MIDDLE EAST function and its role needed to develop in tandem with the university , which was steadily increasing its applied and pure research activity . This led to the strategy of having a continual improvement process that has spanned over the past nine years . This process has focused on improving the speed of the supply chain and improving the positioning of research materials along the nodes of the supply chain .
The program of improvements was overseen by Christopher Harvey , Head of Procurement ; Sayed Magthum , Head of Supply Chain Services ; and Ismail Alfarooque , Manager of Customs and Compliance .
Speaking from the KAUST campus located on the Red Sea at Thuwal , which is just north of Jeddah , Harvey reflects on the improvements that
have shaped the last nine years , commenting : “ There has been a concerted and continual effort to improve and develop . For example , in 2011 , the lead time for us to get research materials from our key vendors warehouses to our professors was around one and a half months , which we ’ ve managed over time to bring down to less than three weeks . That compares with other locations in the region , where the lead time for these materials is two to three months or more , so cutting that time enables our professors to carry on with their research initiatives .”
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