The pandemic has added many terms to America’s daily vocabulary – “masking,” “vaccine mandates,” and, perhaps most notably, “supply chain.” The country’s sudden lockdowns and then re-openings have given everyone a crash course in economics, especially about supply and demand. That lesson has rarely been a happy one.
The COVID-19 whipsaw has led to surging inflation because demand has outpaced supply for many products. Prior to the pandemic, manufacturers practiced just-in-time inventory management, which relied on timely deliveries of components. Such scheduling was too precise for a world in turmoil, causing delayed shipments and higher prices.
Manufacturers have struggled to keep pace and return to normality. Few have worked harder – or as effectively – as the makers of cleansers and disinfectants. With a few exceptions during the early days of the pandemic, these products, which are important in our fight against the virus, have remained widely available.
To be sure, the disinfecting of surfaces and handwashing have been eclipsed in importance by vaccines and mask wearing. But they are still recommended as ways to keep COVID-19 at bay, especially in healthcare settings and high-traffic areas.
The ways that companies have kept cleansers and disinfectants on store shelves is a playbook for manufacturers’ successful emergence from the pandemic.
The makers of cleansers and disinfectants have kept up with demand by working closely with regulators to find alternative sources for key ingredients during times of scarcity. They have also, at times, narrowed their product offerings to make sure customers got what they needed.
Not just anyone can produce chemicals that meet federal standards. Consumer protection laws require regulators’ consent for various ingredients and production procedures. During COVID-19, representatives of industry and government were able to cooperate in ways that hastened these approvals without sacrificing safety.
For example, ethanol, a key ingredient in some cleansers and disinfectants, was sometimes in short supply. Working with industry groups, such as the Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) and the Consumer Brands Association, U.S. regulators worked quickly to open distilleries and new supply lines to keep approved products flowing. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration were among the heroes in this effort.
The industry had a dry run with supply chain issues a few years ago. HCPA worked with the EPA to arrange U.S.-based substitutes for a widely used preservative called benzisothiazolinone or BIT, whose supply from China had been disrupted. BIT was not easy to replace, but formulators adjusted their preservative blends to use alternatives that met federal requirements.
During the pandemic, manufacturers did what they could on their own to produce what the marketplace needed. One tactic was to reduce their offerings – at least temporarily. For instance, in flush times, a company might sell four fragrances of cleansers. During COVID, it reduced that number to a couple fragrances instead. That sort of consolidation allowed the industry to maintain a steady stream of products. Similar actions were taken when packaging materials were hard to find.
The good news is that supply chains are filling up again now that the pandemic appears to be winding down. The even better news is that COVID-19 has provided case studies about how to avoid tight supply situations in the future. Makers of trusted and familiar cleansers and disinfectants were challenged to increase their production in the public interest at the start of the pandemic. Now, toward the end, they are at the forefront in finding ways to keep vital supply chains open.
Steve Caldeira is the president and CEO of the Household & Commercial Products Association.