By Greg Creason
The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in partnership with QAD and Wayne State University today announced the release of a new report based on the organizations’ Operational Restart and Recovery Survey initiative. Taking its name from the survey itself, the multi-industry, multinational “Operational Restart and Recovery Survey Report” reflects lessons learned and best practices from recent and ongoing operational restart experiences as global supply chains work toward a full recovery.
Conducted from June 10–July 3, 2020, this collaborative survey effort was rooted in a desire to better understand how organizations around the globe have responded to COVID-19 complications and challenges, including restarting operations at their facilities after partial or complete shutdowns. In total, more than 700 respondents from more than 20 countries—including the U.S., Mexico, China, India, Brazil, Germany, and South Korea—provided unique insights and influenced the final report.
AIAG director of commercial services Lang Ware explains: “The diversity of our respondent population allowed us to create a full and nuanced dataset that affords readers the opportunity to benchmark their company’s current risk plans against those of other organizations. Additionally, given the dominance of survey respondents representing mid-sized organizations, the report effectively captures the voice of the lower tiers, offering perspective-specific insights that are often not as clear or readily available.”
Following an introductory executive summary in which demographic notes, key findings and other conclusions are offered, subsequent areas of the report focus on feedback provided in response to the survey’s prompts themselves. Beginning with respondent population data (e.g., the primary industry respondents’ organizations serve, the type of organization they work for, etc.) the report quickly segues into more detailed segments on business impacts of the pandemic.
“While virtually all organizations experienced supply, demand or other disruptions in response to the pandemic, this survey confirmed the timing and extent of these disturbances,” explains QAD’s director of automotive, Terry Onica. “Respondent data also highlighted the complexities of restarting operations in the wake of partial or complete shutdowns—even for organizations who were fully prepared to address COVID-19 in their facilities. On a strongly positive note, however, most organizations responded to these challenges with agility and innovation, using numerous tools and resources to facilitate restart readiness and overcome disruptions.”
Beginning with the various resources organizations used (or are using) for restarting operations, the report details survey participants’ responses regarding their organization’s COVID-19 preparedness, their expectations for returning to pre-COVID-19 revenue levels, the most challenging activities impacting a successful restart, what made them start preparing for disruptions, and much more.
Wayne State University’s Lori Sisk, lecturer of global supply chain management concludes: “In its entirety, the report provides an overview of how various industries—including automotive, complex manufacturing, industrial, life sciences and healthcare, and consumer goods—responded to the pandemic’s unique challenges. This data is incredibly valuable as it not only helps organizations currently going through their own restart and recovery processes, but also supports proactive efforts to plan and prepare for future disruptions. Furthermore, as Wayne State University and AIAG continue to work on training opportunities for the next generation of supply chain leaders, this data will support those efforts as well—better preparing our future leaders for success.”
Learn more: https://go.aiag.org/restart-survey-report
Reprinted with permission from AIAG.
