The business world is sharing its secrets for free, to help save lives.

See Business world donating expertise to aid groups by JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press. Excerpts:

"Bar codes. Electronic way bills. Vertically integrated partnerships. They help businesses turn big profits. Now companies like UPS and Wal-Mart are teaching these trade crafts to aid workers so they can deliver food and shelter to famine victims more quickly and cheaply, saving money and ultimately more lives."

"WFP is moving to a computerized system of delivery that includes bar coding aid products and using electronic way bills, Sheeran said. WFP would have had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to access such technology, she said, but the business world is sharing its secrets for free, to help save lives."

"Esther Ndichu, the humanitarian logistics manager for UPS, said her company's involvement in the Horn of Africa crisis began after Bakker made calls to WFP's corporate sponsors. UPS is part of a logistics emergency team along with TNT, Maersk and Agility, she said. On Aug. 16 UPS flew in a Boeing 767 with 50 metric tons of peanut butter supplment to Kenya at no cost. It flies in a second plane load on Saturday.

UPS helps WFP, UNICEF, and the Red Cross with logistics expertise, said Ronna Branch, a UPS spokeswoman. During this year's earthquake in Japan, UPS set up what it called a portable warehouse to store aid goods out in the field."

"UPS donated its in-house logisticians to the aid group CARE USA to help improve the group's infrastructure, warehouse management and commodity tracking, Branch said. Rigo Giron, the associate vice president of strategic initiatives and supply chain management at CARE USA, said UPS's expertise has allowed CARE to expand its ability to deliver lifesaving aid.

"This learning has shaped CARE's supply chain strategies to move beyond our traditional logistical approach to one that leverages and optimizes resources within what I call a vertically integrated partnership. A partnership in which each participant, in this case, CARE and UPS, complements their individual capabilities to do more with less," Giron said."