Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Concerns mount about supply chain interruptions… do you have a plan b in place?
Right now, most of the supply chains serving the professional cleaning, packaging, and related industries have not been seriously impacted by Covid-19 (Coronavirus).
However, that could change very quickly, according to Michael Wilson, vice president of marketing and packaging for Afflink, a sales and marketing organisation with more than 300 distributor-members throughout the US.
"It's tough to predict, but recent studies indicate that supply chain interruptions are mounting and may grow in the coming months."
Michael bases his conclusion on a study released in mid-March 2020, by the Institute of Supply Chain Management, a non-profit organisation based in Arizona.
According to that survey, more than 75% of the companies surveyed are already experiencing some supply chain disruptions. Further, more than 80% believe that they will experience some or more disruptions due to Covid-19.
"Most of these delays are because so many products or key components of products are manufactured in China," says Michael. "If there are interruptions in China, this can have a domino effect, impacting suppliers around the world."
Among the other findings in the Institute's study include the following:
* 57% of respondents reported lead times for specific products from China are increasing, in some cases, doubling. "Lead time refers to the amount of time it takes a manufacturer to create and then deliver a product," says Michael.
* 53% report that they are having difficulty getting supply chain updates from Asian suppliers.
* 50% of Chinese manufacturing facilities report that they are still operating at about half capacity.
* 46% of Chinese suppliers say they are facing delays in getting finished products moving from Chinese ports
"However, the study also pointed out a serious flaw in our own supply chain systems," adds Michael. "44% of US respondents report that they have no 'Plan B' in place to address supply disruptions from China or anywhere else. This is a flaw we cannot let happen again."
2nd April 2020