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h2>COVID-19 IMPACT ON TEMPERATURE SENSORS IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRYThe outbreak of pandemic Covid-19 since November 2019 has started engulfing countries all over the world with severe human life threats; to contain this outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, countries have adopted different majors to ensure health safety and to prevent loss of lives. One of the most common safeties major adopted by all the countries is the introduction of lockdowns all over the country except emergency services and the sector of the daily need. The introduction of lockdowns indicated shutting all sectors and activities until unlock is introduced by the governments. These lockdown implementations lead to a heavy impact on every sector, the majority of the businesses suffered losses; however, some of the business excelled in these pandemic COVID-19 situations. The electronics industry witnesses strong hit in the first quarter of 2020 as the all manufacturing facilities, retail stores, and other supporting offices, warehouse and transportation has been shut down. Despite the electronics industry getting hit by lockdowns and low manufacturing and sales; temperature sensors market has picked up the pace and is expected to gain a boost in the market growth rate as demand for temperature sensor increasing day by day owing to its applications in medical devices which are used for monitoring temperature. Apart from medical devices applications, temperature sensors are rapidly being adopted by the wearable manufacturers to provide customers with safety and health cautions.When pandemic Covid-19 ran havoc in early 2020, initially temperature sensors market affected due to lockdowns; however it has been positively affected in the second quarter of 2020 as the majority of temperature sensors manufacturers are supplying sensors or manufacturing medical devices which are used for temperature sensing; also wearable manufacturers such as watches and wristbands many others are using temperature sensors in these devices to generate more demands and indicate body temperatures to consumers. Manufacturing such medical devices and wearables have benefitted the temperature sensor industry, along with it has also aided the medical industry and governments to contain the spread of COVID-19 disease.These devices sense body temperatures and indicate it on the screen which warns the consumers and suspects which helps in early detection and less spread of the virus.For instance,In May 2020, GOQii launched smart band Vital 3.0with body temperature sensors which can be used for body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and sleep apart from step count.These body details are important for medical analysis according to Vishal Gondal the CEO of GOQiiMr has given the statement that "In the current COVID-19 situation, there is an urgent requirement for the development and enhancement of rapid wearable diagnostics to recognize and isolate COVID-19 cases and track and to control the spread of the virus. The Vital 3.0 provides temperature and sleep, data around pulse which can be used to observe whether the user is symptomatic of diseases such as COVID-19.”Apart from body temperature sensors, various other sensors are launched in order to achieve contactless operations and limit the spread of these pandemic and also forthcoming virus diseases.For instance,In March 2018, Ramco Systems in Singapore launched facial recognition based time & attendance system –RamcoGEEK. This device will ensure less usage of biometric attendance and limit infection contact possibilities.During product launch CEO Virender Aggarwal said, “We have a major global health pandemic that has affected many. The spread of the disease has brought the focus back on the Hygiene and Health of Employees. We built this application to help better address a crisis through technology. Robust containment through a robust attendance and access system with zero contact and temperature measurement can be key to avoid the easy spread of the virus that may take place with Biometric access system”.Impact on Demand and Supply Chain of Temperature Sensors:Such improvisation and innovations described above will surely boost the demand and supply chain of the temperature. Demand of electronic devices have slumped drastically in first quarter of 2020, since prospect consumers have decided not to purchase desired products as of now and focus is more on needful products, rather than desired products. With limiting corona virus effects markets have been reopening and new launches of healthcare devices and wearable devices such as temperature sensor guns, watches, wristbands, retina scanner sensors, infrared temperature detectors; market is picking up surging growth for temperature sensors market in second quarter of 2020.With regulations of governments of all the countries to remain contactless and to remain socially distanced, it is necessary to implement technologies which can measure body temperatures without making any contacts between a medic and suspect. Supportively, various companies launched infrared temperature sensors and sensor guns to detect body temperatures without making any physical contact.For instance,In February 2020, Xiaomi, a China based electronic device manufacturer launched infrared temperature sensor gun, namely Bencom Infrared thermometer which will detect body temperature in 1 second with accuracy of 0.2 degrees.Microlife Corporation, European electronic device manufacturer have launched its patented antimicrobial thermometer which is made of copper alloy for better conductivity.Apart from temperature sensors guns, FLIR technology based devices are also experiencing growing demand for detection of body temperatures in this pandemic.For instance, in March 2020, according to FLIR Systems list of countries adopting FLIR technology for temperature detection are increasing in their portfolio. Jim Cannon, CEO (FLIR Systems), said, “We have seen a significant increase in those orders in the past month. Right now, we’re working really hard to ensure that we have the supply chain to meet all of that demand.”Above launches and statements from leaders in the industry suggests that demand for temperature sensors is going to increase in long term scenario.With the increasing demand of temperature sensors, supply chain is yet to be re-established in full fledge in order to meet up the demands. Many places around the world are in containment zones where supply chain has very limited access. Supply chain department was most heavily hit in first quarter of 2020 as transportation was almost totally suspended by governments. However, with unlocking of lockdowns supply chain is slowly picking up its flow and demands that are expected to be fulfilled at higher rate.Steps Taken by Manufacturers during covid-19 Situations:In these pandemic situations, most of the manufacturing sites remained shutting due to the government regulations; however with the limited operating staff manufacturing sites have attained permissions to restart manufacturing. Sighting products are not that much in demand, so that the manufacturers have started innovating products which can be used for medical purpose and healthcare sector as only this sector was seeking growth during pandemic. Innovation resulted in temperature sensing devices such as wearables, sensing guns, FLIR cameras, etc. which are rapidly being adopted by healthcare experts and health conscious individuals.Conclusion:From the overview, impact on demand & supply chain and steps taken by manufacturers, it is evident that initially temperature sensor got slumped in demand and supply due to macro-environmental factors; contrastingly in just matter of a quarter of the year, in mid-2020 temperature sensors market seeing surging growth owing to innovative products offered in the market by manufacturers. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, the growth for temperature sensor industry will not slump as benefits of contactless treatments are more and with advanced technological devices, contactless temperature detection remains the best solution to avoid the spread of such virus diseases. Apart from infrared contactless temperature sensors, contact sensors are also used in fitness tracking devices which can sense the body temperature.According to Bhrugu Pange, MD at global consultants AArete, the demand for healthcare tracking devices will surge as people around are uncertain about the infection in their vicinity and are more cautious than before which will generate greater demand for these devices. He further stressed on the use of health tracking devices by saying, “start taking fitness-tracking devices and apps more seriously as a tool for preventive and proactive maintenance of patient health. This in turn will lead to more serious collaboration between device makers and healthcare institutions.”Growing awareness of social distancing and contactless treatments, there have been incidents of home healthcare and online consultation; which is expected to continue even after Covid – 19 pandemic; which will increase the application of temperature sensors in households.Suh Yonggu, dean of the business school at Sookmyung Women’s Universityhas given the statement that-“Even after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides, I believe offline health-care will be shifted to online training and home health-care, fueled by changes in people’s value for family and house”From the above instances, it can inferred that market for the temperature sensors is looking bright in terms of demand as of now and is expected to grow at higher growth when supply chain operates at full fledge pace. Apart from industrial temperature sensors, overall market for temperature sensors is gaining growth which will cover up slump in industrial temperature sensors market revenue. In coming half decade temperature sensors industry looks optimistic and can be seen as an opportunity.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON SUGAR IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRYThe sugar industry plays an important role in maintaining the economy of the country is also facing several challenges in the course of its journey. Recently, the threat which is posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is impacting sugar sector stakeholders badly. Due to this, the integrated industries all over the world are also facing multiple challenges such as production, transportation among others.The entire value chain in the sugar sector from sugarcane, sugar, molasses, ethanol, and their subsequent marketing and export has been adversely affected due to the pandemic.The industry is also facing reduced off-take from associated industries such as beverage and other FMCG companies due to the lockdown. The industries are shut to control the spread of coronavirus, due to which the demand for the sugar declined, and hence sugar sector is declining in generating revenue.Mainly two of the country which produces sugar and dominating worldwide and also helping socio-economic development of the nation are now facing bigger challenges in this industry. They are Brazil and India in which India accounts for around 15.0 to 25% of the sugar and sugarcane production all over the world. Now, with the pandemic and lockdown, the consumption has fallen as people are made to stay at home and also shutdown in foodservice sectors such as bakeries, hotels, restaurants, and cafes reducing the demand for the sugar.For instance, according to an article published by Sugar Asia magazine, it is expected that the consumption of sugar could fall to 25 million tons as against 26 million tons which were expected previously.They have also said that it was found that in the first six months of sugar season from October 2019–March 2020 sugar production has decreased by 22.0% from the last year.Table 1: Decreasing growth in the sugar production in first six months of sugar season.Source: Sugar Asia MagazineThe operations for the sugar production were running up to the 3rd month of 2020. Further, it has been noticed that the production started getting affected so far in April on account of labor shortages due to COVID-19 breakout. Due to lack in value and supply chain, some other inputs which are need in sugar products such as Sulphur, lime, bags & other packing material were also not available or were less available due to disruptions in transportation.Apart from production, the demand from the associated industries has also got reduced. The associated industries are a bakery, confectionery, and beverages among others. For instance, sugar supplies to the beverages manufacturers are greatly decreased as they have put off operations in bottling plants during the summertime when demand for such beverages is high.Along with these, the food sector such as retail, hotel, and catering which are also larger consumers of sugar has reduced the demand of sugar by national lockdown as all hotels, restaurants, bars, sweetmeat shops, and other miscellaneous food establishments have been closed.The international sugar prices have fallen by approximately 23.0% between January and April in the year 2020 as large supplier-nations such as Brazil, are switching from ethanol to sugar due to slack global oil demand and low crude oil prices. Thus, exports from India are likely to remain flattish compared with a 25-30% growth expected earlier. For instance, the drop in the export price of white sugar from USD 425 per tonne in February 2020 to USD 355/tonne at present time has resulted in declination in the market value of the sugar industryFigure: Sugar price decreased from previous year (in USD Lbs.)Source: TradingeconomicsFAO has also given its estimates that global sugar prices fallen by 19.1% in March 2020 from February 2020 due to lower demand in the coronavirus outbreak.In the crisis, sugar industry is facing multiple challenges from the production to trade due to which market value of industry is getting impacted in recent time. But in future, once the vaccine or medicine is made available in market against coronavirus and the spread of COVID-19 is under control, sugar industry will takes its position as of previous years. Again the demand will increase from food industries and food service sector and there will be increase in the value of the sugar market in future.SUGAR MANUFACTURERS: PERSPECTIVE & INITIATIVESThe outbreak of COVID-19 has brought world to a halt where each and every industry has got an impact of it. This crisis has brought to an unexpected situation through which everyone is going on. With such unscrupulous situation, everyone is trying to get over of it. In all, one of the cannabis related product industry which has fallen badly due to Covid-19 in start of 2020. But rising support from several companies as well as governments are helping the industry to rebuild the position again in market.The halt in the production of the sugar have led various food and beverages manufacturers to reduce and halt their production due to the shortage of sugar. For instance,"Will temporarily cease operations due to a lack of raw materials." Production of sugar-based beverages has halted but non-sugar drinks like Diet Coke would continue.”- Company. Coca-Cola“Sugar companies in Brazil may face losses if prices continue to trade at 10 cents to 11 cents a pound.”- Joamir Alves, CEO Grupo Virgolino de Oliveira SAThe government has taken initiatives to reduce the sugar consumption as it their consumption in soft drinks is one of the major causes of obesity, for instance,“The Soft Drinks Industry Levy has been successful in reducing sugar intakes sugar via reformulation, and in raising much needed revenue for children’s services,” it said. “The current sugar levy sugar thresholds should be reduced, the rates increased, and it should be immediately applied to a calorie threshold in sugar sweetened milk and milk-alternative drinks.”- Katharine Jenner - campaign director of Action on Sugar and Action"The food industry is feeding us heavily discounted and promoted processed food and drink, full of salt, fat and sugar, giving us little feeling of satiation, which greatly increases our calorie intake. Millions of families face poverty sugar and food insecurity and are unable to access a nutritionally adequate diet.”- Graham MacGregor from Queen Mary University on Sugar and ActionHigh demand of the ethanol due to their utilization in sanitizer production and high demand of the sanitizers have led government to push up the production of sugar.For instance,“The situation at present is such that even a mandatory 5 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol, as committed by the government to protect the environment three years ago, would be difficult to meet as a result of a short supply of sugarcane. With an expected fall in the cane output, the 20 per cent ethanol blending, which the government is planning to make mandatory, is unlikely to be practical,”- Deepak Desai, the chief consultant of ethanolindia.net“India should implement a more “ambitious” biofuel program that will help its sugar mills to increase production of ethanol and “balance the world sugar market”- Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association/ UNICA.“Retailers are seeing a surge in demand while foodservice customers and themselves with more product than they need,” he said. “We are doing everything possible to connect customers together to move the extra product to where it’s needed most, while adapting our manufacturing plants to create a more agile supply system.”- Mike Wagner, managing director of Cargill North America“China represents more than 70% of the stevia leaves grown globally and is, therefore, a key supply base for stevia sweeteners, “Sweet Green Fields was among the rest factories approved by the Chinese government to re-open post-COVID-19 and is currently producing and supplying customers.”- Shasha Yu, marketing director, Sweet Green Fields“People tend to consider aspartame as a commodity but [we] turned it into a new ingredient that traveled by plane,” The air shipments are extreme – it was really at the very start of the crisis when people woke up and found out they would be out of product – but it shows you how crucial the role of aspartame in food is. I turned it into a joke, saying that our aspartame is traveling VIP.”- Youssef Hamayet Elmili, global sales director at HSWTSource: Company Websites, Magazines, Nutrition Journals, PortalsCONCLUSIONThe threat posed by the growing pandemic novel coronavirus (COVID-19), has been the most recent once and it is impacting sugar industry stakeholders and its integrated industries, all over the world. Brazil and India are the top producers of sugar across the globe, each producing nearly 25% and 15% of global sugar and sugarcane, respectively. The development of COVID-19 will have a direct effect on the production and consumption of the sugar industry in the short term.The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been putting pressure on the sugar consumption patterns, complemented with a reduced off-take from beverage and other FMCG companies amid the lockdown across multiple countries. As the beverage and sweetener sector is the bulk consumer of sugar, it is likely to adversely affect the consumption owing to the precautionary measures of avoiding social gatherings.These developments and a drop in crude oil prices have caused a ripple effect on international sugar prices. The globe has witnessed a sharp drop in sugar price, wherein in March 2020, the global prices fell steeply by 22%.Owing to the petroleum crisis, Brazil has planned to increase their sugar production, to offset the decline in sugarcane consumption from the ethanol industry. This is further expected to affect the prices of sugar in the international market. Further, due to COVID-19, temporary disruptions in the supply chain have been experienced by the millers.Owing to the pandemic, there have been major shifts in consumer preferences, with the increasing awareness of a healthy lifestyle. Consumers have started substituting conventional ingredients with healthier alternatives. This would also affect the sugar industry. With “no-added-sugar” and “high protein, low carbs” diet trend among consumers, the demand for sugar was already offset in the past, while this trend is expected to be boosted in the coming years. Hence the future of the sugar industry is expected to witness steady demand, majorly from the beverage industry in the coming years, even after the COVID-19 phase.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON LIQUID NATURAL GAS IN THE CHEMICAL AND MATERIALS INDUSTRYThe epidemic of COVID-19 has caused immense and unforeseen social and economic tension. Its consequences are serious and it is too early to assess results, although its duration is uncertain. The LNG business is influenced in a variety of areas, with some obstacles but still having some prospects. The LNG industry will theoretically recover from this crisis more healthily than at the beginning of this year.The first issue that impacted LNG (liquefied natural gas) was the collapse in the prices of crude oil. Brent crude oil dropped by mid-March 2020 to USD 24.88 per bbl from USD 70 per bbl in January 2020. The inclination to USD 34 per bbl in March compared with USD 64 per bbl in January may contribute to a decline in the price of LNG contracts, but the time gap embedded for other contracts which imply that the factors do not operate before mid-year. The average is around USD 64 per bbl.Most of the customers gained lower spot rates last year because the majority of LNG was supplied under term contracts. In December 2019, the average LNG prices were USD 9.24 per MBtu imported into Japan. The real landed price could be half of that by mid-2020. Subsequent Asian markets are emerging from the current coronavirus or COVID-19. Crisis, low prices of the LNG are likely to boost the demand in the desired market.Experts can see iron ore alternatives in Japan and Korea for gas / LNG, but demand in South Asia could be higher. Across Europe, a constructive reaction to demand is not expected to occur. For some time now prices were low as LNG traded is linked to gas hub prices instead of oil. Shortening has contributed to the lower gas usage and this is anticipated to decline in the second quarter as Europe ends the heating season. In March, LNG imports to Italy would possibly sum to only about one-third of last year's supply level in March.IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON LNGGas industries are now experiencing fresh threats as a consequence of two events: the COVID 19 pandemics and global oil demand fluctuations as a result in the shortage of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Along with this, the existing imbalance between supply and demand in LNG markets will intensify and lengthen, contributing to a lower price setting. It could threaten, in the short term, up to 8% of global demand for LNG (over 25 million tonnes, or MTPA), whereas another one or two years could continue in the low price setting.Current industry developments will jeopardize potential ventures and bring some firms under tremendous financial pressure including offshore gas discovery and development businesses, LNG suppliers and project developers. Meanwhile, purchasers of LNG will leverage on low rates to improve the contractual terms and facilitate the change from coal to natural gas. All companies are now checking their competitiveness and strengthening their business place in this modern world whether they maximize the gains of surplus or mitigate their disadvantages. The LNG industry controlled the effects of excess production until the COVID-19 pandemic. After 2015, global liquefaction production development peaked over 30 MTPA annually and the availability of LNG grew by about 10% each year. Markets could absorb this extra supply by a sluggish Chinese gas market growth in the early quarter of 2019 and by northeastern Asian demand contraction, pushing spot prices from 7 to 11 dollars per million British thermal units (mmbtu) in Europe and Asia to less than USD 5 per mmbtu.The condition is predicted to escalate significantly with COVID-19. Through reducing economic growth, the pandemic has reduced the demand for natural gas in China, the second largest importer of LNG before now and the most steadily increasing LNG industry. While economic performance in China indicates a turnaround, Chinese natural gas demand growth would slip by half from previous estimates, at the annualized pace of inflation.IMPACT ON DIFFERENT LNGTRANSPORTATION LNGThe lock-ins was at sights as a consequence of rising prices for shipping to global markets and fast breakeven shale economies in the Covid-19. Companies in the value chain will react quickly, evaluate their position in light of the current business climate and take advantage of the short and long-term opportunity to gain value.For instance,In March, the Platts Gulf Coast Marker, which reflects the economies of American exports of LNG, was down below the Henry Hub. The U.S. LNG also seems vulnerable in a crisis- Asian consumers will just incur the toll payment for the cancelation of the U.S. LNG freight, whereas the cancelation of Australian or Qatar LNG freight requires the whole shipment to be billed or charged.INDUSTRIAL AND POWER LNGMajor market players, similar to other LNG import companies, look unstable, this is most likely due to the contraction in business growth will lead to short-term impacts in energy production and the manufacturing companies. Early indicators in Italy have shown that after social distancing initiatives have been introduced, demand in certain sectors could have decreased in impacted regions by over 10 percent. While low LNG prices will allow some opportunities to switch to fuel in the short run, the structural and temporary existence of demand for natural gas is likely to restrict any potential upside on many markets, in conjunction with a rapidly falling overall energy demand.COMPANIES STRATEGIC INITIATIVES DURING COVID-19Wärtsilä launched the compact reliq reliquary machine in July 2020, which is designed to reliquify boil-off gas (BOG) on-board gas carriers and LNG bunker vessels and to maintain the cargo cold in all working conditions. The lightweight architecture enables it to be mounted on established vessels without significant maintenance researchIn April 2020, Arctic LNG 1, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NOVATEK received approval for geological surveys, discovery and development in Gydan Peninsula with SLH 16637 NR in the Bukharinskiy sub-subsolar ship field. The concession area is partly situated in the offshore waters of a Bays of Ob and Taz in the independent state of Yamal-Nenets (YNAO) and will be granted for duration of up to 2050. The conditions of authorization mandate that the LNG natural resource should be utilized in the YNAO and neighboring water areas for liquefied natural gas infrastructureIn June 2020, Wärtsilä’s emissions abatement technology received order to provide its volatile organic compounds (VOC) recovery system together with an LNG fuel gas supply system, for two new 124,000 DWT shuttle tankers. The ships have been ordered by Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers (KNOT), a leading independent owner and operator of shuttle tankers, and will be built at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine yard in Korea. The order with Wärtsilä was placed in AprilIn June 2020, Gazprom and RusKhimAlyans (project developer of the integrated gas processing and liquefaction complex; business was formed on a parity basis by Gazprom and RusGazDobycha) have concluded 20-year commercial contracts for the production of feed gas and selling of gas. The interconnected structure must also be supplied with raw resources in the long runGasum has launched new liquefied gas bunkering station in June 2020. The station is situated in the Port of Nynäshamn, Sweden, at the Ports of Stockholm. The new station had provided the innovative bunkering technologies that allow the ships to bunker environmentally sustainable fuel quicker than ever before. By implementing various strategies such as growing production capacity, new product releases, product availability, the manufacturers aim to achieve optimum market growth. The growth of LNG in application such as, transportation, industrial and power, and others is anticipated to offer favorable opportunities for the key players operating in the market. Factors such as the places for distribution and sales are expected to help improve the company's overall role. Small domestic players and emerging players in developing countries in particular are likely to gain opportunities to establish themselves on the marketCONCLUSIONIn conclusion, the effect of Covid-19 on the availability of LNG would continue much longer than the effects on global demand for LNG. The U.S. has been the new epicenter for the epidemic of COVID after the move from China to Europe, as the third most populated nation in the world and the biggest natural gas user, the implementation of restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID is expected to have a significant impact. Effects on the world demand for electricity due to freezing weather from mid-March until the end of April, the rise in usage was led by an improvement in increasing the gasoline prices in the residential and business market. Whereas throughout the industrial sector gas use has been very stable and over the span has risen marginally. The energy sector seems most affected by COVID, but despite a downward trend in electricity demand, has increased gas and renewable energy production, especially coal, is offsetting energy generation from many other sources.With the transition of Covid-19 from China to America, the USA has been the global epicenter for the COVID epidemic. The implementation of restrictions to limit the spread of COVID is expected to have a significant impact on the global gas market, is the third-largest country with the population and the largest consumer of gas. Since these restrictions in the US were enforced at the start of March, the consumption of petrol rose relative to 2019. The rise in usage is motivated by cooler weather, which raised the demand for gas in the residential and business sectors from mid-March to the end of April 2020.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS AND DRONES IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRYCoronavirus outbreak caused a deeper impact on the human, economies, industries, and other factors too. It impacted the almost first half of the global economy by initiating lockdown to control the spread of the virus almost in every country. Governments of various countries initiated lockdown for a certain period to reduce the spread formed by human physical interaction. Manufacturing facilities, sport, entertainment, transportation, and other industries are shut down except for the companies which are dealing with COVID-19 and are only allowed to run their operations. Now, after almost six months of the year 2020, the manufacturing facilities and other industrial verticals are restarting their operations with some mandate precaution measures. The factories are started to reopen by taking some preventive measures such as 20% to 50% employees on the field, social distancing, extreme hygiene measures among others.It is supporting the economy and consumers' goods production needs at a certain level due to the restriction of limited manpower utilization. It impacted the entire industrial sector but in robotics and drones, it has created an opportunity to grow rather than declining the market growth. As companies or service sectors are replacing human resources with robots in the field such as COVID-19 detecting robots, automatic robotics arms at manufacturing, and delivery drones among others. The visibility of the market has increased due to the rising importance of the robotics solution to control such a pandemic situation. Space is a big constraint for the industries and maintaining physical distancing as the new regulation is not feasible for every organization, hence to resolve this issue currently robotics and automation are the prominent solutions for almost every industry and service sector from the grocery store to manufacturing plant.Not only companies but even hospitals are also adopting robotics into the operational field in this COVID-19 situation such as a company named JD from China is utilizing the delivery robots. The ATRIS, AIMBOT, and Cruz robots line of the UBTECH Robotics company are used by the Shenzhen hospital for Covid-19 patients. The robots are helping the service sector such as hospitals to contain the contagion and alleviate the strain on human personnel. Such development in the robotic solutions and adoption by the industries is driving the market growth.IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS AND DRONES MARKETCOVID-19 hampered the various industrial verticals from small component manufactures to the automotive, machines and other equipment manufacturing companies. Initially, it hampered the industrial robotics and drones market but post lockdown relief has created a major opportunity and demand for this market. The importance or picture of the robotics manufacturing, drones based surveillance and other technologies become more visible for the customers. A robotics arms witnessed tremendous demand in the healthcare and medical device manufacturing companies.For instance,In May 2020, ST Robotics a manufacturer of the bench-top robot arms witnessed strong demand for the robots from the market. To meet emerging demands, company is increasing their production capabilities for the healthcare robotics arms.Similarly the demand for the drones is also increasing for the industrial application for various uses such as facility surveillance, hygiene, logistic and others.For instance,In June 2020, Skygauge introduced new inspection drones for the industrial spaces to reopen the facility with enhanced security and safety. The company introduced new Spot named drone to patrol areas and provide facility staff view. According to the Skygauge, a 2 week job can be completed with the help of industrial drone by 2 inspectors.Global industrial robotics and drones market has strong growth ahead as the pandemic situation opened lots of possibilities for the market to increase their offering.OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MARKET IN COVID-19 SITUATIONThe market players have strong opportunity to increase their presence and share in the market by introducing advanced solution for the industries. A robotics and drones market is marking an exponential growth from past few years and COVID-19 has further boosted its importance. Market players have tremendous opportunity to increase their share with development of new solution for medical devices, consumer goods, COVID essential goods and other application.To target the small manufacturers Social distancing with fewer square feet is very difficult for the small manufacturers as they almost have less than 50,000 square feet of operational area. The sale order is increased while production capabilities are lowered due to imitated staff to overcome this industrial robotics is great solution.Introduce the drones to hygiene applicationFor instance,In April 2020, Garuda Aerospace a startup firm introduced new drone for varied area including sanitization, surveillance, mapping, agriculture spraying, security, industries and for delivery.Company introduced new unmanned aerial vehicles which has the capacity for disinfecting the 3.28 million sq. km area. Such drones will be helpful for the manufacturing facilities to disinfect the facility after shift rotation or shift overs.Introduce disinfectant-bots for the production facilitiesFor instance,In April 2020, Blue Ocean Robotics introduced a new solution for the production facilities to keep the area disinfected. A UVD robot has been introduced by the company to kill harmful microorganisms. Such type of the new robots for industrial cleaning application will help the market to grow at significant rate.IMPACT ON SUPPLY AND DEMANDIndustrial robotics and drones has strong demand in the market owing to improved safety and performance offered by them. Even before the pandemic situation, the market witnessed significant increase in the CAGR owing to transformation of industries towards automation. Now, COVID-19 enhanced its importance which is augmenting the market growth and supposed to increase CAGR in forecast period of the 2020-2027.WORLDWIDE SUPPLY OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTSSource: IFRCONCLUSIONThe pandemic situation has increased the importance of industrial robotics and drones to replace the complicated task of humans by robots. Rising awareness about the robots and drones among customers and the government is supposed to supplement the growth of the market in the forecasted period. The overall market has a strong opportunity ahead to increase their presence and target the untapped market for industrial robots and drones. Increasing demand for the medical devices, PPE kits, hygiene liquids, and others itself driving the growth of industrial robotics and drones market. For instance, in July 2020, according to the Annex Business Media article Roche, Molecular Solutions adopted the ABB robots for the COVID-19 tests. In the same articles also stated that JR Automation partnered with General Motors to implement industrial robots for the medical mask assembly line. Such rising importance and development of the solution for the new application are supposed to drive the market growth in the forecast period.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE PACKAGING IN THE MATERIALS AND PACKAGING INDUSTRYIn the e-commerce packaging industry, each dealer has predicted the crises that will occur due to the pandemic situations that the COVID-19 is generating globally in the e-commerce packaging market but COVID-19 has the mixed pattern situation for the e-commerce packaging companies in developing countries. The jumbled situation can be examined as we can see the demand for medicine, packaging food, raw food and other essential items has been increased dramatically. At the same time, the demand for other goods that are not used on a more frequent basis has decreased as a result of lock-ups in the various regions. For the product ranges sold by manufacturers / dealers, the effect of COVID-19 on the e-commerce packaging firms can be seen.For instance,More than 40% of the selling of plastic boxes is attributed to the packaging and transfer of items from one location to another as demand for grooming products, medicines and medical devices has been increased in COVID-19Specific forms of packaging such as plastics and paper & paperboard are often commonly used to bundle e-commerce orders that raise e-commerce packaging demand. There is also the growing competition for packaging of grocery products and other consumer goods such as foods, eggs, cheese and frozen meals and vegetablesReduced e-commerce order demand as a result of stay-at-home rules has shut down the production of products that are not deemed necessary, such as clothing and footwear, household and appliances, and electrical objectsThroughout the e-commerce packaging industry, cardboard boxes are progressively favoured because they give shipping goods security. The combination of rigidity and cushioning qualities makes them solid during transportation and movement to bring effect.IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON E-COMMERCE PACKAGING INDUSTRYPlastic boxes remain one of the fastest-growing packaging materials through 2027. Plastic boxes are available in a variety of shapes and can be printed with a range of techniques and also can be customized according to goods and industry.COVID-19 adversely impacted the market demand for e-commerce packaging. The global e-commerce packaging industry is taking the requisite steps to tackle the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Crisis arrangements have been applied to continue satisfying your e-commerce packaging needs. The firms, with the help of their workers, are trying to maintain the health and well-being of workers in manufacturing plants, ensuring a safe and effective workplace. E-commerce packaging is growing globally and e-commerce arose as the most viable choice for the broad population to buy products during the coronavirus pandemic era. E-commerce acceleration is affecting the global demand for e-commerce packaging.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, B2B and B2C online sales of physical goods recently experienced a surge in demand in some products. Many companies and customers initially reacted by stockpiling up. Medical supplies including hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and surgical facemasks were stored, as well as essential household items such as toilet paper and non-perishable foods. Businesses faced teleworking and consumers had to communicate and entertain themselves remotely from home. The government of many countries has enforced social distance measures, lockdowns have been implemented, and/or "non-essential" businesses temporarily closed. The result was a surge in online sales of some items, as well as the growing demand for the wide variety of digital services, as many shoppers have recourse to online shopping – either internet or via telephone.The surge in retail sales in the first two months of 2020 has resulted in a year-to-year rise in e-commerce packaging spending between January and February 2019, generating enormous competition for secure packaging and protecting packaging (such as stretch tape, and pallets). Modern corrugated cardboard boxes, compact corporate covered pouches, and protective inner wrapping, for instance, benefitted greatly from increased e-commerce packaging spending.Even large e-commerce lagard segments such as online meal kits (namely blue apron) are experiencing a revival and generating urgent packaging demands for cardboard boxes and enclosed packaging products of higher quality. The online grocery segment, comprising primarily of delivery services such as Amazon Fresh also including meal kits, reported a 400 percent rise in revenue related to the same time in 2019.Because of COVID-19, people do not buy products offline that are in unhygienic conditions as a result of which increased the online demand of essential items from the different online dealers which derives the e-commerce packaging products.IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE PACKAGINGToday, the spread of the novel coronavirus has triggered significant market damage across the globe. Most of the businesses have stopped immediately and the effect on e-commerce packaging of the coronavirus pandemic is not yet clear. The towns are closed down, and social distancing has become a modern norm. Customers spend online to satisfy their everyday needs, resulting in an increase of 50 per cent in retail purchases and an increase of 8 per cent of online shoppers.The COVID-19 pandemic will remain for forever and with that initial effect, it changes the online industry. We should find that e-commerce packaging poses a threat to the retail market and its services offered. Families sit at home and orders their needs online such as food shopping, clothing shopping, and other entertaining movies. It shows that the customers will not be comfortable following the old shopping habits because of the fear of becoming sick. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES DURING COVID-19It has been a tough time for major e-commerce retailers as Amazon too. The business has started distribution in selected locations, and is focusing on first fulfilling current orders and buying critical goods using prepaid methods in IndiaInternational Paper is a manufacturer of recycled fibre-based packaging goods that contributed two million corrugated boxes and films to COVID-19 for help. The firm has raised the market for food help packaging items because of the COVID-19 pandemicE-commerce packaging gateway discusses some of the main problems confronting the industry as a consequence of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, including the impact of self-isolation laws, businesses switching from China to sourcing and reconsidering products used in packagingFood and milk were pursued immediately and while fulfillment remains a task, several players jumped into it by switching from offline to online as well as new players with proven skills jumping into the fray. The concept of important goods kept evolving, as did the product mix for most of the sportsThrough adopting different strategies such as growing manufacturing efficiency, new product launches, product distribution, the manufacturers seeks to achieve optimal market development. The exponential growth of e-commerce packaging in sectors such as healthcare, food and beverage, and others is projected to provide attractive prospects for key market players. This is anticipated that variables such as the locations for distribution and sales can help boost the overall position of the business. Small domestic players and especially emerging players in developed countries are likely to obtain opportunities to position themselves in the marketplace.CONCLUSIONOne of the main things we expect from COVID-19 is to see the offspring distributed into more bins. Over-reliance on a single successful nation or country may lead to launch for shortages weeks out. Major failures and competitive risk occur in between just one or two customers as enterprises adjust their activities. Ultra lean running may keep costs down, but where major delays are experienced, there is a chance of sales loss.Customers are trying their best to respond to difficult conditions and thereby change their behavior. You have faced almost the same confusion as a company owner when seeking to meet your and your customers' needs. Your approach to the ever-changing situation will vary based upon the business and audience. Your reaction to the continually evolving situation will change. You know your clients better than anybody else. We hope you will appreciate some of the reasons why their behavior varies so you can keep representing them in the best way.Due to the COVID-19 situation, most of the retail stores also preferred online delivery services they received as ordered from customers on call and got delivered the required products including packaging products.In the lockdown situation, the consumer prefers to buy online products as compared with offline. Because it's convenient for the consumers as well as buyers. The COVID-19 helps to boost the order from the e-commerce packaging industry. The e-commerce packaging required a specific packaging that is used to protect from various damages and also helps in the transportation of the products from one place to another place.The retailers are also focused on getting products easily and safely delivered to consumers in the first attempt. They are using different types of packaging materials which provides support to carry and are also useful for the safe delivery.
