FREMONT, CA: Innovations in healthcare will be essential to the next generation of supply chains due to higher turnaround times to respond to emergencies. The pandemic pharmaceutical sector, like any other industry, witnessed the supply chain disruption. With the lockdown restrictions being partially uplifted, the production activity can begin again, as there some relief in the movement of essential goods. 
Challenges Faced by the Supply Chain
The supply chain has been massively impacted by the cancellation of passenger flights and reduced freighter capacities. The pandemic impacted the ocean, as well as land carries. There was a massive disconnection between ground realities and the notification, however throughout the lockdown, there was more clarity as to how to overcome the challenges around land transportation. While the government is performing all the measures to ease the movement of essentials, the supply chain has been impacted because of the cancellation of International flights resulting in the capacity reduction for Air Freight, congestion at Airports, shortage of drivers, Seaports & availability of adequate labor across the country. The availability of transport capacity was also a significant concern during lockdown scenarios where most drivers returned to their home base.
Steps Taken
It was essential to ensure that the movement of essential commodities, especially the health care supply chain, remains stable at this critical time. For this, companies have come up with various alternatives around passenger flights and freighter cancellations. The initiative has been undertaken to support the customers who are into healthcare, continuous manufacturing, and mission-critical applications, mostly vaccine manufacturing, personal protective equipment, and health care equipment. Along with the charter facilities, security escort services are also being engaged for the safe movement of cargo to mitigate any challenges in the current situation. In this process, companies had to customize their transport flows and transit time depending on the zones or districts they were crossing as the interpretation of rules from zone-to-zone and district-to-district was very different.
