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“The Next Evolution in Human Productivity” – Part 2. Real-world examples of collaborative networks in Transportation, Logistics, and Mobility (TLM)

Many of the readers of our last blog on collaborative networks expressed the need today for collaboration in advanced transportation – especially advanced aerial mobility! I couldn’t agree more. More to follow.

Below are three examples of collaboration in TLM. We can learn lessons from each to help address some of our biggest problems in TLM.

 #1: Collaboration and improved aviation safety

Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) – is an example of collaboration that brought aviation safety to an entirely new level.

After aviation safety rates improved over decades, the commercial aviation fatal accident rate began to plateau in the early 1990s.

The airline industry became concerned about the flattening rate because the FAA was projecting that the volume of flying would double in 15-20 years, which meant that the public would soon see twice as many accidents… and the industry found that outcome to be unacceptable.

That catalyzed industry began a collaborative program for improving safety that included everyone involved: airlines, manufacturers, pilots, controllers, airports, and even the regulator, Dept of Defense and NASA.

Some have said this level of industry-wide collaboration had never occurred before, and has never occurred since, in any industry.

Chris Hart, former NTSB Chairman said, “The outcome was amazing. Among other benefits, the flat stuck rate, which many experts thought was about as good as it could ever get, was reduced by more than 80% in only 10 years. What an amazing example of the power of collaboration.”

 #2: E-ZPass – successful collaboration in transportation – while reducing congestion

The development of E-ZPass came about from an alliance of seven toll facilities from the states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These seven agencies represented nearly 70% of all U.S. toll revenue when they formed their alliance.

Check out some benefits of the E-ZPass Alliance:

·        Saves money through automatic discount programs on many E-ZPass facilities

·        Can process 250 to 300 percent more vehicles per lane, thus reducing toll plaza delays and traffic congestion

·        Helps to reduce congestion and reduce auto emissions

·        Helps reduce fuel consumption

The E-ZPass Program is the largest, most successful interoperable toll collection program anywhere in the world, consisting of toll agencies/companies in 19 states, servicing more than 27 million accounts, 43 million tags, and the collection of over $11.3 billion dollars in electronic toll revenues.

 #3: COVID vaccine distribution – leveraging existing collaborative networks in logistics

A reader asked whether or not better collaboration might improve the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The answer provides useful collaboration insights. If we got just 5% better at distributing vaccinations to 332 million Americans, we’d improve the situation for almost 17 million of our citizens.

We looked at the question of how we distribute and deliver vaccines and medications today.

It turns out that collaboration started decades ago as a high percentage of people acquired insurance coverage for prescription medication throughout the 1990s. With coverage, there was a need for collaboration among doctors, pharmacy benefit managers, insurance companies, and pharmacies to make sure the medication prescribed by a doctor was available and mostly paid for by insurance.

The initial collaboration brought many innovations and improved patient service and safety.

Today, over 4.5 billion prescriptions are filled every year in some 88,000 pharmacies across the country. Furthermore, the 300,000 pharmacists doing this work also manage to administer around 200 million doses of regular influenza vaccine.

My takeaway from all of this is that collaboration takes work, commitment, and time to bring results. Our system revolving around medications is robust and successful, involving hundreds of thousands of dedicated individuals.

When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, public policy officials would have benefited by recognizing what has been built and joined this successful collaboration.

Instead, vaccines go to states who in turn use multiple locations, including stadiums and amusement parks, to administer vaccines. The entire process, for the most part, could take advantage of an already existing logistics process built for patients.

We should hope that those who mastered collaboration in distributing and delivering medications will step forward to enhance logistics around COVID-19 vaccinations.

Finally, if there is one lesson to learn, it is to search out successful collaborations as a first step in addressing logistics challenges.

Will the challenges of advanced transportation be addressed without collaboration?

What happens when we don’t collaborate in advanced transportation and logistics? What could be impacted:

Operating costs?

Transit times?

Congestion?

CO2?

Safety?

So, let’s take on the bigger challenges – and collaborate in the process. Thanks for your suggestions, recommendations, and examples in collaboration!