FEMA Reduced Cycle Time For Natural Disaster Response By 50% With GLSS
Florida
Healthcare
Patient Care
350%
“At the time of publication, FEMA had made significant improvements to its disaster response process following Hurricane Katrina. However, challenges experienced after Hurricane Florence demonstrated that additional opportunities remained to improve the speed and efficiency of emergency response efforts.”
– Bill Eureka, GLSS Master Black Belt Coach
Executive Summary
Business Case
Root Cause Analysis
Solutions Implemented
- Implement a standardized supply container system
- Utilize trucks and equipment designed for greater mobility
- Prepackage supplies in containers during periods of downtime
- Cross-train supporting agencies at all levels during downtime
- Increase Urban Search and Rescue teams from 28 to 50
- Strengthen communication across all levels of government
Project Results
- Customers report higher levels of satisfaction
- Fewer trucks are needed because containers can be dropped off while trucks retrieve additional loads
- Prepackaging supplies reduces loading time and eliminates unnecessary delays
- Communication improves across all levels of government
- Container loading lead time decreases from 30 minutes to 10 minutes
- Improved cross-training reduces the time hurricane survivors wait for essential supplies
Graphical Display of Improvement
Key Takeaway: This project involves many moving parts across multiple levels of government. To demonstrate how the proposed system could improve upon the existing process, historical hurricane response data was used to simulate potential reductions in lead time. While there are no true quick wins and the proposed solutions will take time to implement, stronger coordination between FEMA and other agencies could enable new policies and process improvements to be implemented within as little as one year.
DEFINE PHASE
Project Charter
Problem Statement
Goal Statement
Decrease cycle time for responding to natural disaster victims from 4-8 days to 2-4 days or less by December 2022.
Scope
- First Process Step: Hurricane occurs
- Last Process Step: Deliver relief supplies
- In Scope: System upgrades, hiring of additional staff, process steps, delivery methods
- Out of Scope: Restructuring of chain of command
Business Case & Benefits
Timeline
| Phase | Planned | Actual |
| Define | February 5 | February 28 |
| Measure | March 2 | April 20 |
| Analyze | March 30 | May 22 |
| Improve | April 21 | June 18 |
| Control | May 27 | July 13 |
Team Members
| Position | Person | Title | Time Commitment |
| Team Lead | Charles White | Green Belt Candidate | 100% |
SIPOC
Key Takeaway: Survival supplies are critical during hurricanes and other natural disasters. Water is the most essential resource for sustaining life, but it is also heavy and requires significant storage and transportation capacity. Evacuation is equally important, particularly because the projected path of a hurricane may only become clear within days of landfall. While evacuation can reduce the number of people directly affected, FEMA must still be prepared to support a significant portion of the population in impacted areas. During a major disaster, this could mean providing essential supplies to millions of people.
Vale Stream Map
Key Takeaway: As shown in the Value Stream Map, the Process Time (PT) for delivering supplies to 100,000 survivors is nearly seven days from start to finish. The value-added portion of the process is providing survivors with the essential supplies they need, including water, food, shelter, and generators. The remaining activities are largely non-value-added steps, with unnecessary waiting, motion, transportation, and inventory throughout the process. These areas represent important opportunities for improvement.
The demand for supplies also increases significantly as more people are affected by a hurricane. For example, the Hampton Roads region of Virginia has a population of nearly 2 million people. Even if only 10% of the population required assistance following an evacuation, approximately 200,000 people could still need essential supplies. This demonstrates how quickly demand can increase during a large-scale disaster and why an efficient response process is critical.
MEASURE PHASE
Operational Definitions
- Lead Time: The amount of time, measured in days, hours, or minutes, from when a natural disaster occurs until victims are evacuated or have access to the resources needed to sustain life.
- % Extended Delivery of Supplies: The percentage of people who cannot be reached with critical aid within two to four days compared with the total number of people receiving aid.
- Storm Arrival: The amount of time from when a storm makes landfall until conditions are safe for emergency services to begin response efforts.
- Search and Rescue: The time required for Search and Rescue teams to coordinate and develop an evacuation plan for people who are seriously injured or ill.
- Data Delivery Time: The amount of time required after the storm passes to determine how many people are affected and prioritize those who need supplies most urgently.
- Supply Prep Time: The amount of time required to unload supplies from trucks, boats, or helicopters and prepare them for distribution. As supplies arrive, they are sorted and combined into packages based on the needs of hurricane survivors.
- Delivery Time: The amount of time required to transport supplies from distribution centers to people in need. Identifying safe distribution centers and/or drop-off points is critical. Because some survivors may not be accessible by conventional transportation methods, alternative delivery methods may also be necessary.
Data Collection Plan
Key Takeaway: Data collection can become complicated, but involving frontline managers and project leads can help simplify the process. While the overall process is complex, focusing on specific areas individually makes it easier to collect meaningful data, identify opportunities, and improve one part of the process at a time.
Baseline Run Chart
Key Takeaway: As shown in the graph above, the average time required to complete all shipments is approximately 96 days, based on a truck loading time of 30 minutes multiplied by the total number of shipments. When Hurricane Maria, an outlier in the data, is excluded, the average drops to just over 73 days. Loading trucks individually as they arrive at a distribution center is time-consuming and can create significant delays and backups in the overall process.
Swimlane Map
Key Takeaway: Hurricanes can be tracked for several days before they make landfall, but accurately predicting the exact location of landfall can be challenging. The potential impact area may span hundreds of miles, requiring large populations to prepare or evacuate. The next three slides illustrate the supply process used to support communities affected by a hurricane.
Key Takeaway: In this portion of the Swimlane Map, FEMA coordinates with other federal agencies, including the DOD, DHS, and USDA. FEMA also works with private contractors to secure the trucks and drivers needed to transport critical supplies. During a major disaster, hundreds of trucks may be dispatched at the same time, potentially creating a bottleneck at the distribution center. Once loaded, the trucks travel to predetermined relief sites for distribution.
Key Takeaway: When trucks arrive at predetermined relief sites, they may wait for instructions, sometimes for several days. These delays can result in significant costs for FEMA and state governments while drivers and trucks remain idle. In some cases, FEMA may continue delivering essential supplies for several weeks after a hurricane has passed.
ANALYZE PHASE
Fishbone Diagram
Key Takeaway: Depending on the magnitude of a hurricane and the resources required for recovery, additional federal funding may be authorized through disaster relief legislation. For example, President George W. Bush signed a $51.8 billion relief bill in response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, while President Donald Trump signed additional disaster relief packages totaling billions of dollars following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
Bottlenecks, Handoffs and Decision-Making
- Clear bottlenecks exist within FEMA’s process. When a hurricane occurs, hundreds of trucks may be called upon at the same time.
- The number of trucks arriving at once can vary significantly, potentially resulting in hours of waiting to be loaded.
- Eyewitness accounts indicate that hundreds of trucks may also be waiting simultaneously at predetermined relief sites.
- Much of the waiting may result from communication challenges among federal, state, and local officials. Coordination and decision-making across multiple levels of government and federal agencies can further increase lead time.
Handoffs and Decision-Making
- According to FEMA, once supplies reach a relief site, the state assumes responsibility for managing and distributing them.
- A 2016 annual audit by the Florida Division of Emergency Management found that the state was not adequately prepared for a major disaster.
- The same audit found that the State Logistics Response Center in Orlando, which warehouses disaster relief supplies, was more than half empty, resulting in underutilized space and inefficient use of taxpayer funds.
- Because of this shortage, Florida had to quickly restock shelter supplies before Hurricane Irma made landfall in September 2017.
- FEMA expects Florida and other states to maintain enough supplies to remain self-sufficient for the first 72 hours following a disaster.
Key Takeaway: The emergency management structure from the federal to local level is highly complex. FEMA operates within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and divides the United States into 10 regions that coordinate with state emergency management agencies. States may then be divided into additional regions. In Florida, for example, seven All-Hazards Incident Management Team (AHIMT) regions help support the State Emergency Response Team (SERT) by providing situational awareness and assisting with operational planning.
Supply Shortages
- According to FEMA’s 2017 After-Action Report, more than 80% of the commodities stored at its Caribbean Distribution Center were distributed following Hurricane Irma.
- This left less than 20% of the center’s supplies available for Hurricane Maria because inventory was not fully replenished between the two hurricanes.
Key Takeaway: The supply system can have a major impact on lead time, as shortages may result in communities waiting days for critical supplies. As shown in the chart, FEMA had only two weeks to replenish supplies between hurricanes. Because hurricane season is predictable, maintaining additional inventory during this period could help improve preparedness. Establishing a larger central warehouse to support and replenish smaller distribution centers could also help ensure essential supplies are available when and where they are needed.
Root Cause Hypothesis
Key Takeaway: In addition to coordination challenges between federal and state officials, states may also struggle to maintain adequate emergency supplies. In this case, the state relied on FEMA to help replenish its response center before Hurricane Irma made landfall. One way to simplify decision-making would be to implement an automated inventory system that triggers replenishment when supplies fall below established levels. This could be considered a quick win that could be implemented across state agencies and FEMA’s network of distribution centers.
IMPROVE PHASE
Impact Effort Matrix
Key Takeaway: None of the proposed solutions can be considered a quick win. While some may take years to fully implement, they have the potential to create significant and lasting improvements to the disaster response process.
Converting to a Container System
- One 40-foot container can hold up to 20 North American Standard pallets.
- Each pallet of water, containing 72 cases of 16.9-ounce water bottles, weighs approximately 2,200 pounds. Twenty pallets would weigh about 22 tons. With the container itself weighing just over 4 tons, the total remains below the 35-ton limit.
- Container prices can range from approximately $2,250 to $9,750 for a used refrigerated 40-foot container.
- If FEMA initially purchased 10,000 containers at $2,250 each, the estimated cost would be $22.5 million, before any potential bulk-purchase discounts.
- The container lifting system uses four mobile electro-hydraulic jacks capable of lifting containers weighing up to 35 tons.
- According to Joloda Hydraroll, the manufacturer of the container lifting system, it costs 25% less than conventional forklift or crane systems and has a turnaround time of approximately 20 minutes per container.
- The mobile system can be transported to different locations and deployed within minutes.
Key Takeaway: Water is essential for survival, which is why it is a major focus of this project. It is not only one of the heaviest commodities to transport, but also one of the most frequently needed supplies following a disaster. Shipping containers can accommodate a full load of water while protecting supplies from the elements. With used containers available at many ports, FEMA may also have opportunities to purchase them at a reduced cost.
An ideal system could include at least four mobile container lifting systems, allowing FEMA to unload multiple trucks simultaneously and reduce lead time. Other equipment, such as forklifts, reach stackers, front loaders, or straddle carriers, could also be transported by flatbed truck and deployed where needed to support faster, more flexible unloading operations.
- The primary benefit of transitioning to containers is increased mobility. Several transportation and handling methods could make container use more efficient and flexible for disaster relief.
- First, FEMA could reduce the number of truck drivers needed to transport supplies while also minimizing the costs associated with drivers waiting at relief sites for extended periods.
- Second, FEMA could contract trucks equipped with side-loading systems, like the one shown in the first video. The driver can operate the lifting system, allowing the entire loading or unloading process to be completed in approximately two minutes.
- Third, a cart system like the one shown in the second video could simplify container movement at both warehouses and relief sites.
Key Takeaway: A 20-foot container can hold 10 pallets weighing approximately 11 tons, plus the container’s weight of about 2.5 tons. The U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion can transport up to 16 tons of cargo from sea to land over a distance of 50 nautical miles and return. The newer CH-53K King Stallion is designed to carry heavier loads over greater distances. This capability could provide additional mobility when delivering critical supplies to flooded communities or other areas that cannot be reached by road.
Downtime Preparation
- One of the biggest advantages of implementing a container system is the ability to preload containers during periods of downtime.
- This could eliminate the need to load individual pallets onto trucks as they arrive at FEMA distribution centers.
- Distribution center workers could simply load each prepacked container onto a truck, helping reduce bottlenecks and loading time.
- Once at the relief site, containers could be unloaded using the Joloda lifting system, allowing trucks to quickly return to the distribution center for additional loads.
- This approach would allow FEMA to stage supplies at relief sites while keeping only the trucks needed to distribute supplies to affected communities.
Key Takeaway: This process could eliminate the second major bottleneck by preventing hundreds of trucks from sitting idle at relief sites, reducing fuel consumption, wait times, and unnecessary hourly costs to the government.
Downtime Cross-Training
Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, demonstrated how quickly disaster response logistics can become overwhelming.
- Federal agencies participating in Search and Rescue (SAR) missions included the U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- One of the major challenges following Hurricane Maria was not simply a shortage of supplies, but the logistics of moving and distributing them.
- The Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, became congested with shipping containers.
FEMA coordinates 28 Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) teams that bring together federal, state, and local emergency responders. - Located throughout the United States, these teams consist of cross-trained personnel who can be deployed to disaster areas to support search and rescue, medical response, hazardous materials management, logistics, and planning.
Key Takeaway: With 28 US&R teams serving 50 states, expanding the program could strengthen disaster response capabilities nationwide. Increasing both the number of teams and the personnel assigned to each team could provide more states with dedicated experts who understand their local communities, geography, and potential natural disaster risks. These teams could continuously train, conduct research, and prepare for hazards specific to their states. When a disaster occurs, the local US&R team could take a leadership role in coordinating response efforts, while out-of-state teams and federal agencies provide support through a more organized and coordinated response structure.
Before & After Improvement Chart
Key Takeaway: This chart demonstrates how a container system could have reduced shipment lead time for each hurricane. The analysis includes supplies provided by FEMA and excludes a portion of relief supplies received through donations. Using an estimated loading time of 30 minutes per truck, the green bars represent the time required to load supplies using the existing process. The orange bars represent the proposed preloaded container system, in which containers only need to be placed onto trucks. Although a 40-foot container can potentially be loaded in as little as two minutes, this analysis uses a more conservative estimate of 10 minutes per container.
Baseline Run Chart
Key Takeaway: As shown in the chart, the next major hurricane in this analysis was Hurricane Florence. At the time of this project, the hurricane had occurred only a few weeks earlier and recovery efforts were still ongoing, so complete shipment data was not yet available. With an estimated 5 million to 10 million people within the affected area, shipment volumes could potentially have fallen between those of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. However, without complete data, any comparison at that time would have been speculative.
CONTROL PHASE
Innovation Transfer Opportunities
Key Takeaway: The DMAIC controls discussed throughout this project should be standardized across all FEMA distribution centers and US&R teams. To operate as efficiently as possible, distribution centers should follow consistent practices, and state-run emergency response centers should align with the same system where appropriate. When a major hurricane affects a densely populated area, FEMA may need to mobilize resources across its entire network. Standardized, up-to-date processes can help ensure that teams respond consistently, coordinate effectively, and minimize unnecessary delays.
Monitoring & Response Plan
Key Takeaway: It may take several years of testing and refinement to determine the most efficient way to deliver disaster relief supplies. Emerging technologies, such as blockchain, could help improve transparency, reduce paperwork, and streamline coordination across the supply chain. The trucking industry has also explored blockchain technology as a way to improve efficiency, accelerate payments, and increase the productivity of work orders.
Project Closure
Lessons Learned
- Involve federal, state, and local agencies early in the process.
- Ensure new teams and units are properly trained and integrated.
- Make sure each team understands its respective roles and responsibilities.
- Involve each department to expand the overall knowledge base and strengthen communication across agencies.
- Keep the public informed about improvements and progress toward a faster, more effective disaster relief process.
Customer Impact
- Greater efficiency, modernization, and organization could strengthen public confidence in FEMA and encourage more citizens to volunteer during disaster response efforts.
- Improved performance could help FEMA and supporting agencies demonstrate the value of continued investment, providing greater opportunities to modernize systems and improve disaster response processes.
Customer Impact
- Hard Savings: Reduced transportation costs by allowing trucks to drop off containers at relief sites and return to distribution centers for additional loads.
- Hard Savings: Increased productivity through prepackaged containers, allowing FEMA to scale supply distribution more efficiently as demand increases.
- Hard Savings: Reduced overhead costs through more efficient transportation, handling, and distribution processes.
- Soft Savings: Reduced processing time at distribution centers, allowing staff to focus on other critical activities, such as loading containers onto trucks.
- Soft Savings: Increased customer satisfaction through faster and more efficient delivery of essential supplies.
- Soft Savings: Increased inventory capacity by using containers to efficiently store and stage disaster relief supplies.
Sign-off From Project Sponsor
The FEMA reduction team did an outstanding job!!! I am proud to sign this green belt project off and assign the next green belt task to the team. – Charles White, Team Lead
Appendix
- AHIMT: All-Hazards Incident Management Team
- DOD: Department of Defense
- DHS: Department of Homeland Security
- FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
- NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- SERT: State Emergency Response Team
- US&R: Urban Search and Rescue
- USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Project Storyboard
