The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world upside down. As a result, the economy and everything else is feeling its impacts. One of the areas that have been hit significantly is the supply chain. With the social distancing and lockdown measures implemented in different countries in different regions, the movement of goods has encountered bottlenecks that have never been experienced before. With the rates of infection now increasing by the day, governments and different agencies are rushing to develop a viable vaccine that will protect millions of people around the world from death occasioned by the virus.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration is coming up with a New Era Smarter Food Safety. This is a strategic blueprint that is aimed at protecting the nation’s food supply by building on over a decade of old-fashioned Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This marks a new beginning in the safety of food with regard to the adoption of technology and other tools to make the supply chain not only traceable but transparent as well. It aims at reducing the illnesses that are caused by food by enhancing traceability, improving response to outbreaks, enhancing predictive analytics. It also seeks to address the changing business models and establish strong food safety cultures.

UPS, one of the transport and logistics bigwigs has teamed up with Softeon, a supply chain solutions firm, to come up with a warehouse execution system (WES) in an effort to make distribution centres smarter and efficient. This comes at a time when the world is experiencing massive adoption of smart technologies accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. The new system will allow faster order intake and fulfilment, that will enable customers to get their orders on time.