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, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today a partnership with the objective of optimizing WFP’s global humanitarian supply chain.

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Established in 1961, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency dedicated to fighting hunger across the globe. Each year, WFP assists around 80 million people in over 80 countries through food and cash-based assistance. WFP has approximately 15,200 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, 40 ocean shipments, and 5,000 trucks. WFP also works with retailers, financial service providers and other local partners to deliver cash and food vouchers. To provide life-saving food assistance to families in need, WFP does whatever it takes – using all means possible, from transport by air, land, sea, and even animals when basic infrastructure is lacking.

Bringing together WFP’s unique understanding of humanitarian supply chains and Quintiq’s expertise in planning and optimization, the partnership will enable WFP to do even more with available resources. Quintiq and WFP deploy new technologies to create the best possible sourcing strategies and logistics networks. By applying world class business solutions to complex social and humanitarian challenges, WFP aims to maximize the impact of its programmes while optimizing costs throughout its supply chains, thereby taking another step towards Zero Hunger.

"Partnerships are crucial to reach 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 supply chain 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 managing humanitarian supply chains. 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 on a pro bono basis, with fees waived for licenses, IT facilities and consulting hours. The latter 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 supply chain puzzles. What drives our passion is the desire to make a positive difference to people’s lives. As a leader in planning and optimization, we believe we have what it takes to assist the WFP in solving humanity’s greatest supply chain puzzle. We are honoured to be their partner and hope that we can help them to achieve a world without hunger.”

*WFP does not endorse any product or service.

About WFP

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food in emergencies and working with communities to build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

Follow WFP on Twitter @wfp_media

About Quintiq

Every business has its supply chain planning puzzles. Some of those puzzles are large. Some are complex. Some seem impossible to solve. Since 1997, Quintiq has been solving each of those puzzles using a single supply chain planning & optimization software platform. Today, approximately 12,000 users in over 80 countries rely on Quintiq software to plan and optimize workforces, logistics and production. Part of Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), Quintiq has headquarters in the Netherlands and the USA and offices around the world.

For more information, visit www.quintiq.com or follow Quintiq on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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