Georgia Tech
To Open Logistics Center in Costa Rica
By David Beasley
The Georgia Institute of Technology on Aug.
20 will open a center in Costa Rica aimed at
improving foreign trade by helping companies
there get products to market faster and more
efficiently.
The Georgia Tech Trade Chain Innovation and
Productivity Center, which will be located
in San Jose, is designed to teach graduate
students and company executives how to
improve supply chains and logistics. It will
also serve as a research center in those
fields, said Don Ratliff, executive director
of Tech’s Supply Chain & Logistics
Institute.
The president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias
Sanchez, is expected to attend opening
ceremonies for the center as is Georgia Tech
President G.P. “Bud” Peterson.
Tech is also considering opening other
centers, starting in Panama and Chile, said
Dr. Ratliff. “The plan is to have a network
of these centers around the world starting
with Latin America,” he said.
Tech already has a center in Singapore, the
Logistics Institute Asia-Pacific. The Costa
Rica program will be different in that it
will have a stronger focus on improving
foreign trade, said Dr. Ratliff.
Corporate supply chains and logistics have
become complex, highly technical fields that
might make an average consumer’s eyes glaze
over but at the same time can make or break
a company, particularly during economic
downturns.
“Inventory ties up capital, and with the
credit crunch, capital is hard to get,” said
Dr. Ratliff. “There’s a lot of emphasis
right now on not having a lot of inventory.
If you don’t have a lot of inventory, you
need to have a smooth running supply chain.
The smoother the supply chain, the less
inventory you need to have.”
The United States has long been a leader in
supply chain management, with companies like
Wal-mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc.
concentrating on it heavily, said Dr.
Ratliff. Georgia Tech has been offering
classes in the field since the 1940s.
Transferring that knowledge and experience
to other countries will benefit all trading
partners, including the U.S., he added.
“Supply chains and logistics are fundamental
to trade,” said Dr. Ratliff. “It would be
impossible for anyone to be good at trade
that doesn’t have good supply chain and
logistics capabilities.”
The new center in Costa Rica, funded by a
private donor, will be housed in a building
shared by the Costa Rican Chamber of
Industries. It will have three full-time
employees initially. There will be a
constant exchange of students and staff
between the center and Tech’s Atlanta
campus.
“It gives a chance for Georgia Tech students
to go there and for their students to come
here, an interchange of faculty, all those
kinds of things,” said Dr. Ratliff. |
