COVID-19

Mecalux sat down with Professor Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, to talk about how Covid-19 is reshaping businesses and supply chains -and what's coming next. 

Professor Yossi Sheffi spoke with David Pogue of CBS Sunday Morning about what’s causing supply chain breakdowns. "The underlying cause of all of this is actually a huge increase in demand,” says Sheffi. 

Being tasked to manage risk in the supply chain as a job title is relatively new; Resilinc CEO, Bindiya Vakil, took classes from Yossi Sheffi, author of “The Resilient Enterprise,” which talked about supply chain risk in the aftermath 9/11 crisis. One case study in the book included the Philips fab fire caused a massive disruption that led to the exit of Nokia Ericsson from the handset market.  “It was $300 million in revenue impact.

Each December, the focus of the issue is our annual Executive Guide to Supply Chain Resources. This is a comprehensive guide to services, products and educational opportunities targeted specifically to supply chain professionals. 

President Joe Biden met with CEOs of different grocers and major retailers on the supply chain and inflation issues during holiday shopping. “The business leaders gathered here today represent a broad swath of American shopping,” Biden said. Companies like Best Buy, Food Lion, Samsung, Kroger, Walmart and more were there.

“Companies have their own interests in making the supply chain work because otherwise, they’ve got nothing to sell,” MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics Director Yossi Sheffi said.

Most of us know that the COVID vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and J&J were developed, approved and rolled out to the public in record time, and on a global basis. But few of us understand the heroic effort that happened behind the scenes to make this a reality.

As the tumult of 2020 continues into 2021, people are looking for illumination. How is COVID-19 reshaping supply chains, and what can we learn from the vaccine rollout? What will work look like going forward, and how can we succeed while working remotely?