The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) wreaked havoc in many areas of society. However, one of the areas that were affected the most is the transport and logistics sectors. In some countries and within the US, for instance, transport of products and goods almost came to a standstill except for some essential products and services that were needed to solve the health problems experienced at the height of the pandemic. While the essential services were given priority, they also struggled to deliver the necessary products. Like transportation services, manufacturing also suffered due to challenges in supply chains, which affected the availability of raw materials. These supply chain concepts are the new definitions to live by if you are to survive in the event of another disruption.

Outsourcing production to other countries where products such as clothes, computer chips, medicine and computer chips was once a simple thing to do. It led to value through design capabilities in other countries and low cost of production. Many businesses used inexpensive labour abroad to assemble products and global distributors who would manufacture and deliver materials for American firms. However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen massive challenges in the supply chain, which have stressed the movement of products to unprecedented levels. With other challenges such as high levels of supplies coming to the US, geopolitical disruptions, the pandemic itself and the aging infrastructure, there have been unprecedented challenges in global markets, most of which are caused by disruption of supply routes.

Risk management is one of the critical areas in supply chain and procurement. At the heart of this is the development of resilience of strategies to safeguard supply chains, ensuring business continuity. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is clear that the lack of a comprehensive resilience plan can lead to challenges of high magnitude for businesses. As such, it is crucial to have a plan that comes into play if a problem, such as a disaster, occurs. Supply chain resilience is the ability of a supply chain to prepare for and adapt to unexpected events. The resilience plan, therefore, leads to the adjustment of the company to sudden disruptive events that adversely affect the supply chain’s performance. To continue functioning during and after disruption, an organization needs a resilience plan that has the following characteristics: