At the start of this year, the new, more transmissible Omicron variant presented a fresh yet familiar set of challenges to global healthcare supply chains within which Asia plays an increasingly pivotal role. The need for robust and reliable supply chains remains and the difference between intelligent inventory management and inventory shortages is a fine one. The outcomes of both impact healthcare workers and their patients.
Many companies that began producing PPE with patriotic optimism have scaled back, shut down or given up. Some already have sold equipment they bought with state government grants.
Like so many consumers, I'm repeatedly amazed at what I can't find in the grocery store or at my favorite salad place. Who could have predicted there'd be regular interruptions in the supply of edamame, but not of broccoli? The healthcare industry, which accounts for nearly 20% of the U.S. economy, has not escaped these supply chain challenges.
Supply-chain instability at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the healthcare industry, highlighted by the procurement crisis in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers and medical equipment and pharmaceuticals for patients. Even as we begin to envision a post-pandemic future, continuing backlogs and unsustainable workarounds and rising international turmoil supply fresh evidence that supply-chain fragility is untenable. Resilience is essential.
To ensure MyMaskFit could be rolled out and mass produced it was important to secure a sustainable supply chain. This is where the WMG Supply Chain Research Group stepped in and helped MyMaskFit to create a digital solution, taking advantage of emerging distributed manufacturing.
Getting stuff where it's needed is a problem big companies deal with all the time. Now global healthcare groups are adopting some of their techniques: a number of the world's poorer countries have started to use AI-powered supply-chain management tools to help people get better access to testing and treatment.