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Supply Chain Link Fu
Apr. 6th, 2020 09:43 amhttps://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0
"In short, the toilet paper industry is split into two, largely separate markets: commercial and consumer. The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic — not because they’re making more trips to the bathroom, but because they’re making more of them at home. With some 75% of the U.S. population under stay-at-home orders, Americans are no longer using the restrooms at their workplace, in schools, at restaurants, at hotels, or in airports."
I had been wondering about this specific issue. It is satisfying to see someone write about it.
The article cites a Georgia-Pacific source that homes would be using 40% more with everyone staying home. I sort of wonder about this. I do not think it is JUST dogs who pee more when they are anxious. And I know lots of people who are anxiety eating try to divert the consumption of food to drinking water, as a Least Bad option -- which means more peeing and not just directly due to anxiety. Finally, the article observes that redirecting commercial suppliers to retail outlets is hard, because the product is different (fewer layers, more recycled content). I have to wonder, tho, if we use less total volume of product in a commercial context (work, restaurants) because of the one-ply / two-ply difference. It can be hard to gauge and no one cared before and no one has the capacity to measure it now.
This article also talks about delivery windows to stores. One of the things that pops up in How To Adjust the Supply Chain is increasing window size to help truckers actually arrive within the window. Obviously, that causes additional downstream trouble.
CBS News has a nice sidelight on a 1973 TP shortage, caused by Johnny Carson joke. There really were fuel shortages, and the meat scare was definitely oversold (har de har har) but the Johnny Carson TP joke caused a very real TP panic:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-paper-shortage-of-1973/
It does make me wonder: how many people panic bought in 1973 and are panic buying now? The boomers ruin everything? A pointer in there to a pre-Now but very recent documentary about it.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/supply-chains-resilient-covid-19/
Longer term thinking here: get everything off paper, because paper needs people to read it, and lockdowns mean no people there to read it. This particular piece is quite pro-blockchain for bills of lading; I am no fan of blockchain because So Much Crazy but this does seem like one of the logical uses of distributed ledgers. Their last point is also interesting: do not assume this is a one time event.
https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/31114-food-supply-chain-slows-around-the-world-on-trucking-bottlenecks
This is a great summary piece about trucking. I noticed when Pennsylvania shut down, they did a stupid and made it impossible for truckers (closing rest stops, truck stops) but the truckers association communicated clearly and it was corrected relatively quickly. That event is mentioned in passing here, and it got enough coverage in the press as it was happening that I think it signaled clearly to everyone doing later essential services orders that they had to allow not just truckers, but services that are required for truckers. The quoted truckers show their commitment and strong sense of service (if we do not drive, you all starve -- I do not know how much stronger a sense of service there is, really) and also a lively awareness of what aspects of disease transmission they can control.
Trucking is often (correctly) associated with the spread of disease -- in past decades, transmission of chlamydia and other STDs followed trucking routes on more than one continent. But disease goes where humans go. And while we need to slow people moving around, we cannot stop people moving around. Unless we all want to starve. I am glad to see that many in the community of drivers who we all rely on so heavily are all taking such good care. We are indebted to them, every moment of every day.
https://www.mhlnews.com/global-supply-chain/article/21128016/supply-chain-stabilization-task-force-created-to-fight-covid19
This has a lot of detail on a FEMA task for aimed at keeping the medical supply chain functioning / improve its functioning from production through delivery to end users. Currently, a google news search on supply chain produces a LOT of articles that are recent and very relevant, and for me at least, about half of them are about medical supplies. This article goes into a little detail about the supply flights that are being run I believe on military planes, organized by this FEMA task force.
I will probably come back later to do more of this. Right now, gotta go do the education part of the Now.
"In short, the toilet paper industry is split into two, largely separate markets: commercial and consumer. The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic — not because they’re making more trips to the bathroom, but because they’re making more of them at home. With some 75% of the U.S. population under stay-at-home orders, Americans are no longer using the restrooms at their workplace, in schools, at restaurants, at hotels, or in airports."
I had been wondering about this specific issue. It is satisfying to see someone write about it.
The article cites a Georgia-Pacific source that homes would be using 40% more with everyone staying home. I sort of wonder about this. I do not think it is JUST dogs who pee more when they are anxious. And I know lots of people who are anxiety eating try to divert the consumption of food to drinking water, as a Least Bad option -- which means more peeing and not just directly due to anxiety. Finally, the article observes that redirecting commercial suppliers to retail outlets is hard, because the product is different (fewer layers, more recycled content). I have to wonder, tho, if we use less total volume of product in a commercial context (work, restaurants) because of the one-ply / two-ply difference. It can be hard to gauge and no one cared before and no one has the capacity to measure it now.
This article also talks about delivery windows to stores. One of the things that pops up in How To Adjust the Supply Chain is increasing window size to help truckers actually arrive within the window. Obviously, that causes additional downstream trouble.
CBS News has a nice sidelight on a 1973 TP shortage, caused by Johnny Carson joke. There really were fuel shortages, and the meat scare was definitely oversold (har de har har) but the Johnny Carson TP joke caused a very real TP panic:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-great-toilet-paper-shortage-of-1973/
It does make me wonder: how many people panic bought in 1973 and are panic buying now? The boomers ruin everything? A pointer in there to a pre-Now but very recent documentary about it.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/supply-chains-resilient-covid-19/
Longer term thinking here: get everything off paper, because paper needs people to read it, and lockdowns mean no people there to read it. This particular piece is quite pro-blockchain for bills of lading; I am no fan of blockchain because So Much Crazy but this does seem like one of the logical uses of distributed ledgers. Their last point is also interesting: do not assume this is a one time event.
https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/31114-food-supply-chain-slows-around-the-world-on-trucking-bottlenecks
This is a great summary piece about trucking. I noticed when Pennsylvania shut down, they did a stupid and made it impossible for truckers (closing rest stops, truck stops) but the truckers association communicated clearly and it was corrected relatively quickly. That event is mentioned in passing here, and it got enough coverage in the press as it was happening that I think it signaled clearly to everyone doing later essential services orders that they had to allow not just truckers, but services that are required for truckers. The quoted truckers show their commitment and strong sense of service (if we do not drive, you all starve -- I do not know how much stronger a sense of service there is, really) and also a lively awareness of what aspects of disease transmission they can control.
Trucking is often (correctly) associated with the spread of disease -- in past decades, transmission of chlamydia and other STDs followed trucking routes on more than one continent. But disease goes where humans go. And while we need to slow people moving around, we cannot stop people moving around. Unless we all want to starve. I am glad to see that many in the community of drivers who we all rely on so heavily are all taking such good care. We are indebted to them, every moment of every day.
https://www.mhlnews.com/global-supply-chain/article/21128016/supply-chain-stabilization-task-force-created-to-fight-covid19
This has a lot of detail on a FEMA task for aimed at keeping the medical supply chain functioning / improve its functioning from production through delivery to end users. Currently, a google news search on supply chain produces a LOT of articles that are recent and very relevant, and for me at least, about half of them are about medical supplies. This article goes into a little detail about the supply flights that are being run I believe on military planes, organized by this FEMA task force.
I will probably come back later to do more of this. Right now, gotta go do the education part of the Now.