Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, international and domestic supply chains alike have suffered drastically, prompting a move away from the highly lean ‘just-in-time’ inventory management model towards the ‘just-in-case’ approach. Throughout the 2010s, the common goal of most supply chain managers was to get as lean and as efficient as possible and finding a cost-effective manufacturer to help accomplish this. However, this meant supply chains were vulnerable to single points of failure, which the pandemic and its’ myriad of trade disruptions quickly provided in abundance. Since the onset of COVID-19, a far greater level of manufacturing diversification has been achieved. Supply chains now actively seek to spread manufacturers across geographies while reducing any single points of failure derived from transportation and distribution (Butt, 2022).

Unsurprisingly, international supply chains have been most affected. According to JLL’s Supply Chain team, the majority of Australian occupiers now need to hold approximately 30% more inventory relative to pre-pandemic levels with the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) players now having the highest requirements. Domestic supply chains - thanks to their natural agility and the trend towards onshoring of manufacturing – are less reliant on the ‘just-in-case’ approach, however, have nonetheless adopted higher than pre-COVID inventory levels. As supply chain pressures and pain points ease, we expect inventory levels to come in by 5%-10% over the medium-term (JLL Supply Chain), however, a complete return to ‘just-in-time’ is still a long way off.