U of T profs launch website to source PPE
Platform connects suppliers with those needing gowns, masks
With the demand for personal protective equipment higher than ever due to COVID-19, a group of University of Toronto professors has launched an online platform to connect suppliers with customers.
The website, covidppehelp.ca, which launched this week, was designed by faculty members at UofT’s Rotman School of Management.
The website already lists more than a dozen suppliers of PPE, including masks, gowns and hand sanitizer, as well as requests for that equipment, from places such as long-term care homes.
The platform is not-for-profit and charges no fees or commissions.
It also encourages PPE suppliers to provide their equipment at the lowest possible cost, if not free.
There are no restrictions for registering on the platform.
One of the faculty members behind the platform, Opher Baron, said that as the economy slowly begins to reopen, there will be increased demand from outside the health-care sector for PPE — such as in office buildings, for example.
At the same time, there are also new suppliers emerging outside of the existing supply chain that has traditionally provided this equipment to the health-care sector. As one example, Baron mentioned wineries that are now making hand sanitizer.
“So there are these new suppliers and there are new demand points, and there was no supply chain between them yet,” said Baron, distinguished professor of operations management at Rotman.
The platform is being run on a voluntary basis, and also being supported by graduate students.
Web developers also donated time to building it.
“For now many of us are spending most of our days trying to make it work well,” Baron said.
He said those running the platform will try to match up a supplier and customer and then let the two parties work out the details.
“The existing PPE supply chain was not only designed for lower demand, it also suffers from poor information flows,” says a news release from the Rotman school this week. “Customers are not sure which suppliers can meet their demand. Suppliers are not sure how to connect to customers, what they require, and how best to supply them, making it difficult to make intelligent production capacity decisions.”
The website currently lists suppliers mainly from China, as well as a few from Canada, selling face shields, masks, gowns and hand sanitizer.
Baron said that outside of the platform, he and his colleagues have also been able to connect the Ontario government with suppliers that are focused on the health-care industry.