Published Online:June 2024
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management
Product Type:Article
Product Code:
Author Name:Munmun Samantarai and Sanjib Dutta
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Strategic
Download Format:PDF
Pages:15
US-based drone service provider Zipline International Inc. (Zipline) delivered critical medical supplies to citizens living in remote and hard-to-reach areas of Rwanda, saving many lives in the process. Rwanda, with its challenging terrain and limited infrastructure, faced significant problems in reaching timely medical supplies to all parts of the country. Zipline started its operations in Rwanda in 2016 in collaboration with the Rwandan government. By 2022, Zipline had flown more than 30 million autonomous miles and delivered more than 450,000 parcels containing 4.5 million different medical supplies. In December 2022, the government of Rwanda signed a new agreement with Zipline, with an aim to fly Zips over 200 million autonomous kilometers and do about 2 million instant deliveries by 2029. Scalability and sustainability, however, proved to be significant obstacles in a nation with unfavorable geographic and climatic characteristics. Will Keller Rinaudo, CEO of Zipline, be able to collaborate closely with the local government to secure the necessary infrastructure given the goal of tripling delivery volume? Will he be able to successfully negotiate intricate regulatory frameworks? Will Zipline be able to make enough money to manufacture enough Zips to meet the increasing need for medical supply drone delivery?
In December 2022, US-based drone delivery logistics company Zipline International Inc. (Zipline) established a new collaboration with the government of Rwanda (GoR), under which it became the national drone service provider for Rwanda (Central Africa).iv Zipline was the brainchild of Keller Rinaudo Cliffton (Keller), a Technology Entrepreneur and the CEO of the company. Zipline had been delivering medical supplies to the people living in remote and hard-to-reach areas of the country. As per sources, the GoR sought to triple its medical supply delivery volume by adding new distribution sites in rural and urban areas around the country, as well as opening up Zipline’s service to government agencies operating in sectors beyond healthcare.v According to reports, Zipline’s goal was to fly more than 200 million autonomous kilometers and achieve about 2 million instant deliveries by 2029.vi