New post-pandemic strategies for Supply Chain Management in 2022?

The coronavirus pandemic caused supply chain disruptions all over the world, since lockdown measures cut off manufacture and trade. Producers were increasingly unable to meet demand increases for vital products such as personal protective equipment. The efficiency-focused “just-in-time” model – aimed at making just enough goods to supply demand – appeared to be failing in this situation. Although PPE supply has been restored, there still is a shortage of many other goods such as food, energy, and automobiles.

Economic authorities in the US appear to be optimistic that supply chains will be restored in due course. Jerome Powell – Chair of the Federal Reserve – for instance, is convinced that supply-chain bottlenecks will grow less and consequently relieve inflation pressure. John McEleney –  corporate vice president of Strategy for On Shape, a product development platform that delivers professional-grade CAD capabilities with integrated data management – anticipates that induced by new public-private partnerships and government funding “operations will start to normalize” by Q3 2022.

Other relief strategies may include replacing the current just-in-time model with a “just-in-case” model. According to this strategy inventory for use when needed is being built up and advanced data is being used to identify strategic locations for building out supply chains to minimize future disruptions.