Project BALTO - Industry Day

Project BALTO

An industry day shall be held at Scale Space, White City between the end of January and start of February. Exact date to be confirmed within the event invitation.

The purpose of this industry day shall be to:

1. provide background to the project and state its aims
2. talk to the problem statement detailed below
3. walk through the anticipated tender process
4. open discussion to help the authority define and clarify aspects of the tender documentation

Invitation to the event will be by request. To register your interest in attending, you must complete this form forms.office.com/e/JXHPtSESPv ↗ no later than 17:00 on 19th January 2025. Due to capacity limitations, this industry day is limited to 1 person from each company.

To facilitate the open discussion, the Authority would like attendees to consider the following background:

Situation:

The MOD | Strategic Command | Defence Medical Services supported by the Medical Innovation Team within jHub currently faces significant challenges in managing its medical supply chain.

Relying primarily on manual processes, including paper-based systems and basic tooling, the department struggles to accurately monitor, track, and supply medical stock, particularly in dynamic operational environments.

Conversely, it has been proven in recent conflicts, resupply and effective logistics remains key to success on the battlefield.

This outdated approach hinders the team’s ability to respond swiftly and confidently to medical needs, and the lack of real-time visibility into stock levels and locations poses a substantial risk to operational effectiveness and personnel safety.

The growing threat of cyberattacks, further exacerbates these challenges.

Problem:

The team are seeking to modernise part of the supply chain through a hybrid approach combining cloud and edge computing.

Recognising procurement higher up the supply chain may be as difficult as it is elsewhere in logistics, delivery to the customer (soldier, sailor, aviator) offers some unique challenges, not least the end-customer is always moving, and positional information is operationally sensitive.

Connectivity may be limited, potentially non-existent. Any solution MUST be able to operate indefinitely with very low latency on Edge devices in disconnected environments, while maintaining the ability to communicate across networks when the situation allows.

To fully realise the benefits of digitalisation, mitigate cyber risks, and improve operational efficiency, a comprehensive market analysis is required to identify and evaluate the most suitable technologies and approaches for optimising the operational end (i.e. the final customer) of the supply chain.

Operational scenario

By investing in advanced tracking, monitoring, and supply chain management solutions, incorporating both cloud and edge computing, the team aims to achieve enhanced visibility, improved decision-making, and optimised resource allocation.

This transformation will ultimately enable the medical team to both anticipate and deliver critical medical supplies with greater speed, accuracy, and confidence, both domestically and in global operations, while safeguarding against cyber threats, improving operational resilience and maintain operational security.