As reported in The Times, the initiative codenamed Project Defend will aim to end the country’s reliance on imported vital pharmaceutical supplies and from other industries.
Under a new approach to national security, the plans will identify the key industries that are dependent on potentially hostile foreign governments for components of finished products as well as key supplies.
The initiative, which will be led by Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, comes as a reaction to the international criticism of how the Chinese government has behaved in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Two working groups have been set up under Project Defend to diversify supply chains so that the UK is no longer dependent on one country for non-food imports.
Writing in PES on 28th April, Oliver Lödl, chief sales officer of Orderfox wrote that traditional CNC business models and organisations are currently under threat and that the pandemic has made it clear just how vulnerable the complex, global manufacturing supply chains are.
Mr Lödl said: Since the outbreak, business for many companies has been delayed or halted, international trade fairs have been cancelled and tens of thousands of workers worldwide are at home in isolation. Earlier sales forecasts have suddenly become obsolete and needless to say, the financial consequences of the pandemic will be severe.
Wilfried Sihn, professor for industrial engineering and systems planning at the Institute for Management Sciences at the Vienna University of Technology said: “Corona has shown us that our supply chains are unstable and that the paths we had taken in the past are dangerous.”
“In science, we are discussing a new concept: Glocalisation.This is referring to the combination of globalisation and local sourcing. It is important not to lose sight of local sourcing and therewith a better guarantee for supply.”
