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Overcoming Movement and Capacity Constraints to Provide Essential Products in Vietnam Listen with ReadSpeaker

The strict travel restrictions and capacity constraints during the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam did not stop DKSH from continuing to provide access to essential daily products for millions of Vietnamese during the pandemic.

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Business Units

Consumer Goods, Healthcare

Business Lines

Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Services

Distribution and logistics

Markets

Vietnam

As one of Vietnam’s leading business organizations with employees servicing 63 provinces, the pandemic was a huge challenge for us to overcome.

During the strict lockdown period, the population was not permitted to leave their houses and essential food supply and groceries were delivered by the government directly to households. Businesses were also closed and only the essential services could operate under strict conditions.

Keeping Medical Devices Delivery Going During a Pandemic

Challenge

The prolonged process of obtaining the on-road permits for transportation and delivery of essential products in the market was the biggest challenge. With the uncertainty in guidelines and the constantly shifting number of cases, the process took around three weeks.

For businesses that were permitted to operate, they had to abide by the “three-on-site” guideline. This guideline meant that our employees had to eat, sleep, and work at the warehouses and were not able to physically return to their homes for over three months! In addition, these businesses were only allowed to operate at 30 percent capacity to ensure proper social distancing.

Across the market, consumers had also moved away from physical transactions and preferred contactless transactions to minimize the risk of infections.

Approach

To ensure business continuity, we implemented the “three-on-site” guideline as required by the government at our strategic business locations, including our warehouses.

We also carried out our Total Quarantine Solution (TQS) procedures, which effectively ensure that our locations mirror the quarantine procedures of a hospital during a pandemic. This is done to prevent infected individuals from entering the facilities making sure our staff stays healthy and that the facilities always remain operational. TQS also provides us with the best method of minimizing exposure to extended closures of our facilities due to infection or loss of key operational personnel because of the mandatory 14-day isolation requirement.

To facilitate contactless transactions, we collaborated with HSBC and Payoo to develop the digital solution mPay to help our customers make simple payments through bank transfer, while simultaneously linking them to DKSH’s system for easy financial tracking and reconciliation. DKSH Consumer Goods utilized the mPay tool in Vietnam and soon also in other markets in the region.

Result

Despite the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we were still able to supply essential products to our customers on time.

The pandemic proved very challenging for DKSH in Vietnam. However, as we were quick to act, we were able to face all the uncertainties and strict guidelines in the market to continue supplying our customers promptly.

Jorge Martin-Martinez, Vice President, Finance Indochina and Head of Country Management, DKSH Vietnam

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