COVID-19: New Manufacturing Strategy Required.

It's become quite apparent that relying on China to produce EVERYTHING is a mistake when it comes top strategic supplies.

The fact that the Chinese government requisitioned western-owned PPE factories for their own ends shows that the Chinese cannot be relied on to produce the goods (literally) in a crisis.

The supply chain for PPE to the NHS needs to be reviewed and some form of production needs to be encouraged within the UK's borders. Security of supply needs to be written into procurement contracts.

The same goes for drugs. Most of the world's drugs are made in China or India and not within the UK's borders. Again this needs looking at and contractual obligations for supply need to be reinforced.

The pandemic has show the fatal flaw in the globalist ideology. When it comes to the crunch, global supply chains cannot guarantee supply. No matter how much capacity there is, centralisation in cheap labour markets only reduces security of supply.

Next time it might not be a pandemic. An asteroid could drop on China or India and a huge chunk of manufacturing capability would be removed from the world.

Governments need to learn that leaving things up to market forces is not the best policy when it comes to strategic supplies. Yes you can have stockpiles of PPE for the NHS, but to ensure continuity of supply in times of crisis, you'd have to keep a huge amount of kit.

The problem then is one of shelf life and expiry dates. The NHS normally doesn't use enough kit to refresh stocks quickly enough to use a mountain of equipment within the expiry dates. We've already seen that with equipment sent out to NHS trusts with original expiry dates expired.

But the issue is not restricted to PPE. International shipping across the world has been impacted by the virus and it's proving difficult to get parts shipped from one side of the world to the other as countries close borders.

Even for us, posting or couriering parts out to customers around the world is proving difficult as the number of flights that could carry the packages have been reduced by 80%. Only courier companies Like DHL and FedEx that have their own aircraft are able to keep close to a normal timetable.

Hopefully this will be another nail in the coffin for globalism. Paying a small premium for a product to ensure continuity of supply is a price worth paying. Global corporations need to understand this. Governments across the world need to take this message on board and adjust procurement strategies accordingly, favouring local supply where possible.

It's not just about jobs, or xenophobia as the globalists would have chanted before the pandemic. There is some sense in keeping jobs and production within our own borders.

Hopefully it's a lesson learned.