Medical Device Supply Chain Backup

By Sarah Beale

You might have seen the memes that point out 2022 is pronounced the same way as “2020, too.” It’s humorous, but also painfully on point. No one wants a repeat of 2020, but the pandemic is reminiscent of a certain Journey song — it goes on, and on, and on, and on. Specifically, problems with supply chain management are giving medical device manufacturers a bad case of déjà vu all over again.

It pays to have backup plans, and the supply chain is no different. Constantly fluctuating COVID-19 protocols and transportation issues continue to plague the industry. It’s impractical to think that the medical device supply chain can be completely domestic, but there are steps that can be taken to deal with these problems.

You can't necessarily predict the future, but you can identify and mitigate risks to their supply chain, starting with having multiple potential suppliers to tap into in case one is inaccessible. Further preparation can be found in investing in software solutions that provide ways to collect all of a company’s data and analyze it for better decision-making.