Month: January 2021

Effect of COVID-19 on Production & Consumer Behavior

COVID-19 introduced a great deal of change to the economy and affected businesses throughout the world. Along with this, consumer behavior has been influenced in the following ways:

The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Manufacturing Sectors

Among every industry affected by COVID-19, the manufacturing world was among those hit the hardest. The virus originated in China, which is also the location of many factories that supply important materials to manufacturing units worldwide. When lockdown ensued, the pandemic’s impact on the manufacturing industry took a great toll. The following global manufacturing sectors have been most affected:

Pharmaceuticals

Typically, the USA and many other nations source materials for pharmaceuticals directly and indirectly from China. When the virus began to spread, however, it limited operational capacity in China and caused supply shortages.

Additionally, the pandemic outbreak made the need for items like sanitizer and PPE more important than ever. As a result, pharma manufacturers have had to invest a great deal of time and resources into increasing production levels of these products.

Food & Beverage

When COVID-19 first began to spread, so did the general public’s panic. As consumers went to grocery stores to stock up on food, it caused various supply chain issues. With scarce shelves, stores have experienced significantly increased consumption, and companies have needed to boost production to keep up with demand.

Cosmetics

As a result of offline stores closing worldwide, the cosmetics industry has experienced a decrease in sales. Additionally, when many countries were under complete lockdown, it was challenging to find markets where these goods could be exported. Labor shortage and reduced demand have caused manufacturers to shut down their production units.

Responding to the Pandemic’s Impact on the Manufacturing Industry

Problems in the manufacturing industry due to COVID-19 have led to reduced demand and disrupted supply chains. But they’ve also presented opportunities for growth, innovation and competitive advantage in the industry. To bounce back from the impact of COVID-19 on manufacturing industries, we recommend your facility does the following:

Implement Increased Sanitation & Safety Procedures

Taking proactive measures can help keep your team safe and prevent the spread of harmful germs and bacteria. From banning visitors on factory floors to increasing the amount of distance between your staff, there are numerous procedures you can implement. Doing this will give your team peace of mind and help create a more hygienic workplace.

Find Back-Up Suppliers

When countries went into lockdown, many manufacturers experienced a lack of access to suppliers. This pandemic impact on the manufacturing industry caused many production processes to cease. To avoid this happening in the future, revisit your factory’s sourcing strategies. Consider where you get the supplies to create your company’s products. If another disaster were to strike, would you still have access to them? Even if the answer is “yes,” it’s a good idea to seek alternative suppliers and have back-up options, just in case. This could ultimately help you avoid having to pause production and/or shut down in the future.

Examine Your Supply Chain for Areas of Improvement

With or without problems in the manufacturing industry due to COVID-19, it’s always smart to look for ways to improve your production process. Spend some time evaluating your supply chain’s agility and determine opportunities to make it more resilient. Focus on the automation of repetitive tasks and predictive maintenance to help your production process run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

B2B vs. B2C: A Brief Overview

How do B2B and B2C compare and differ? In this section, we define each warehouse category and examine the challenges they face.

What is a B2B Warehouse?

A warehouse that specializes in business to business (“B2B”) orders typically sends products in bulk on a recurring basis. Simply put, the warehouse is sending items from its manufacturing business to another business.

For example, if a company needs supplies for the coming year, a B2B warehouse can deliver a large quantity of products for employees to have on hand. That way, team members will have essential items in stock to run their business.

Since B2B fulfillment consists of frequent, bulk orders, accuracy plays a key role. Additionally, shipments sent via sea freight, air freight or ground can be expensive and require longer delivery lead times. Along with that, longer lead times and overseas suppliers need to be considered during the receiving process in a B2B warehouse. With all of this at stake, order errors can be costly and result in a loss of company time.

It’s also important to note that a business may also have compliance restrictions, and B2B warehouses need to prove they can meet those requirements. Examples include tax rules, barcodes, parcel labels and invoices.

What is a B2C Warehouse?

Business to consumer (the “B2C” meaning) involves a company offering products for individual customers rather than other businesses. As a result, a B2C warehouse oversees large volumes of orders with smaller quantities of product in each order. This is different from B2B orders which tend to contain mass quantities of items.

In our fast paced world, many consumers expect their delivery within the same day or soon after. When it comes to the receiving process in a B2C warehouse, it’s important to note that customers have less tolerance for delays. With this in mind, B2C fulfillment requires a great deal of accuracy and speed. Additionally, a B2C warehouse is more likely to have to handle returns than a B2B warehouse. As a result, B2C warehouses need the latest technology and foolproof management systems to monitor shipments.

Since B2C warehouses take customer experience into consideration, they may also offer special packaging features, like tissue paper, gift wrapping or personalized greeting cards.

Responding to the Pandemic’s Impact on the Manufacturing Industry

Problems in the manufacturing industry due to COVID-19 have led to reduced demand and disrupted supply chains. But they’ve also presented opportunities for growth, innovation and competitive advantage in the industry. To bounce back from the impact of COVID-19 on manufacturing industries, we recommend your facility does the following:

B2B Fulfillment vs. B2C Fulfillment

Now that you know the basics of B2B vs. B2C, let’s examine how they differ when it comes to fulfilling and delivering orders.

Pre-Purchase Stage

When it comes to the pre-purchasing stage, B2B and B2C warehouses differ in the following ways:

Purchase Stage

During the point of purchase, B2B and B2C warehouses face differences when it comes to the:

Post-Purchase Stage

After a purchase is made, it’s up to B2B and B2C warehouses to gather and ship the product. While both must work to fulfill their orders, they handle the following things differently:

Paving the Way Through Effective Mentorship

As with everything else we do at Span Tech, our leadership development program was created with care and precision. While reflecting on past success is important, we realized it’s even more crucial to look to the future of the industry. This inspired us to examine our team and develop our process of succession planning.

Span Tech’s organization is made up of innovative leaders who excel in thinking outside of the box. Our mission is to educate, inspire and help them perform their duties at their absolute best. The new Span Tech leadership development program is intended to do just that.

Through expert training and guidance, this program helps develop excellent leadership and management skills. That way, when it’s time for one of our valued employees to retire and pass the torch, the transition will be easy and without error.

A Closer Look at the Program

A key factor of this program involves committed mentors who are capable and willing to see it through. Our mentors have an altruistic mindset and focus on what’s best for Span Tech as a whole. With the utmost dedication to quality and customer service, they’ll apply core values and critical thinking to the future of Span Tech and plan for generations to come.

Will we allow something we invested so much blood, sweat and tears in to flourish under amazing leadership or collapse under the lack thereof? The leadership development program is here to help ensure the latter won’t occur.

Span Tech’s leaders are those who step up to serve as mentors with a vision. They have invested themselves in creating something amazing, and they want to see that creation grow and thrive for future generations. Though the employees stepping out to take on the responsibility of personal growth may be doing it for a future position or promotion, they are gaining so much more. They will have the opportunity to work with subject matter experts the likes of which most companies struggle to find.

Our mentors possess a collective wealth of knowledge, so every mentee will exit the program ready to take on any challenging project with success. Additionally, they’ll understand what it takes to be an effective leader in a competitive industry.