Getting logistics back on track - how to strengthen weak corporate supply chains

GLOBAL, regional and local supply chains have been under significant pressure for months now as a result of Covid-19, and economies are struggling to get many of their industries, that are dependent on international supply chains, back up and running. The pandemic has revealed that many companies are over-reliant on certain countries or suppliers for sourcing component parts and raw materials, and that logistics chains with no Plan B are vulnerable.

Many industries across Asia are reliant on goods and products from overseas, and logistics chains have evolved into increasingly complicated "hub-and-spoke" systems, with multiple layers of sub-contraction. These changes are aimed at meeting the customer demand for more immediate movement of goods (generally to meet shifting consumer buying patterns). It is increasingly common for companies to have little or no visibility of who is actually moving their goods and how they've reached their final destination.

Logistics models such as "just-in-time" (JIT) logistics, or "merge-in-transit" (MIT) have been tailored to meet changing consumer demand, but these models failed when Covid-19 struck. While we hope that things will go back to "normal" and for old business practices to resume, many corporate supply chains cannot revert to how they were running previously. Logistics chains essentially became too efficient and too tight in order to reduce costs and stockpiling.