By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It didn’t take long for the coronavirus pandemic to reveal the gaping holes in the local supply chain for essential goods.
Wood County officials couldn’t get their hands on masks, PPE, various cleaners and sanitizers. If the products in their entirety didn’t come from China, many of the components did.
In an effort to improve the situation before the next global need hits, the Wood County Commissioners passed a resolution Thursday morning encouraging supply chain diversity.
“In the first couple weeks of the pandemic, we saw shortages of so many different things,” Commissioner Craig LaHote said.
“We’ve become overly dependent on goods coming over here,” LaHote said.
So LaHote began the conversation about supply chain diversification.
“What can we do to prevent this from happening again?” he asked.
The commissioners plan to spend county money with these concerns in mind.
Effective immediately, all expenditures from the departments under the county commissioners will be required to submit specific information about the country of origin for purchased items. All other county offices and departments will be encouraged to do the same.
Within the next year, the commissioners plan to work with all county elected officials and departments to analyze the purchasing practices of county government to determine the country of origin for equipment, materials, and services obtained in 2019 in order to set a baseline.
Using the baseline information, the offices will work to determine how Wood County government can reduce purchasing dependence on any single foreign country, encourage supply chain diversification, and assure that vital purchases be made as close to home as possible.
The resolution also asks all residents of Wood County to be mindful of how a product’s country of origin plays a role in everyday life.
LaHote realizes Wood County’s efforts are insignificant on their own.
“I think we are just a drop in the bucket. But hopefully it’s going to gather some steam,” he said. “Hopefully some people will pick up on this.”
In addition to buying goods closer to home, efforts must also be made to clearly identify where products come from. LaHote said the commissioners recently ordered 1,000 face masks they were told were manufactured in Mexico.
When they arrived, “the packaging plainly said ‘China,’” he said.
The commissioners talked with Wood County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Klein about the possibility of stockpiling some PPE for the future.
“We can certainly stockpile some items,” LaHote said. But some components, like the elastic strips on masks can deteriorate, he added.
The resolution passed by the county commissioners recognizes that over the past several decades, as the global economy has grown, companies from around the world – including the U.S. – have moved their manufacturing overseas. In many cases, those moves have been to China.
“Through the pandemic, it has become very apparent that countries around the world including the United States have become dependent on the over-concentration of production in China for items that are vital to national security and the health of our citizens,” the resolution reads.
While the county commissioners believe in a global economy, they also believe that supply chain diversity is important.
So the commissioners are asking all business owners, local and state governments, the U.S. Congress and the president to create a unified policy for supply chain diversification, where items are produced as close to home as possible.
The commissioners pledged to work with citizens, business owners, governments, the Wood County Economic Development Commission, the Wood County Port Authority and the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments to engage in discussions that could lead to a significant reduction of manufacturing dependence on any one foreign country.
