Supply Chain Lessons from the Pandemic: Toilet Paper Edition

🌍 A supply chain is the complete process from raw materials to the store.

🧻 Toilet paper shortages during the pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in global supply chains.

🌏 The story of toilet paper illustrates the interconnectedness and complexity of supply chains.

🧻 Toilet paper is an ideal product to understand supply chains.

📦 Toilet paper has stable demand and takes up a lot of volume.

🌍 Toilet paper is typically produced close to where it is consumed.

💡 China is the largest manufacturer and consumer of toilet paper, while the US is the second largest manufacturer.

💭 Toilet paper factories are usually sized according to stable demand, not sudden spikes.

🧐 The surprise shortage of toilet paper during the pandemic raised questions about why factories couldn't increase production.

🧻 The demand for toilet paper has changed due to people not going to offices, schools, hotels, and restaurants.

🚚 Increasing toilet paper production requires ramping up capacity and transportation logistics.

🧻🔄🧻 There is a difference between consumer toilet paper preferences and institutional toilet paper.

💡 Toilet paper supply chains face challenges in delivering the right product with the right packaging and roll count.

💭 Excessive variety in consumer expectations contributes to supply chain issues, causing stock imbalances in stores.

📦 The pandemic has highlighted the impact of excessive variety on supply chains, leading to fluctuating stock levels in stores.

📦 Supply chains often face challenges due to the large variety of brands, packages, and sizes.

🛒 The abundance of choices in the grocery store comes with the cost of accurate forecasting for retailers.

⚖️ Forecasting errors create difficulties in matching the retailers' orders with manufacturing predictions.

🧻 The transcript discusses how toilet paper shortages exposed forecasting errors and the challenges of supply chain management.

🔄 If everyone used the same type of toilet paper in all settings, shortages could be easily resolved through reallocation of supplies.

🚽 The speaker emphasizes that understanding supply chains doesn't require extensive knowledge and uses toilet paper as an example.