COVID19 Life Science Supply Chain Impact March 27, 2020
Our Coronavirus Task Force is keeping up-to-date on the scientific supply chain. Read about our goals and team here.
As we gather supplier statements about their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world, here is what we've learned this week about Suppliers and Shipping companies.
Supplier Operations
Most scientific suppliers remain open as essential businesses to the healthcare industry. That doesn't mean everything is operating as normal though.
Suppliers are operating a little slower due to working from home, and people working from the office while following social distancing protocols. This means customer service and other departments are often not as easy to get a hold of by phone or chat. Therefore, processing orders at some vendors is slow. It varies by supplier and changes by day.
PPE like masks, gowns, gloves, soap, and sanitizers are still in short supply. Many suppliers are limiting the amounts of PPE scientists can buy at one time or reserving the supply for hospitals and governments first.
Other notes:
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- 80% of the top 70 scientific suppliers have provided statements about their operations.
- ULine, Teknova, and Fisher Scientific have stated they are prioritizing supply for those working directly on the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Teknova has gone so far as to set up a dedicated email address for those labs working on COVID-19 (Covid19@teknova.com)
- Of the suppliers with no statements thus far, most we have ordered from this week are open and processing order requests.
Suppliers who have announced closure/limited operations due to COVID-19:
New benefits from suppliers:
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- For California scientists, CLSA has a resource for more info.
- Diversified Laboratory Repair remains open and has stocked a lot of common parts needed for repairs of capital lab equipment
- Taconic is subsidizing prices on mice for vaccine and COVID19 models
- TruTech Tools has reduced minimum order size for free shipping
- Agilent is offering webinars on the proper ways to temporarily close a lab
Amazon
Though not an essential warehouse for critical supplies, Amazon extended the closure of a warehouse for deeper cleaning in Kentucky today. And such incidents are what led BioLife Solutions, in heavily affected Seattle to announce closing of operations until May 4.
Shipping Operations (UPS, Fedex, etc.)
The "final mile" of deliveries are facing some issues. At HappiLabs, we have noticed that UPS in particular is having deliveries not attempted or instantly returned to the sender with no re-attempts made.
In general, note that shipping companies are having some 'final mile' issues delivering to varying degrees.
Actions to take
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- For items in transit, let suppliers know your address is open to deliveries.
- Post clear signage at your door:
We are open. Call 555-1234 if the door is not open. Science must go on!
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- Bribe UPS or Fedex drivers. With food! And kind words ("thank you!"). A snack tray by the door can help ensure future deliveries occur without issue.
Those are the updates for today. Tune in next week as we continue to report our findings.