Thursday, January 14, 2010

In the wake of Tuesday's tragic earthquake in Haiti, Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA), a founding sponsor of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), is working with ALAN and major humanitarian relief agencies to identify the most critical relief needs.

"While ALAN's focus has been primarily domestic, our mission is to engage the supply chain community to support humanitarian relief efforts wherever the need arises," says Jock Menzies, ALAN president. "Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti, and we're eager to support their needs through our network of supply chain professionals."

ALAN provides a primary point of contact for the U.S. logistics industry's donation activity and information. We help to:

Ensure that donation needs are made visible to the logistics industry

Leverage members' supply chain management knowledge and resources

Create an efficient process for providing the right goods and services in the right quantity, at the right location, at the right time

ALAN's convenient and easy-to-use web portal gives companies an efficient way to determine if their resources are needed in times of crisis. As needs are identified for the Haiti relief effort that can be met through the expertise and resources of ALAN's member base, the needs will be posted on the ALAN web portal.

“ALAN was founded by the associations that make the supply chain efficiently operate on a daily basis, said John Nofsinger, CEO of MHIA. "When a disaster like the Haiti earthquake strikes, we believe that it is our unique responsibility to utilize these same resources and expertise to help ensure that the necessary aid gets where it is needed as quickly as possible.”

ALAN serves as a primary point of industry contact for disaster relief support. ALAN makes donation needs visible to the logistics industry and establishes an efficient process for providing the necessary goods and services through its web portal, www.alanaid.org. Needs for supply chain expertise, products, equipment, and services such as transportation, warehousing and material handling are matched with available donations.

MHIA (@mhia) is an international trade association that has represented the material handling & logistics industry since 1945. MHIA members include material handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers, and third party logistics providers. Member companies come from all areas of material handling and various parts of the world, making MHIA a strong national and international representative for the material handling industry. Much of the work of the industry is done within its product-specific sections, councils and affiliates. The association also sponsors trade events, such as ProMat 2011 and NA 2010 to showcase the products and services of its member companies and to educate industry professionals on the productivity solutions provided through material handling and logistics.