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Poole College of Management
Supply Chain Resource Cooperative

Coronavirus and Supply Chain Management

The SCRC’s Supply Chain Resources in Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

COVID-19 Supply Chain View from the Field

Rob Handfield

Welcome to the SCRC “Coronavirus and Supply Chain Management” website. I have been involved in COVID supply chain-related issues since the beginning of the pandemic, working with a diverse group of people and organizations, including Major Dan Finkenstadt, PhD and Pete Guinto, JD from the US Air Force, the Joint Acquisition Task Force, the Wilson College of Textiles, the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Public Spend Forum and various other news outlets.

Given the amount of content the NC State team has been involved in pertaining to knowledge on the shortfalls in PPE, ventilators, pharmaceuticals, food, and other areas impacted by supply chain disruptions due to COVID, we decided to aggregate all of this information in one place and make it available to everyone who wants to learn more about COVID’s impact on the supply chain. This site is intended for use by students, faculty, and anyone who wants to learn more about how they can help during this global crisis.

— Dr. Robert Handfield
Executive Director, Supply Chain Resource Cooperative
Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management

Supply chain coronavirus updates

June 11, 2023

The Disastrous Response of the Federal Government to the COVID-19 pandemic

A recent paper published in the PAR Journal, written by myself, Andrea Patrucco, Zhaohui Wu, Christoper Yukins, and Tanner Slaughter, reveals some insights into the reasons for failure of the…

December 13, 2021

SCRC Supply Chain Index contributes again to the 2021 Wall Street Journal Top 250 Best Managed Companies

This year, as in the past five years, our supply chain index contributed to the overall ranking of firms in the top 250 best managed companies, as ranked by the…

October 26, 2021

The Increasing Role of Climate Change in Supply Chain Disruptions

Major supply chain disruptions due to weather-related incidents are on the rise, and one can’t dismiss these as a “once-in-a-century” event any more.  The Texas freeze and Hurricane Ida severely…

food supply chain – coronavirus

May 04, 2021

The Rise of Robots in Restaurant Kitchens

The utilization of robots in the kitchen is a growing trend, and this is due to an expansion in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. As reported by Swamini Kulkarni…

July 09, 2020

Automation in the Meat Packing Industry is on the Horizon

An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed the emerging technology of automation in the meat packing industry.  This is no doubt a harbinger of more automation to come not…

April 23, 2020

The Negative Effects of Shifting Food Supply Chains

By Carson Powell Food suppliers are having to make the tough shift from restaurants to grocery stores as COVID-19 keeps restaurant doors closed. Rob Handfield, executive director of the Supply Chain…

coronavirus impact on supply chains

November 28, 2021

Five Myths About the Supply Chain Heading Into 2022

This article was originally published by The Washington Post here. Shelves are empty. Online orders take much longer to arrive. The media is warning of a Christmas devoid of presents.…

November 23, 2021

Maybe its time for consumers to consume less…Market Satiation as a new supply chain strategy

The current set of supply chain disruptions is being set off by a combination of COVID cases and energy disruptions in manufacturing hubs around the world, labor shortages, lack of…

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re-thinking healthcare supply chains after covid

March 31, 2021

Documenting the Response of State Procurement Officers to the COVID Crisis

The COVID-19 emergency will be remembered as one of the most devastating disasters in modern history with impacts that rippled across all sectors of the global economy and societies. One…

February 23, 2021

How Confident is the U.S. in the Vaccine Roll-out Plan?

Professor Dan Finkenstadt and I have completed a recent analysis of relative attitudes towards the COVID vaccine’s effectiveness and distribution plan. This survey was conducted over the last four weeks,…

February 10, 2021

What is causing the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain disruption?

Today’s blog is contributed by Ankita Pundir and Mayur Patil, two Industrial Engineering students who worked on creating these insights as part of the SCRC’s COVID-19 research team. “What’s behind…

developing supply chain immunity to future shocks

November 23, 2021

Maybe its time for consumers to consume less…Market Satiation as a new supply chain strategy

The current set of supply chain disruptions is being set off by a combination of COVID cases and energy disruptions in manufacturing hubs around the world, labor shortages, lack of…

October 26, 2021

The Increasing Role of Climate Change in Supply Chain Disruptions

Major supply chain disruptions due to weather-related incidents are on the rise, and one can’t dismiss these as a “once-in-a-century” event any more.  The Texas freeze and Hurricane Ida severely…

covid-19 webinars and videos

November 30, 2021

Supply Chain Crisis Could Disrupt Holiday Shopping

(Via CBS News): About 63 million Americans were expected to take part in Cyber Monday shopping despite potential shipping delays caused by supply chain backlogs. CBS News’ Meg Oliver reports…

March 30, 2021

The Close Ties Between Real Estate and Supply Chains Uncovered: The Colliers-SCRC Webinar Reveals It All!

I hosted an incredibly informative webinar today with real estate experts Bill Condon and Matt McGregor of Colliers International  for a “fireside chat”. We spoke about a number of seemingly diverse topics:…

February 11, 2021

Expert Panel Covers Critical Issues in COVID Vaccine Promotion and Distribution

The Supply Chain Resource Cooperative hosted two world leading experts, Professors Stacy Wood and Julie Swann, for a webinar on consumer marketing and vaccine distribution on Friday February 5, which…

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View additional resources from the Poole College of Management in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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