Quintiq and the World Food Programme: Working together towards a world with zero hunger

Quintiq, a Dassault Systèmes company and global leader in supply chain planning and optimization (SCP&O), and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today a partnership with the objective of optimizing WFP’s humanitarian supply chain worldwide.

Established in 1961, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency dedicated to fighting hunger across the globe. On average, 80 million people in 82 countries benefit from WFP’s food and cash-based assistance. WFP has approximately 14,000 staff, many of whom work in remote areas directly supporting the most vulnerable communities. On any given day, WFP operates an average of 70 aircraft, 20 ships, and 5,000 trucks, and also works with retailers, financial service providers and others to deliver cash assistance. To reach families in need, WFP does whatever it takes – using all means possible, from camels to large container liners to deliver life-saving food assistance.

Bringing together WFP’s unique understanding of humanitarian logistics and Quintiq’s expertise in supply chain and planning optimization, the partnership will enable WFP to do more with available resources. Quintiq and WFP will work together, deploying new technologies to create the best possible sourcing strategies and global delivery networks. By applying world class business solutions to complex social and humanitarian challenges, WFP aims to increase effectiveness, reliability and cost of its supply chain operations and take one step closer towards a world without hunger.

“Partnerships are crucial to reaching a world without hunger,” said Corinne Fleischer, Director of Supply Chain. “At WFP, we run the most reliable, responsive and cost-effective humanitarian operations possible, in order to reach millions of vulnerable families with food assistance each year. We look forward to designing innovative strategies to further optimize WFP’s supply chain, together with our new partner, Quintiq.”

“WFP has the world’s largest humanitarian logistics puzzle – the scale of their work, the routes that they have to use and the methods they employ to complete deliveries in some of the world’s most unforgiving territories are unlike anything else the logistics industry has ever seen. Further complicating the challenge is the fact that more than 80 million people depend on the assistance that they provide, which demands perfect delivery performance each and every day,” said Quintiq CTO, Wil Lamain.

He added: “WFP has unparalleled experience in humanitarian logistics. Quintiq has proven expertise and experience in optimizing some of the biggest logistics operations and supply chains across the globe. WFP is doing great work. We want to help them become even greater and bring them closer to reaching their Zero Hunger goal.”

In a first for the company, Quintiq will be providing this solution to WFP pro bono, with fees waived for licenses, IT facilities and staff expenses. Additionally, consultancy fees will be fully funded through voluntary salary, commission and overtime contributions by Quintiq employees worldwide.

Rob van Egmond, CEO of Quintiq, commented: “At Quintiq, we are passionate about solving puzzles. What drives our passion is the desire to make a positive difference to people’s lives. As a leader in supply chain planning and optimization, we believe we have what it takes to assist the World Food Programme in solving humanity’s greatest logistics puzzle. We are honored to be their partner and hope that we can help them to achieve a world without hunger.”