How The Medical Device Supply Chain Failed During Covid-19

More than three months into the coronavirus pandemic, health-care workers on the front-lines of the battle against Covid-19 say they still face shortages of personal protective equipment. The personal protective shortage was one of the early flashpoint of the coronavirus pandemic. Masks, ventilators, face-shields. It seemed nearly every kind of personal protective equipment was hard to find when Covid-19 first ripped through epicenters like New York City. Here’s how the medical device supply chain works—and how it failed when it was needed most.


About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

Connect with CNBC News Online

#CNBC

How The Medical Device Supply Failed During Covid-19

[obsidianstatue]

China's competitive advantage is more in supply chain than cheap labor. which means everything you need to make PPE can be sourced within 100 km radius in many cities in southern China. This is why manufacturing in China makes economic sense.
you simply can't expect the US economy to start making masks without heavy government subsidies, and PPE are really only in high demand during pandemics which is an emergency event, so it will not create a regular demand. so after the pandemic is over, most US medical supplies will continue to be made in China, because asking a capitalist to give up cost efficiency is like asking a tiger to become vegetarian.

[whitedragon]

THIS IS WHY YOU DONT PUT ALL THE EGGS IN ONE BASKET. because it blows up

[Aschraffff]

yeah yeah, this is nice and all but at the end of the day, all that matters is profit. Big companies will always try to reduce costs and increase profits.

[ReopenUS]

Sounds like NY was very poorly prepared.

[AMEENHAI]

What a big shame that such a great industrial nation like the united states suffers form shortages of the Medical Protective Gear in the midst of pandemic and waits for it to be shipped from china, if production is resumed!
we are missing the great label "MADE IN USA"

[shadfrigui]

U.S. companies should consider relocating to North Africa.

[boatman]

Another serious problem not mentioned in this video is America's almost nonexistent Merchant Marine. Over the past several decades we have become more and more and more dependent upon foreign ships to move our products. At this point there are very few ships left in our Merchant Marine fleet. As a result of this shrinking fleet most Merchant Marine training facilities are educating most students for jobs like managing pleasure boat marinas, etc. Were we to go to war with one of the nations supplying most of our marine transport we would be in a real mess!

[TheWealthGenerator]

It wasn’t meant for an influx of cases all at once

[Raison_d-etre]

Meh. Trump waited until April 11 to order 3M to make more N-95 respirators. He should be asking all the companies to start making silicone and N-95 masks--last year or two years ago when he disbanded his pandemic response team.

[joefeyereisen]

That's not true! I work with 6 state hospital systems, I've been CIO for systems representing over 500 hospitals and clinics. I've been the CIO for state and country healthcare depts. The supply chain worked perfectly. It was the upsurge of a pandemic that came suddenly. We were in excess supply in less than 3 weeks for the world's 5th largest company (US). From an equipment point of view, China is Not known for Quality. Why did China buy from 3M. Honeywell, etc?

[kam.]

I ran a 40 hospital supply chain. Most comments in this video are wrong. The distributors are not bottlenecks! The problem was excessive demand and panic that fueled a run on PPE. Distributors are the only cost effective way to get most medical supplies to hospitals. Most manufacturers do not ship directly to hospitals ... and that’s not a bad thing because it’s cheaper for everyone to get 1 large tracker trailer from say Cardinal every day ... than get 1000s of shipments via Fed Ex. This was a once in a 100 year pandemic.

[MM-igiv]

the virus didn't come here March 20th? It's been here since the beginning of January! ..come on! let's get it right!

[trumpjr]

Yes it failed, that's why we are lending ventilators and other equipment to countries that need it. Lies.

[gotodoug]

I think Mexico could become the a local solution to manufacturing needs as the US moves to localize and shorten the supply chain. Mexico is our neighborhood, it has relatively cheap labor and it does not have nuclear missles aimed at us.

[tanyouliang]

coronavirus is the time when deglobalization starts

[boomsuga]

8:37 🇺🇸 healthcare system is for profit. Basically inequality for those who can afford health care. This needs to change! Universal healthcare works look at 🇨🇦 the health care system works and doesn’t matter how much you make or the colour of your skin. Everyone gets medical attention. C’mon 🇺🇸 smarten up

[auro]

cnbc show how latest submarines and aircraft careers were inducted into service

[jimkerr]

As of June/2020, 3M and other companies have plenty of supplies. In fact, they are now available to the public.

[kurosua]

If manufacturing stayed in America, the US could have avoided more problems than just the shortage of PPE.

[jcastelblanco]

Puerto Rico is the perfect site to increase the manufacturing capacity of many products and supplies for the US market. And that’s because: 1- It’s located in the Caribbean, very near to Jacksonville North Carolina major shipment ports, 2- it have over 100 years of direct socio-political relationship with the US (PR is a commonwealth of the United States), 3- Puerto Rico population has an attractive workforce (bilingual with high academic / professional degrees), 4- PR currency is US Dollars, 5- it provides lots of Tax Exempt Incentives to big international companies and 6- many US and international companies have many of their manufacturing sites in PR for many decades. Ask GE, Cardinal Health, Medtronics, HP, Stryker, AMGEN, Bayer, etc. why they are having success in Puerto Rico.