Untangling the Global Supply Chain: Ohio’s Key Role

Americans aren’t used to bare store shelves, apart from occasional pre-hurricane or pre-snowstorm emergencies. And while most shelves in most U.S. stores are far from empty, some items have become noticeably harder to obtain during the pandemic.

Disappearing grocery store staples including toilet paper, beef and chicken, and disturbingly for bagel fans – cream cheese – have surprised Americans accustomed to thinking that consumer shortages only happen to other parts of the world. Even new cars, almost never in short supply in the U.S. until recently, are now taking so long to be delivered that the price for used cars has spiked to historic highs.

At play in this crisis of the world’s supply chains are many interlocked circumstances, some temporary and consumer-driven, and some the results of a delicate supply-chain infrastructure itself under stress. In some cases, plants were closed due to workers infected with COVID-19 at the same time consumer demand rose for products made in those plants, a surefire recipe for shortages.

America’s reliance on a handful of West Coast seaports for many imports from China also created bottlenecks that some experts suggest could be relieved with greater emphasis on smaller ports and on ports in Canada and Mexico. “Just-in-time” delivery practices, created to make trade more efficient, have also shown to be worse than brittle in the face of COVID-related disruptions.

Ohio – and Columbus is particular – is a significant player in keeping global trade moving. Columbus has been deemed “ideally situated” in the U.S. with its ability to reach the greatest population with a single-day truck drive and has recently witnessed an explosion of new warehouse construction. Additionally, Columbus is home to Rickenbacker Airport, one of the world’s few cargo-only airports. Rickenbacker has experienced record-setting traffic levels during the pandemic, recently reopened an upgraded runway to handle increased international and domestic air traffic, and now has an economic impact of $2.5 billion dollars annually.

How can Ohio continue to support global trade and to benefit from its “ideal” geography? Where will new investments in logistics likely need to be made? What changes need to be made to the world’s supply chain infrastructure to ensure goods continue to reach their markets quickly and efficiently? We’ll explore these issues and more as the Columbus Metropolitan Club unpacks the global supply chain crisis – and Ohio’s role in fixing it – with a panel of experts.

Featuring Ken Ackerman, Founder & Lead Consultant, K. B. Ackerman Company, Keely Croxton, Ph.D., Professor of Logistics, Department of Marketing and Logistics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, and Charles Goodwin, Director, Operations and Aviation Business Services, The Columbus Regional Airport Authority, with host Eleanor Kennedy, Assistant Managing Editor, Columbus Business First.

JOIN US IN THE ROOM for this discussion on February 16th, in person audience seating is available. Please make reservations by Tuesday, February 15th. We cannot accommodate walk ins.

You can also still join us on the CMC YouTube Channel to view and participate in the community conversation during this livestream event. We encourage you to register and support CMC by purchasing a virtual seat – different levels of support are available when you register! When you register, you can submit questions in advance.

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