MPO reached out to members of industry to address the following question:

What do you expect will be one significant change within medtech development and/or manufacturing as a result of the pandemic?

In response, Anthony Bracale, strategic business development manager at Hobson & Motzer, said:

Specific to this discussion within the medtech development and manufacturing arenas, the COVID-19 pandemic is unique for a variety of reasons. Unlike other events that have been either contained regionally, such as a natural disaster, or outbreaks which have not had such devastating contagion, illness, and fatality impacts, COVID-19 hit hard on all major fronts. As you read the following list, consider that this impacted the world simultaneously, making it a particularly crippling event for medtech and manufacturing globally.

• Complete lockdowns of countries and regions
• Complete shutdown of production
• Substantial initial delays of freight and transportation services
• Labor force shutdowns; reductions due to quarantine, illness, or death; and layoffs
• Inability to source and deliver raw materials and resources to satisfy production levels
• Instability and unpredictability in virus spikes and recurring shutdowns
• Medical sector particularly hard hit due to insufficient PPE supply when it needed it the most
• Ineffective stockpiles, and distribution infrastructure ill-prepared
• Contingency and redundancy strategies hamstrung
• Elective surgeries put on hold; impact felt throughout medical ecosystem

While a host of supply chains were interrupted, the most visible one—due to its vital necessity—became exemplary of what can (and did) go wrong when we aren’t prepared with congruency in our supply chains: PPE. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the world felt a sharp and immediate impact to their supply chains for critically required PPE and other related goods needed to protect caregivers and help reduce the transmission of the virus. As 2020 pressed on, nearly every industry (medtech included) that sources goods from the Far East experienced supply chain continuity problems, many of which still persist today.

Resiliency Reset
Some of the hardest lessons learned from the pandemic relate to supply chain resiliency and sourcing strategy. It is likely that very little could have fully prepared us for this global pandemic, particularly from a virus that originated in the very country that dominates so much of our global manufacturing: China (also the world’s largest producer of PPE). As they sought to defend their own people against COVID-19, its domestic demand for PPE skyrocketed, resulting in lower PPE exports to other nations, which exacerbated the problem.

China, quite by design, has set itself up to be the towering leader in PPE and leaves us wondering if the cost savings we thought we were getting in outsourcing—depending on their supply of items such as masks, as an example—is worth the price hikes we’re experiencing.

This pandemic highlighted the extent to which many industries are reliant on offshore supply for products, components, or raw materials. In the case of PPE, it is not overstating it to say the impact of a failed supply chain could, quite literally, be a matter of life and death. When we apply the supply chain continuity lens to the broader market, there aren’t redundant suppliers outside of that geography with the ability to scale or balance out supply in the face of an interruption. These concerns are driving forward thinking that will lead to a lasting change in sourcing—for medtech and other industries.

Corporations—large and small—have faced reckonings, forcing them to redefine best practices to mitigate end-to-end supply chain risk. This includes how best to support operations geographically, and ensuring transparency and accountability for where companies produce and sell their products. In America, that means looking inward—assessing the value of a more local supply chain, and looking to companies that are capable of competing in a global marketplace to mitigate risk in whatever forms it may present itself.

The Technology Equation
Many American manufacturing companies, including Hobson & Motzer, have accelerated automation plans, which offer a tiered solution. Higher automation in manufacturing provides for greater social distancing on the manufacturing floor while increasing overall productivity, capacity, and efficiency of the U.S. manufacturing base.

A noteworthy and significant change related to COVID-19 has been the adaptation of new technologies that have allowed business to carry on. These include technologies that may have been around for some time, and have now been put to the test by the masses—most have proven to be vital and have likely cemented their presence in business models moving forward. These are the platforms that allow for remote working, video conferencing apps, cloud-based collaboration tools, proliferation in eCommerce capabilities in B2B and B2C companies alike, among other platforms and apps. These innovations have led to work scenarios that many companies would not have considered pre-COVID, but may now never look back. These technologies have innovated commerce over the last year, making what seemed insurmountable obstacles now standard operating procedures.

Safeguarding Progress
As these great innovations move us forward, so too is the requisite need for increased security. In the U.S., the FBI reports cybercrimes are up 300 percent in 2020, so while technology has been a friend to commerce, it is not without risk. This requires that companies remain proactive in instituting cybersecurity measures and monitoring, along with strategies and analysis that extend to their vendors. COVID exposed many previously unforeseen and unanticipated vulnerabilities and blind spots in the supply chain—technology failures among them. Even without the pandemic, we have become more dependent on cloud-based infrastructure to allow us real-time, omnipresent access to our production, quality, communication, and document systems. That dependence has increased exponentially with remote work models. Unfortunately, as Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report indicates, more than 25 percent of breaches take months or more to discover—six months, on average. The damage that can be done in that time, with your (or your vendor’s) information, can be disastrous. Back-up protocols are a must, as ransomware attacks can cripple businesses and organizations in an instant. There are many safeguards and experts available to help prevent this type of exposure, and it’s a smart business practice to include them in supply chain strategies into the future.

Self-Reliance
Clearly, we all thrive, due in large part, to a robust global economy—and we couldn’t serve our customers worldwide without it. The reality is that COVID-19 has forced us to take a closer look at our business practices, and each element of them. Whether we’re talking about sourcing locations, raw materials, production, automation innovation, technology adoption, or cybersecurity—we have to carefully consider how to retain self-reliance within our medical ecosystem. Self-supply equates to self-dependence and also shores up local economy, sustainability, and resiliency for day-to-day operations, as well as in times of crisis, when it may be particularly vital to do so.

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