Covid-19 makes weaknesses visible and accelerates trends
Thomas Reiner | 01.07.2020
For many manufacturers, increased business in Corona times turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing. The reason is the rising costs. Virtually every item in the calculation quickly rises, whether production, personnel, raw materials, packaging material or logistics. There is talk of freight surcharges of up to 200 percent. The brand Frosta speaks of higher costs in the entire supply chain. The production costs alone would have increased by 5 percent.
Even if some of the costs remain above the pre-crisis level, the bottom line is that too often little remains. And the cost pressure will not decrease.
In logistics, for example, we will see further increases in burdens and costs. The logistics chain was already at the limit of Corona. The pandemic has given an additional boost to this trend and clearly demonstrates it.
Weaknesses and backlogs in agility and digital transformation can now hardly be hidden. The lack of agile skills is becoming just as obvious as a lack of strength and competence in the area of digital transformation. All this hurts much more today than it did five months ago.
Developments, trends and necessities are becoming more apparent in the Corona crisis than we are used to. We should make use of this “new” transparency. It allows us to see things more clearly and helps us to recognize them.
