It was five years ago this month that the world shut down.
I remember being in New Orleans with my family for Christmas 2019 and hearing news reports about the outbreak of a mysterious respiratory illness in China. The journalist in me immediately began speculating about what this might portend. I turned to my wife, Cathy, and said, “I wonder if this is going to be something big.”
I certainly underestimated Covid-19’s eventual impact.
According to the CDC, more than 1.2 million Americans lost their lives to Covid, and many more saw their lives changed forever. Two of my relatives succumbed to the virus. Most of us know, or know of, someone who lost loved ones as well.
Five years ago this month, our DC Velocity editors attended the Modex trade show in Atlanta. It was an awkward experience, to say the least, with people wearing masks and bumping fists instead of shaking hands. As it turned out, the show would be the last live industry event for more than a year. I remember wondering at the time when I might see my fellow editors and industry friends again. The actual time apart proved to be way longer than any of us expected.
Five years on, we see how the pandemic tested and shaped our supply chains—which proved to be much more resilient than anyone imagined. Yes, we experienced product shortages and delays. But these were largely due to wild fluctuations in demand. For example, the shortage of semiconductors was widely ascribed to a supply chain failure. In actuality, manufacturers produced more chips during each year of the pandemic than in any prior year. It’s just that with people working remotely, there was a surge in demand for home computers, which gobbled up the available supply of chips, causing shortages for makers of cars and other products.
Being homebound, consumers relied on online retailers and food delivery services to keep their shelves and pantries stocked. Distributors saw a spike in demand for TVs, exercise equipment, and home improvement supplies. Parcel volumes went through the roof, as e-commerce orders surged to unprecedented levels.
While much of the nation sheltered in place, supply chain workers showed up every day to manufacture goods, fill orders at DCs, and drive the delivery trucks that brought those orders to our doors.
Supply chain managers adapted on the fly, finding new sources for products, new distributors, and new carriers. Inventories grew, as managers sought to make sure that customers flush with government stimulus money could find what they wanted when they wanted it. We realized the growing importance of automation to fill labor gaps.
And so, as we mark five years, we can now reflect on how resilient our supply chains have become and how the experience left us better prepared to take on the next challenge, whatever that may be.
