NEW NORMAL: DHL, ACADEMIC PUBLISH WHITE PAPER ON POST-CORONAVIRUS SUPPLY CHAIN

KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 -- Logistics company DHL, together with professor of Supply Chain Strategy at Cranfield University, United Kingdom, Richard Wilding, has released a white paper envisioning possible changes in supply chains following the COVID-19 outbreak. 

DHL chief commercial officer Katja Busch said by analysing the impact of COVID-19 on key supply chain drivers, the paper provides several strategies and actions to set up supply chains of the future. 

"With the easing of restrictions and the unfreezing of the economy in many regions of the world, it is time to establish a first retrospective summary on the resilience of global supply chains.

"For us as logistics experts, it is important to analyse the challenges and experiences across industries during this crisis and to envision how resilient supply chains can be in the future so that we may best advise our customers.

"As a world leader in logistics, we have the insights and the expertise to accurately evaluate the situation," she said in a statement after a digital media briefing on 'DHL Whitepaper: Post-Coronavirus Supply Chain Recovery'.

In addition, she said industries and supply chains will not be the same post-coronavirus as they were before.

While today only the outlines of the exact formation of that new normal can be seen, industries will not immediately move into a post-corona phase and return to business as usual.

"In the meantime, an interim phase – the pre-new normal – will bridge the gap between lockdown and the new normal. Some industries were hit harder by the pandemic than others and thus will recover more slowly. 

"However, the various implications for businesses, supply chains, and supply chain leaders can be subsumed under four categories: Resilience issues, Demand-related issues, Transportation and Warehousing-related issues and Workplace-related issues," she said.

Meanwhile, Wilding said in a pre-new normal world, supply chains will be re-shaped to make them more resilient. 

He said the demand will be more volatile and consumer tastes may erratically fluctuate, increasing the need for flexible and alternative transportation flows and warehouse networks. 

"While online shopping will be more prevalent and direct-to-consumer sales will increase, other retail channels and industries will be disrupted. These are just some of the facets that influence modern supply chains.

"In the new normal, if your supply chain is the same as the one that you had pre-coronavirus, you’re probably doing something wrong." 

Finally, he said configuring post‑coronavirus workplaces to meet social distancing and sanitation guidelines will also affect the work styles in both warehouses and offices. 

For remote working, information systems will need to be robust and capable of supporting a distributed workforce by providing access to appropriate data and systems. 

"Warehouse processes need to be adapted to the new standards, such as one-way systems, distributed picking faces, or socially distanced packing areas. 

"Just as procuring for resilience will become an increased focus, remote working will disrupt established processes, providing fresh impetus for digitalisation and automation initiatives," Wilding added.

-- BERNAMA