Manufacturing in the Time of COVID-19: An Assessment of Barriers and Enablers

Abstract

Pandemics and other forms of epidemic outbreaks are a unique case of manufacturing risk typified by high uncertainty, increasing propagation and long-term disruption to manufacturers, supply chain actors as well as the end-users and consumers. For manufacturing the COVID-19 disruption scope has been largely twofold ; an endogenous disruption of manufacturing processes and systems as well as extreme shifts in demand and supply caused by exogenous supply chain disruption. Existing literature on disruptions in manufacturing suggests that pandemics are qualitatively different from typical disruptions. There is no literature available to manufacturing practitioners that identify the barriers and enablers of manufacturing resilience, especially with regards to pivoting of the manufacturing sector in response to a pandemic. This study draws on an extensive survey collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents were employees of manufacturing firms in all regions of the world who had engaged in manufacturing during the pandemic or had opted out from manufacturing due to various identified reasons. By collating their responses, we offer to practitioners and policymakers an analysis for identifying a bestpractice framework for pivoting successfully as a response to major manufacturing disruptions.

Socioeconomic determinants of mobility responses during the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy: from provinces to neighbourhoods

“…Horizontal restrictions might work in theory but will induce different local responses in practice because of the underlying social differences. Besides mobility limitations, adequate economic incentives [29, 30] and behavioral nudging [31, 32] should be implemented to maintain high levels of compliance, while additional strategies should be devised and implemented locally to protect individuals who can not afford to comply with mobility restrictions [33, 34, 35].…”

COVID-19 pandemic related supply chain studies: A systematic review

“…Among the 74 reviewed articles, three narrowed their scope to a particular region: two focused on South Asian countries, such as India and Bangladesh ( Majumdar et al, 2020 ), and the other investigated the context of central European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia ( Veselovská, 2020 ). Five studies considered multiple countries from various continents to demonstrate the global supply chain effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: comparisons included China, New Zealand, the United States, Vietnam, Nigeria, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, and Mongolia ( Guan et al, 2020 ); India, the United States, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom ( Nikolopoulos et al, 2020 ); Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States ( Okorie et al, 2020 ); the United States and the United Kingdom ( Handfield et al, 2020 ); and the global context of many countries ( Xu et al, 2020a ). In terms of a specific country, four articles center on Canada and India, three on the United States, and one each on Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Ghana, Iran, Ireland, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey.…”

“…Thirteen (13) of the papers we reviewed discussed the use of technology in implementing resilience strategies. They focused on low-tech solutions to the problem of obtaining sufficient quantities of medical equipment in healthcare supply chains ( Armani et al, 2020 ); applications of digital supply chains and industry 4.0 ( Deshmukh and Haleem, 2020 , Ivanov and Dolgui, 2020c , Kumar et al, 2020 , Okorie et al, 2020 , Quayson et al, 2020 ); the use of additive manufacturing methods, such as 3-D printing technology, to meet the extra demand for ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) ( Iyengar et al, 2020 , Larrañeta et al, 2020 , Novak and Loy, 2020 ); the use of mobile service operations to bring service directly into people’s homes ( Choi, 2020a ); the use of a drone or hybrid truck-drone for ensuring on-time and contactless delivery ( Quayson et al, 2020 , Singh et al, 2020 ); and the use of artificial intelligence for developing sustainable business models ( Vaio et al, 2020 ). Several studies also suggested that modern and emergent technologies may be helpful for managing the impacts of COVID-19, both during and after the pandemic ( Gurbuz and Ozkan, 2020 , Okorie et al, 2020 ).…”

Examining the Asymmetric Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Global Financial Crisis on Dow Jones and Oil Price Shock

“…Particularly, it will shrink the manufacturing sector of India by 5.5% to 20%. Moreover, the study of [41] stated that COVID-19 has not only damaged the manufacturing sector but also impacted the demand and supply all over the world. Hence, the smart industry can be the best option to overcome these issues [42][43][44].…”