John Blake - disponible en anglais seulement

Applying Operation Research Techniques to Healthcare

Our research group applies operational research methodologies to address challenges faced by blood operators around the collection, production, inventory and distribution of biologics. The models developed by our group provide insight that allows decision-makers to operate Canada’s blood supply chain at the highest possible levels of efficiency, effectiveness, safety and responsiveness.

From an engineering standpoint, Canadian Blood Services looks like a large biologics manufacturer with a multi-echelon supply chain. This supply chain stretches over a wide geographic area and includes collection, production, inventory and distribution processes. Our research focuses on methods to optimize the management structures Canadian Blood Services uses to run its business.

Production and Distribution

In the Production and Distribution areas, our group has developed a generic modelling framework to support Canadian Blood Services in its consolidation plans. In recent years, Canadian Blood Services has consolidated its blood production and testing centres, a plan that necessitated changes in the transportation network between the production sites and hospitals. Our group evaluated consolidation plans for the Maritimes and the Prairies, to determine its effect on product availability in hospitals.   We have recently expanded the framework to allow an entire national distribution network to be simulated.