's not, right, and we all, our minds jump back to the Suez Canal when it was blocked by that Ever Given ship a couple of years ago. The Panama Canal Authority is still sending ships through the Panama Canal. They actually have a series of steps that they take to deal with drought. You know, it happens occasionally, to a degree, over history, and at each step, they reduce the number of boat trips per day, and sometimes reduce the draft of each ship, which of course is how low it sinks in the water, which is a function of how many heavy containers it's carrying. So, the last change was actually on August 8. They went to what they call Condition 3 of those severity regulations, and then, more recently, they announced that they're planning to keep at that Condition 3 level at at least until September 2 — so, a couple more weeks now. The supply chain visibility provider project44 has been tracking this, and they say that some ships are experiencing delays right now of up to three weeks before they can pass through the canal because of those conditions, and that could cause knock-on effects. We might see a rise in container lead times till they're delivered, there might be shortages or rising costs for consumer goods, [we] might even see some trade patterns shifting if this continues long enough, so that, you know, importers would change where they're sending those ships. Another measure was, came from the container-tracking firm Container xChange, and they say that they've seen what they call a substantial backlog, with between — the counts vary, they changed, of course — but 150 to maybe 200 vessels are currently waiting their turn to transit through, counting both sides. Really, one of the toughest things here is the timing of this problem is really tough, because the calendar shows us that, you know, we're at the end of August, which means, from a retail and inventory and logistics point of view, the winter holiday peak shopping season is right around the corner. So, retailers are increasingly in danger of maybe getting delays on that, and you know, that could eventually lead to missed sales opportunities if they can't get their holiday inventory levels up in time.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 21:25
Right. And I guess the only bright side of this problem is that a lot of retailers still have some inventory leftover from the pandemic times and we're not planning to bring in quite as much new inventory this holiday season aas normal. If that had been the case that it was a normal year, we'd really be in trouble with those canal bottlenecks, I imagine, right, Ben?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 21:43
It's a great point, both, yeah — the warehouses are still, you know, stocked full to the rafters. There's not a lot of normal going on here. But, you have a great point. We'll keep tracking that as well.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 21:53
Yeah, but probably some disruption on the way. Thanks, Ben.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 21:58
Glad to.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 21:59
And Victoria, you wrote recently on the rise of wireless charging for autonomous mobile robotic systems and automatic guided vehicles. Can you share what spurring on the adoption of this new technology?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 22:10
Absolutely, Dave, yeah. I'd be happy to. So, as you say, demand for wireless charging is gaining steam in warehousing and logistics, and again, this is largely because of the growing use of those autonomous vehicles and robots you mentioned and a resulting demand to really want to maximize the use of that equipment and minimize wear and tear on it. I looked into this for a feature story that appears in the current issue of DC Velocity, really to get a handle on the evolution of this issue of wireless charging for the warehouse. There were a handful of companies showcasing this technology at the ProMat industry conference back in March, and I really wanted to find out how far along in development the technology is for the industry. You know, is it being widely used, or just in testing phases, that kind of thing. First, though, let me step back and define exactly what I'm talking about here. So, wireless charging is a way to charge batteries in electric vehicles or equipment without plugging them directly into a power socket. The equipment is placed on or near a charging pad, which is plugged into the main electrical system, so that an electrical charge can pass safely between the two. Both devices contain induction coils that create an electromagnetic field when they get near each other, and that allows electricity to pass from the pad to the equipment. This method eliminates the need for mechanical charging contacts as well as rooms or spaces in a facility that are dedicated to charging, and it promotes opportunity charging, which allows equipment to run continuously. All of this cuts back on maintenance, saves time, and ultimately speeds up warehouse operations, proponents of wireless charging say. So, it's it's something that is of great interest.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 23:51
Victoria, so where are we in the evolution of wireless charging within the warehouse?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 23:56
Right, so that's really what I was interested in getting at. So, companies are making headway in applying it to autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, and autonomous guided vehicles — AGVs — as you pointed out. And again, that type of equipment is more and more prevalent in warehouses today. One wireless charging company I spoke to for my story said they've sold about 8,000 of their wireless charging systems, and that those are either in use or in testing phases at warehouses and distribution centers in Europe and here in the United States. The main benefits are that there are no contacts, plugs, or, you know, sliding connections for the charger. The AMRs and AGVs just automatically start to charge when they approach the charging point, which they can do from any direction with this particular system. The big benefit, again, is the lack of mechanical contacts, and that makes the system practically maintenance free. So, you know, there's no oxidized plugs or broken cables to worry about. Where the technology is less far along — as far as use, anyway — is with traditional manual forklifts — you know, those drove driven by a human being — and that's because it's harder to do. To successfully charge in this way, you've got to have the charging pads strategically placed throughout the facility, and you also need precise vehicle alignment with the charger. Those challenges are easily solved with automated systems because you can program stops into the vehicle's control system, but with a human operator, as you can imagine, much more is left to chance. But people are working on it. I spoke to a company that is focused on solving those challenges and is developing wireless charging for traditional manual forklifts. This particular company expects to start piloting the technology at customer sites by the end of the year. So again, this isn't as far along in terms of use, but it seems to be on the way. When all of this technology will become mainstream is still a big question, but there's a lot happening in its development right now. And as I said at the beginning, listeners can learn more by checking out our story in the current issue.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 25:53
That's a really interesting topic, and we do want to let people know that you can also check out our website at DCVelocity.com to see the story. Thanks, Victoria.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 26:03
You're welcome.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 26:05
We'd like to thank Kathy Fulton of ALAN, the American Logistics Aid Network, for being our guest today. We welcome your comments on this topic and our other stories. You can email us at podcast@dcvelocity.com.
We also encourage you to subscribe to Logistics Matters at your favorite podcast platform. Our new episodes are uploaded each Friday.
Speaking of subscribing, check out our sister podcast series Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It's coproduced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Supply Chain Quarterly. The current series is on transportation tech. Check out Supply Chain in the Fast Lane wherever you get your podcasts.
And a reminder that Logistics Matters is sponsored by PERC, the Propane Education and Research Council. Propane is the safe, reliable energy for material handling. Propane-powered forklifts can improve air quality inside your facilities for a healthier, more productive workforce. See how propane can give your productivity a boost at propane.com/forklifts.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of Logistics Matters. Be sure to join us. Until then, have a great week.
Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:
- ALAN - The American Logistics Aid Network
- ALAN continues long-term recovery efforts after Maui fire
- Without rain, ships are waiting up to three weeks to pass through Panama Canal
- Making way for the wireless warehouse
- Visit Supply Chain Quarterly
- Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Quarterly's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
- Listen to Supply Chain Quarterly's Top 10 Supply Chain Threats podcast
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