Factors affecting the supply chain and their feasible solution:

1. Increased Costs Throughout the supply Chain

Major contributors to increased costs include:
• Rising price of fuel to transport goods by road, sea or air
• Increasing commodity prices raising the value of raw materials
• Higher labour costs from suppliers and makers
• Complex international logistics resulting in higher charges for storage, transfer and
management of products

Solution:
The simplest solution to the present issue would be improving your cost
control by executing your plans efficiently through constant monitoring. Through
efforts in providing warehouse efficiency are often wont to do so. so as for operations
to continue production and supply customers with good quality items at affordable
rates, adjustments need to be made to stay operations running.

2. Supply Chain Complexity thanks to Multiple Channels to Market:

Consumers buy products across multiple channels, and as routes to plug increase, the
underlying supply chain must adapt to supply the proper product to the proper
customer at right time.

Solution:
Supply chain must manage multiple supply chains, third parties and other
organizations to make sure an honest end customer experience, no matter how they
order and receive products. Supply chain got to develop variations on supply chain
processes to deal with each of the channels:
• E-Commerce websites selling on to consumers require fast last-mile delivery and
native logistics.
• Traditional retailers and wholesalers need large storage locations on the brink of
major metropolitan areas, combined with accurate internal control to make sure
product availability.
• Third-party marketplaces like Amazon require a deep understanding of fulfilment
options and shut compliance with their terms and conditions.
• Drop shipping retail requires fast international services in order that consumers
receive goods quickly.

3. Agriculture and Food Supply chains

COVID-19 is disrupting some activities in agriculture and provide chains. Preliminary

reports show that the non-availability of migrant labour is interrupting some
harvesting activities, particularly in northwest India where wheat and pulses are being
harvested. There are disruptions in supply chains due to transportation problems and
other issues. Prices have declined for wheat, vegetables, and other crops, yet
consumers are often paying more. Media reports show that the closure of hotels,
restaurants, sweet shops, and tea shops during the lockdown is already depressing
milk sales. Meanwhile, poultry farmers are badly hit thanks to misinformation,
particularly on social media, that chicken are the carriers of COVID-19.
Here are some measures are required to stay the agricultural sector and provide chains
working smoothly:

Keeping supply chains functioning well is crucial to food security.

• Farm populations must be shielded from the coronavirus to the extent possible by
testing and practicing social distancing.

• Farmers must have continued access to markets. this will be a mixture of personal
markets and government procurement.

• Small poultry and dairy farmers need more targeted help, as their pandemic-related
input supply and market-access problems are urgent.

• Farmers and agricultural workers should be included within the government’s

assistance package and any social protection programs addressing the crisis.

• As lockdown measures have increased, demand has risen for home delivery of
groceries and E-commerce. This trend should be encouraged and promoted.

• The government should promote trade by avoiding export bans and import
restrictions.

4. the availability Side:

When the products are able to be sent out from the manufacturing facility, the
corporate has got to decide where to send the products , what proportion to send and
thru which channels the products should be shipped and delivered to attenuate the
delivery and logistics costs and to maximize sales.

Solution:
Companies can overcome this challenge by optimizing the availability chain through
data, information and using automated processes to form decisions. If the knowledge
flow right from the manufacturing facility to sales is automated and centralized, this
problem are often solved to a greater extent. once you have real-time information, you
don’t need to await the knowledge to return in manually then make the choice . This
make the choice instantly on the idea of the knowledge available on a true time basis.

5.Transportation:
 Transportation is the backbone of the supply chain. With around 80-85 percent share
in the value terms currently, the percentage of transportation will always remain high
in coming years. However, the lockdown has imposed major restrictions, as a result
air, rail and road services are feeling the heat in fulfilling the demand supply. A large
part of Indian retail industry is still dependent on the transportation via roads and
therefore, despite the measures and support from the government, the supply chain
industry is feeling the pressure.

6.Manpower:
  Another major fallout here is unemployment. Due to social distancing and
lockdown restrictions, companies have to operate with a limited number of workers.
With millions of migrant workers back home or under lockdown, supply chain and
other retail business are struggling to deploy even 20 percent of the required labour
force. For maintaining inventory in warehouses, a skilled workforce is required,
which seems a distant probability in the new normal. Aside from this, factories of
essential goods have been operating with restricted working hours, reduced staff, and
shortage of trucks.

7.Hygiene: 
With hygiene becoming the new standard by which industries are being judged today,
the country’s supply chain management needs to put in that extra effort and time in
maintaining the sanitation process during transportation and delivery of products.

8.Safety Measures: 
Supply chain management is done in a closed environment involving a number of
workers (both skilled and unskilled), and with social distancing the new normal,
working in closed areas requires full proof safety measures to ensure employee
wellbeing.

9.Lack of Inventory: 
The sudden spread of COVID-19 caught most retailers unawares, not giving them
enough time to stock up on products. With the lockdown in place, retailers are left
with limited stock of products, with a lot of inventory stuck in the state specific or
local warehouses. This in turn is becoming a challenge in supply chain management.

Solution:
 Create transparency on multi-tier supply chains, establishing a list of critical
components, determining the origin of supply, and identifying alternative
sources.

 Estimate available inventory along the value chain—including spare parts and
after-sales stock—for use as a bridge to keep production running and enable
delivery to customers.

 Assess realistic final-customer demand and respond to (or, where possible,

contain) shortage-buying behaviour of customers.

 Optimize production and distribution capacity to ensure employee safety, such

as by supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) and engaging with
communication teams to share infection-risk levels and work-from-home
options. These steps will enable leaders to understand current and projected
capacity levels in both workforce and materials.

 Identify and secure logistics capacity, estimating capacity and accelerating,

where possible, and being flexible on transportation mode, when required.