Three Uncomfortable Truths about Post-Pandemic Supply Chains - And How to Adapt

Around the world, once-reliable supply chains are at breaking point because of COVID-19.

Factories are struggling to fulfill orders, ports and railroads are overwhelmed, essential equipmentisn't where it should be and supermarket shelves are sometimes empty.

The stop-start effect of the COVID-19 crisis and its inevitable consequences, including industry falling behind with manufacturing, fewer flights for freight, a lack of trained truck drivers and endless employees off sick with the virus, have wreaked havoc on supply chains.

But there have also been problems no one could have predicted. These include the Suez Canal being blocked by the Ever Given container ship for a week in March, Storm Ida's ferocity in the US closing ports, and ever-increasing numbers of cyber attacks on trade – one of which led to the six-day closure of the US's Colonial gasoline pipeline in May.

Then you can add a record number of shipping containers going missing: last year more than 3,000 were lost overboard with the trend continuing into 2021 with 1,000 disappearing by April alone, hitting companies including Tesla and Amazon.

That only added to the current crisis facing container manufacturing – China is currently working at 50% capacity and prices have doubled.

No wonder supply chains are in chaos. And it's clear that's not going to change any time soon.

But COVID-19 has also highlighted the fact there were already weaknesses in our supply chains before the pandemic devastated the world.

Buying components for your company from different countries thousands of miles apart can leave companies vulnerable to political and social problems as well as environmental hazards.

Another issue occurs when the manufacturing of vital products is concentrated in risky countries. A recent example we have seen is microchips, which are almost solely made in areas under threat of natural disasters like China, Japan, the Philippines and California.

Read the full blog post at the HERE 360 blog.