An Overview of the Manufacturing Disruption During Covid-19 Pandemic

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An Overview of the Manufacturing Disruption
During Covid-19 Pandemic
Anthea Johnson Writer at Knowledge-peak.com
creates content to support http//www.knowledge-pe
ak.com
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The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic came as
a heavy disaster to the world economy. The
manufacturing sector in India had come to a near
standstill. Regular lockdowns severely impacted
manufacturing activities not only in India but
across the globe, thereby disrupting the overall
economy. Several factories were shuttered due to
Government restrictions and failing demands,
while few others were facing a significant
upsurge in demand for essential supplies. The
impact of the immediate crisis While India
fairly recovered from the first wave, however,
the second wave hit the country hardest in terms
of fatalities. The second wave led to more
restrictions on businesses a slowdown in
labor-intensive industries, including
manufacturing, construction, and infrastructure,
due to the reduced labor availability during the
pandemic.

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First wave During the first wave of the COVID-19
pandemic, the lockdown imposed restrictions on
the movement of people and products, impacting
workforce capacity and disrupting the supply
chain on a large scale, thereby making nearly all
manufacturing work languish. To add more, the
manufacturing sector was affected in several ways
during the outbreak of COVID-19 low-scale
operations that negatively impacted production
volumes, liquidity crunch, capacity
underutilization, weaker demand, labor shortage,
and special regulatory restrictions. It
ultimately affected the turnover and revenue of
the companies. Import of heavy machinery and
equipment on which Indias manufacturing
industries are dependent has been shrinking.


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The production cuts in the manufacturing sector
also suspended the leading operations of Micro,
Small, and Medium ventures occupied in small
spare parts manufacturing. A large chunk of
manufacturing workers returned to their nativity
because of the uncertainties and lack of income
due to the sporadic lockdown imposed in the
country. The United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) conducted a
survey that shows that manufacturing in India
nearly stopped post the imposition of the
lockdown last year, except for the rice milling
sector. However, the production of rice
reportedly dropped by half. Other manufacturing
industries severely affected by the COVID-19
pandemic were metals and chemical products,
automotive, motor vehicles, textiles, machinery
and equipment, and many more to add. Most
importantly, people lost their jobs, as a direct
outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Second waves The countrys hope for recovery was
thrust into further uncertainty as cases
increased rapidly toward the end of the 2020
financial year. As several states reimposed
lockdowns and restrictions to mitigate the loss
of life in the second wave, the manufacturing
sector further got hit. The widespread
devastation instilled fear among people. It led
to individuals being confined to their homes,
more out of fear. As a result, the demand for
petrol and diesel dropped massively. The number
of people working during the second wave was much
smaller compared to the first wave, which
translated to slower economic recovery. The
announcement of multiple lockdowns continued to
sluggish or even temporarily stopped the flow of
raw materials and finished goods, thereby
extensively disrupting the manufacturing
sector.

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COVID-19 impact on supply-chain Companies
reported that the pandemic played havoc with
their workforce. While corporate employees were
asked to work from home, the same could not be
implemented for factory workers. As a result,
high-tech manufacturing industries and industrial
products are labor-intensive industries that had
to stop their operational functions to reduce
worker exposure to COVID-19. The situation had
severe implications for the demand and supply
chains underpinning manufacturing operations. In
short, the manufacturing units and the production
networks failed to withstand the pressure of
lockdowns and other safety protocols.

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