Lessons Learned From The Covid-19 Pandemic And Their Possible Consequences On Manufacturing

Manufacturing became one of the main targets of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Important questions such as how to deal with the drastic changes (up and down) in demand, and how to keep production ongoing with a decimated workforce and crippled supply chains arose. This technical note gives a short assessment of the praiseworthy reactions of the manufacturing industry, which prevented society from sinking into an even deeper crisis. The pandemic, at the same time, pointed out some weaknesses of present-day manufacturing. Possible long-term consequences of the lessons given and perhaps learned are summarized herein, with a focus on substantial changes and new paradigms that could provide an appropriate armory for the manufacturing industry when responding to similar or even more drastic situations in the future. However, it is yet undecided as to whether the ongoing changes in manufacturing will be accelerated or dismissed, causing manufacturers to fall back into the old groove. Some related questions and dilemmas are also exposed in the end of the paper.