What changes in supply chains after Covid-19?

Starting in China in January 2020 and quickly spreading to global countries, including our own, Covid-19 caused many unprecedented problems in supply chains.

While companies are currently trying to overcome the crisis, I have made some humble predictions on how this situation could affect the chemistry of trade at the heart of logistics and supply chains.

• The experienced process will remove the JIT (Just-in-Time production without holding stock) trend from being a trend for a long time and will create a trend from stockless production towards stock-based production.

• The concept of unmanned operations will become more important in every step of logistics. Steps will be taken for the logistics sector—where institutions like Kosgep and Tübitak have not been generous with incentives—to utilize technology more extensively.

• The transition of all manual and paper-based logistics and customs activities to the digital arena will accelerate, and block-chain technologies will gain even more importance.

• The number of companies selling on online marketplaces will increase dramatically, and the number of logistics companies and business models serving this field will grow.

• The number of companies selling on international marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy, and eBay will increase. With the growth of this economy, the taxation and accounting procedures of sales in these marketplaces, which are currently grey areas, will be simplified and resolved.

• I think there will be a search for alternatives to Chinese sellers for a while, and a significant, though perhaps not massive, shift in production will occur towards countries that leverage this well.

• I predict that competitors from outside China will emerge within two years against China's largest export platform, alibaba.com.

• The ineffectiveness of large centralized warehouses during sudden demand surges has been witnessed. The use of small and decentralized warehouses will gain importance.

• Many companies were caught in this crisis with the wrong inventory. Data-informed stocking activities in logistics will increase. Interest in data will spread to the grassroots level.

• All legal barriers that could prevent home-office working for logistics companies will be eliminated, and ISO 9001 and customs regulations will be adjusted accordingly.

• BCP (Business Continuity Plans), which have generally been swept under the rug in the sector until now, will be included in ISO and other audits for the logistics sector.

• Arbitrary price hikes due to the monopoly of the most important Ro-Ro lines connecting our country to Europe lower our export price per kg. Logistics routes will be re-evaluated, and investments in alternative routes will increase.

• Commercial activities in export and logistics fields will be increased to capture more business from countries like Libya, which heavily import from Italy and China.

• I believe that startups providing solutions in any aspect of digital logistics, like Navlungo, will come to the fore and their numbers will increase.

If you would also like to share your predictions regarding the Covid-19 supply chain based on your own experience, I would highly appreciate your contribution.

You might also be interested in our content where we compiled the top 10 logistics sector trends of 2021: Top 10 Logistics Sector Trends in 2021