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Warehouse Logistics in the Post-Pandemic World: Adaptation and Resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained many industries – the material handling sector included. Between worker shortages, materials scarcity, and general unpreparedness, the pandemic caused and revealed many weaknesses in warehouse logistics that had real operational consequences. Fortunately, we have learned from the last few years and teams have become stronger as a result.
At ELOKON, we understand that the material handling sector must adapt and overcome many of the challenges that the pandemic brought. Even before COVID-19 shook the world, we were dedicated to pioneering cloud-based and smart safety and assistance systems. Now, companies can apply our solutions to adapt to the many challenges of the pandemic.
It’s critical to understand how the pandemic affected the supply chain industry and how and why it caused supply chain delays. We’ll discuss the key challenges of the pandemic and how ELOKON is fighting to secure the future of the supply chain. While the pandemic drastically affected the way people work, we can learn from and adapt to these obstacles.
The Pandemic and Supply Chain Delays
All automotive companies and 97% of industrial goods companies that responded to a survey noted that they were negatively affected by the pandemic. There are multiple reasons why the pandemic caused significant supply chain delays, leading companies to restructure their operations. Let’s explore them next.
1. Drop and Increase in Demand
While a drop and subsequent increase in demand may seem good, the way the pandemic caused a dynamic shift in consumer behavior resulted in supply chain delays. At the beginning of the pandemic, people panic-bought essential items, like household toiletries and cleaners. This ultimately caused a shortage of these items, creating a demand that companies were not prepared for. Teams didn’t have the manpower or materials to manufacture these products, making it difficult to find these items in stores. Other products saw the opposite effect, like the automotive industry. The demand for cars severely decreased, making it difficult to sell them. However, the automotive industry is recovering as the demand for cars sharply recently increased and the supply of which decreased. This unbalanced increase and decrease in demand for different products left companies unprepared and disoriented. Teams scrambled, looking for ways to quickly adapt to changes in demand.
2. Import/Export Pause
Another cause of supply chain delays was the import and export pause, brought on by the closing of international borders. The halting of trade immediately affected businesses and the supply chain. With no way to distribute their products, companies felt a loss in revenue. With no way to access desired items, consumers had to reassess spending priorities. The pandemic left warehouse logistics teams to strategize team effort and product supply to minimize losses.
3. Labor Shortage
COVID-19 caused a significant labor shortage right from the beginning of the pandemic. The immediate closure of industries resulted in huge layoffs and led many people to retire early. Deaths caused by COVID-19 also contributed to the labor shortage. Even today, Long Covid, a chronic condition following infection, is still causing a labor shortage because of how debilitating it can be. It's more critical than ever to keep employees safe to maintain the workforce of companies. As a result, companies are seeking ways to secure their teams to ensure productivity.
Supply Chain Industry: Adaptation
Fluctuating demand, trade pauses, and labor shortages have changed the landscape of warehouse logistics well into the foreseeable future. However, companies in the supply chain industry need to bounce back to not only recuperate what was lost during the initial stages of the pandemic but also anticipate the evolution of warehouse logistics into the future.
As the pandemic revealed, the supply chain industry is subject to immediate, worldwide changes that have long-lasting effects. Companies in the supply chain industry can use the pandemic to fortify their operations, namely, implementing safety and assistance systems that also improve productivity according to demand. The future of the supply chain relies on the ability of companies to adapt quickly. At ELOKON, we make this possible.
ELOKON, Intralogistics Safety, and the Future of the Supply Chain
Reassessed warehouse logistics will determine success in the future of the supply chain. Our ELOKON solutions can optimize fleet operations and keep material handling teams safe. But how do our solutions solve challenges brought on by the pandemic?
Digitized Fleet Management and the Pandemic
Fluctuating demand, halted trading, and labor shortages drastically affected businesses around the world, impacting the supply chain. Companies in warehouse intralogistics need reliable technology that can help them adapt to a dynamic landscape.
ELOKON has a portfolio of solutions, such as ELOfleet, our cloud-based forklift fleet management system. ELOfleet allows teams to manage and keep track of fleets even across sites, maximizing data accessibility. The web-based dashboard of ELOfleet can relay many fleet KPIs, including active operators, uptime, and fleet maintenance, allowing teams to optimize fleet operations. This is key in adapting to labor shortages. ELOfleet can help your team monitor productivity to stay on target even in the midst of smaller intralogistics workforces.
Our other ELOKON solutions like ELOprotect and ELOshield, our proximity detection systems, can help material handling teams adapt to supply chain fluctuations. These solutions prevent collisions between pedestrian employees, forklifts, and objects around the warehouse and in very narrow aisles. Fluctuating demand causes fluctuations in warehouse traffic, which can make the working floor unpredictable. Implementing these safety solutions ensures that workers can avoid collisions even in high-volume times. Team members may be so focused on tasks as they do their part in meeting projections that the chance of forklift-related accidents increase. Our portfolio of solutions allows material handling companies to safeguard their employees which enhances productivity in turn. Doing so is key to adapting to a changing supply chain.
Ensure Productivity with ELOKON
At ELOKON, we’re dedicated to creating digitized safety and assistance systems to keep the material handling sector secure, even in the face of global challenges. With contactless safety solutions, ELOKON is able to secure thousands of material handling teams worldwide, allowing them to keep economies running. Contact our team at ELOKON today to implement the latest safety and assistance systems that can secure your workforce and operations.