COVID has been an enlightening exercise in appreciation. In our day to day lives we rarely appreciate the seemingly small things that seem small to us, because of highly complicated networks of processes that we never see are successful. COVID’s impact has shone a light into these day-to-day operational victories or failures. The end result prevented end customers from getting their products delivered the next day which can only be achieved because of a network of logistics companies & warehouses and a manufacturer’s slick ‘Just-In-Time’ production.
Long story short - from manufacturing your product and delivering it onto your doorstep, there are dozens of steps that have to happen with little to no delays. If one of the steps is delayed then everything becomes delayed. COVID added at least an extra week onto each step due to a shortage of workers which can add up to 12 weeks of a delay - this is why the most popular products such as dumbbells, toilet paper and PPE became so scarce. Even if the factory increased their production on day one, physically getting it from the producer to the customer became a nightmare and gauntlet of delays.
Your product is most likely manufactured 4 - 6 months before you ever receive it.
30 - 60 days to manufacture sub-components
20 - 30 days to manufacture final-assembly
30 - 45 days for transportation
10 days delivered to your door steps
In this blog I wanted to specifically talk about the delays in transportation - how did COVID affect transportation?
A few factors to first take into account:
There was a shortage of workers at warehouses and delivery drivers
Surge of demand due to panic buying
94% reduction in air transport over the course of 2 weeks
80% reduction in Sea Vessels going Hong Kong to the UK and US to the UK (and vice-versa)
COVID is still affecting us to date - 15 weeks later!
The odds of delivering anything suddenly were stacked against everyone unless it was manufactured locally as suddenly our reliance on international logistics chains suddenly collapsed. Any company who had stockpiles of products were in the perfect position however one of the core principles of being the most efficient when manufacturing products is minimising stock levels and only ordering what you need to produce that day or week. Rarely did manufacturing companies in the UK, EU, US or China had more than a week’s worth of product available. So finding any companies with large stockpiles of products, and the correct product, suddenly was like finding a needle in a haystack.
How did local producers help with COVID-19 and what are the steps for international exporters? Certainly eliminating international transportation will save you significant time. For example, sending a product from a factory in China to the UK, the international shipment can take the following steps:
Organise collection at the factory
Delivery truck goes from the factory to a China local warehouse
China warehouse processes shipments
Delivery truck transports the product to the China / Hong Kong border
China Customs export paperwork then passed onto Hong Kong Customs
Hong Kong Customs issues import / export paperwork
Product is sent from Customs to a local courier warehouse in Hong Kong
Local Hong Kong courier organises shipment via train, sea or a airport
Goods are checked once again and processed into another warehouse at the transport warehouse
Goods are booked into the Train, Sea Vessel or Airplane
Train freight 20 -30 days, Sea freight 30-40 days and Air freight 1 - 7 days
Your products arrive at final destination country port
Customs import clearance begins
Goods are booked into a UK courier
Courier is notified to pick up products from the port
Goods are delivered to a courier’s regional warehouse
Warehouse processes your product and places it into stock
Product is sold to a customer or to be delivered to your warehouse
Goods are booked into the system for local delivery
Goods are delivery to the buyer’s house or warehouse
Each of the above 20 steps requires a manual barcode scan that is someone’s job to do! Because of COVID there were shortages of staff along the whole supply chain so there was a 1 week delay along a lot of the above 20 steps which can cause up to a 20 week delay rather than the 4 weeks it should take!
Here is a simplified Flowchart of the 20 steps to help you visualise the steps:
So companies found that their back-ups failed and their back-up back-up plans failed. Then as a last resort we would throw money at the problem, i.e paying for Air transport (1 week) rather than Sea transport (4 - 6 weeks) to get products delivered and express courier all parts…. This also failed because of highly complicated networks of processes that we never see are unsuccessful. There are no drivers, air transport has been decimated and all transport is prioritised to governments and medical supplies.
Other than hoping someone can locally produce your product, there was very little to do other than wait. Delivery companies would still tell you that there are no delays but when Air freight shipments are taking 6 weeks and Sea shipments are taking 10 weeks, you know there are delays.
This is why the most popular products such as dumbbells, toilet paper and PPE became so scarce - high demand and severe delays due to lack of staff - resulting in products stuck throughout our international logistics routes! Most likely gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere, waiting to be processed.
Therefore Next-day delivery was not possible during COVID-19 - it was the pinnacle of hundreds of victories by hundreds of people, carried out every day so that our international logistics shipments run smoothly.
Throughout COVID-19 Ardencfrat Technology continued to operate and worked closely with our logistics partners to minimise delays and ensure our products could still enter the UK. If you'd like help with exporting your products from China, please get in touch!
- Your friends at Ardencraft Technology
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