The well-documented effects of COVID-19 on global supply chains – including higher shipping costs; lower availability of shipping containers; employee health challenges; and the closure of borders from national lockdowns – provided an existential challenge to organizations dependent on just-in-time delivery of components.
In normal times, supply chain logistics generally work on an eight-month timeline for delivery of critical components. Thanks to its proactive resilience, detailed business continuity planning, and leveraging experience gained from past events, by the end of the first quarter of 2020, Essence Group had successfully mitigated the majority of supply chain disruptions to fulfil customer orders as expected.
Hagai Enoch, Chief Operating Officer of Essence Group, said: “As the world started to grapple with COVID-19 we went to our business continuity playbook and realized that we had move fast. We did not even entertain the thought that we would not be able to supply our customers, who rely on us to deliver on time.”
As early as mid-January 2020, when news of the emerging pandemic was only beginning to hit global news channels, Essence mobilized its business continuity response to ensure alignment on emergent issues and implement contingencies in the event of further disruption. At the heart of Essence Group’s strategy was to leverage existing relationships with component suppliers and manufacturers to share resources in order to deliver optimal solutions for customers. By dramatically increasing the size of orders and accumulating sufficient buffer stock, and using air transport rather than ships, Essence could continue supplying strategic partners, such as Verisure with the necessary volume of critical components to enable them to meet commercial commitments.
“Partnership with Essence has been instrumental in ensuring continued customer service for our existing and new clients,” said Cristina Rivas, Verisure Chief Technology Officer. “Essence Group’s initiatives to ensure we could continue accepting new orders gave us confidence that we would be able to keep our commitments. This has helped us to continue to strengthen our position as the leading provider of professional security products and services.”
“In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, our global supply chain has performed extremely well in meeting the needs of our customers,” said Sharon Klainer Weizenbluth, Chief Strategy Officer at Essence Group. “This was achieved, while also protecting the health and wellbeing of both our employees and those of our supply chain partners.”