Two men looking to change supply chain for blood

According to a recent Forbes article, more than 1.3 million pints of blood spoil every year in the United States, which is spurring two men to explore ways to improve supply chain management.

Ben Bowman and David Mitchell are looking for avenues to open up to increase the efficiency of blood delivery and prevent such a high rate of spoilage, but the two are facing some opposition from hospitals and the American Red Cross.

Bowman and Mitchell's General Blood company is facing opposition from critics who say that even if their model is viable in the short-run, it relies on distributing surplus blood that will not be so plentiful in the near future, as the economy improves and medical procedures increase.

“We’re projecting that as the boomers get into their 70s, you’re going to see a lot more hip replacements, knee replacements,” says Jim MacPherson, CEO of America’s Blood Centers, a network and trade organization. “We project, over the next five to six years, that blood demand will start increasing again and could increase rather dramatically. At that point there’s no more surplus, [and] General Blood probably goes away.”

Blood only has a shelf life of 42 days, which the Red Cross highlights as an issue putting pressure on supply. The company encourages as many Americans as possible to give blood as often as they can.