Costa Rica Logistics Center

Georgia Tech To Open Logistics Center in Costa Rica

The Georgia Institute of Technology on Aug. 20 will open a center in Costa Rica aimed at improving foreign trade by helping companies there get products to market faster and more efficiently.

The Georgia Tech Trade Chain Innovation and Productivity Center, which will be located in San Jose Costa Rica, is designed to teach graduate students and company executives how to improve supply chains and logistics. It will also serve as a research center in those fields, said Don Ratliff, executive director of Tech’s Supply Chain & Logistics Institute.

The president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, is expected to attend opening ceremonies for the center as is Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson.

Tech is also considering opening other centers, starting in Panama and Chile, said Dr. Ratliff. “The plan is to have a network of these centers around the world starting with Latin America,” he said.

Tech already has a center in Singapore, the Logistics Institute Asia-Pacific. The Costa Rica program will be different in that it will have a stronger focus on improving foreign trade, said Dr. Ratliff.

Corporate supply chains and logistics have become complex, highly technical fields that might make an average consumer’s eyes glaze over but at the same time can make or break a company, particularly during economic downturns.

“Inventory ties up capital, and with the credit crunch, capital is hard to get,” said Dr. Ratliff. “There’s a lot of emphasis right now on not having a lot of inventory. If you don’t have a lot of inventory, you need to have a smooth running supply chain. The smoother the supply chain, the less inventory you need to have.”

The United States has long been a leader in supply chain management, with companies like Wal-mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. concentrating on it heavily, said Dr. Ratliff. Georgia Tech has been offering classes in the field since the 1940s.

Transferring that knowledge and experience to other countries will benefit all trading partners, including the U.S., he added.

“Supply chains and logistics are fundamental to trade,” said Dr. Ratliff. “It would be impossible for anyone to be good at trade that doesn’t have good supply chain and logistics capabilities.”

The new center in Costa Rica, funded by a private donor, will be housed in a building shared by the Costa Rican Chamber of Industries. It will have three full-time employees initially. There will be a constant exchange of students and staff between the center and Tech’s Atlanta campus.

“It gives a chance for Georgia Tech students to go there and for their students to come here, an interchange of faculty, all those kinds of things,” said Dr. Ratliff.