Supply Chain Management and Resilience During Disruption. Evaluation of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Supply of Personal Protective Equipment

Abstract

Covid-19 stressed supply for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) [1]. Lean practices have traditionally been proven to support stability in most operations [2], however, the pandemic highlighted concerns regarding lean system resilience in healthcare [2], [5], [6].In this paper we evaluate supply chain resilience in the provision of PPE for medical staff in the United Kingdom through a content analysis of online government documents and press releases using a three-phase model: proactive, concurrent, and reactive.We propose a framework for future work on risk management approaches seeking to mitigate the effects of pandemic style disruption resulting from our emerging themes which include the identification and appreciation of critical suppliers, the location of warehouses and distribution centers and the impact of rapid restructuring of healthcare systems.A key recurrent theme is the need to integrate information and collaboration between government and the private sector and our data suggests that contrary to many beliefs, lean approaches are a valid tool.

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“…After COVID-19 pandemic the topic of resilience was not main topic among business science, but the crisis start to change in this view (El Baz, Ruel, 2021; Cuvero et al, 2021). Now the resilience can be viewed as one of main concept on the level of strategic management and because of that it is implemented in new Industry 5.0 approach.…”

Towards strengthening resilience of organizations by risk management tools: A scientometric perspective on COVID‐19 experience in a healthcare and industrial setting

“…Vulnerability to disasters and the increasing complexity and uncertainty of medical sector showed that the design of supply chain medical network needs to be restructured basing on resilience and sustainability pillars. [84,85] To support this evolution, researchers focused on new tools like unsupervised machine learning, the minimization of the total costs of healthcare supply chain distribution, the number of pollutants from delivery to storage, the maximization of the social responsibilities, and the categorization of the resilience factors to be used to face the disruptions in the healthcare supply chain. [26] Nevertheless, standard machine learning modelling analysis and the additive exPlanations (SHAP) technique was proposed by Khadem et al [86,87] for RA for diabetes mellitus patients, which are at elevated risk of in-hospital mortality from COVID-19.…”

Impacts and implications of Digital Technology use in Supply Chain preparedness and response during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Prior to the pandemic, businesses opted for lean supply chain structures that saved operational and storage costs and implemented mostly a "Just-In-Time" ordering structure where inventory levels are kept at minimum (Abdallah, 2021;Riezebos et al, 2009). While extreme leanness in supply chains saves money in the short-run, it has proved to be catastrophic in the wake of the pandemic, and it seems that the difficult situation may remain well into the near future (Cuvero et al, 2021). Toyota and VW closed certain production lines in China because of a shortage of computer chips that are essential to the electronic control of their cars (Wu et al, 2021).…”