Our operation team’s commitment to the nation during COVID times: Mindray

COVID-19 brought disruption in supply chain, but Mindray India’s logistic team outperformed the crisis and ensured corona warriors were equipped with life-saving devices in a timely manner to save as many lives as possible.

The pandemic and its impact
India’s first COVID-19 case was reported early this year and there on there has been a steep rise in the number of cases. Today, we have more than 91 lacs (as on November 23, 2020) cases across the country.

To contain this pandemic, the Government of India (GOI) has initiated many measures to curb the transmission and spread, increase healthcare infrastructure and ensure availability of healthcare services. One of the most effective measures has been the imposition of country-wide lockdown. The lockdown was initiated with the Janata Curfew on March 22, 2020, and thereafter the lockdown has been imposed on a back to back basis in a phased manner.

The first and second phase of lockdown, which went up to May 3, 2020, brought the entire country to a complete halt. However, the third phase of lockdown, which started from May 4, 2020, saw a little relaxation. And when we were in the fourth phase of lockdown, conditions were much better for logistics movements though with some challenges.

Industries, markets and businesses all the world have been turned upside down by COVID-19 and this impact has been greatly felt by the medical device sector as well. The phased relaxation of the lockdown created a lot of confusion among industry and people. For instance, on one hand, medical devices distribution was permitted to operate, but there were no LSP’s available to support the supply chain.

On the international scenario, all the international passenger flights (except cargo flights) were suspended which caused serious challenges on the import side of the supply chain which in turn severely impact very badly effected (in regard to cost, time & capacity) the fulfillment of assignments.

Mindray India Operation committed to the cause
Nevertheless, with a strong will to stand strong for the nation and its people, Mindray India Operation Team strengthened its supply chain capacity to fulfill the expectation of the organisation and the nation. To make this happen, we obtained necessary permissions from the GOI to continue to work from the warehouse, while maintaining the necessary norms for safety and security.

Between March 25 to April 17, 2020, there was a complete closure of domestic logistics movement. No LSP’s were open to work. Neither any pick up was possible nor delivery was happening anywhere in the country which was a huge set back to us as we were having life-saving equipment in our inventory. But during the crisis hour, as a trusted partner for healthier Bharat, we were fighting to deliver the goods to our customers. Post-April 17, 2020 a few carriers have appeared in the field with minimal destination service but with a huge incremental cost.

To handle this situation, we had a brainstorming session within the operation team and unanimously decided to take the charge of Logistics directly in our hand. We called our FTL Logistic vendor and unanimously decided to take the charge of Logistics directly in our hand. We called our FTL logistic vendor and shared our plan with him on despatching the long haul big trucks from two of our warehouses, i.e. New Delhi & Mumbai to different locations of the country and en-route, we clubbed as much as destination possible and the result was magnificent.

Having said that, operations are slowly coming back to normal.

But still, life has to go on and we all have to learn to live in the new normal. A lot of changes will happen in the supply chain ecosystem in the coming times. Operationally, we are adapting to these changes swiftly and all challenges will be dealt with accordingly as we move forward.

Exceptional outcomes
Benefits that have been derived out of this logic are as below.

Productivity: We have saved a good amount of freight in this process.

Speed: As the trucks were moving from point to point, therefore, delivery TAT was very much impressive.

Predictability: All the trucks were fitted with Geo Tagging (GPS) hence, the movement was very much predictable.

Wide coverage: As these are direct trucks, even earlier non-serviceable areas were also got covered.

Key learning
Operationally, in order to stay relevant and afloat, we have learnt, unlearnt and relearnt many things during this period, few of which are below.

• Logistically, we’ve turned this crisis into a opportunity.
• The positive part of this logistics breakthrough should be adopted on a regular basis.
• Easy approaching to different ministerial and regulatory level and developed good contacts.
• Emotional team bonding, which is crucial to excelling in a crisis situation.
• A focused approach to get the work done when the resource is limited.
• Innovation is necessary to ease out the problem statement.

Asis Bandyopadhyay, Head of Operations, Mindray Medical India Pvt. Ltd.

MB Bureau