Supply Chain

With the COVID-19 pandemic straining medical supply chains for more than two years, operation experts are still grappling with daily disruptions.

(CNN) Dozens of international flights loaded with baby formula have already come into the United States, but formula stock rates are not improving. Experts say it will take at least another couple months for this to change, as both supply levels and consumers' perspectives level out.

As supply chains face new and unprecedented pressures on a number of fronts, companies look to emerging technologies to automate tasks, get intelligence and become more resilient.

It began with cleaning supplies and toilet paper in early 2020. Baby formula shortages created concerns among mothers with infants. Most recently, tampon shortages have surfaced. Automobile parts and computer chips available from multiple providers scattered around the globe have supply chains that are particularly fragile. Energy prices are at record levels. All these shortages are driving prices higher, which in turn are impacting numerous other consumer products and services.

Over the past three years, the U.S. government has intervened frequently to shield American consumers from the pain of wrenching global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, the Ever Given's misadventures in the Suez Canal, and labor shortages. Last October, President Joe Biden's newly created White House Supply Chain Disruption Task Force convinced port workers and terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles to keep the facility running 24/7 to avert a Christmas supply chain crisis. This week, Congress passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act that is aimed at clearing red tape and backlogs in U.S. ports to ease shortages and delays.

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The tampon shortage, like that of baby formula, is the result of many factors, including too few manufacturers, not enough trained workers, droughts that have affected cotton crops, and the war in Ukraine driving up prices of raw materials.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, international supply chains were still fragile after the massive impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Although the devastating invasion is not causing the same kind of impact on shipping routes as the initial quarantine lockdowns of March 2020, when planes were grounded and ports closed all over the world, it’s nonetheless affecting supply chains enough to cause significant difficulties for organisations and individuals the world over.

The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining table in San Francisco, where the union representing all West Coast dockworkers is hashing out a new contract with the assembled bosses of maritime shipping.

The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining table in San Francisco, where the union representing all West Coast dockworkers is hashing out a new contract with the assembled bosses of maritime shipping.