Professors Handfield and Warsing Explain the Supply Chains Behind COVID-19 Test Kit Distribution

Thanks to a $600,000 grant from the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), NC State researchers will be working towards making COVID-19 test kits readily available in areas they are most needed. Rob Handfield, executive director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative and professor of operations and supply chain management, explains that the complex supply chains behind the COVID-19 test kits involve many different players and variables to consider.

“We are going to start by developing the model for North Carolina, and will extend this to the US by the end of the project. Part of the challenge will be simply identifying all of the suppliers of test kits and materials,” said Handfield.

Along with Handfield as principle investigator, Don Warsing, associate professor of operations and supply chain management, will be serving as a co-investigator on the grant and sheds light on the difficulties of allocating materials for kits.

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