Routes to Resilience through Distributed Manufacturing and Circular Economy Approaches

The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath has demonstrated the weaknesses of supply chain systems that withhold production control from communities impacted by disasters. Moreover, the pandemic has highlighted that a long-term strategy for resilience is desperately needed so communities are able to handle a wide range of future shocks and challenges that will continue to appear and may not be well anticipated.

This brief shares the key lessons learned from COVIDaction Local Production Local Solutions (LPLS).  Through its work, LPLS identified that localisation of production, distributed manufacturing and circular economy approaches can help increase resilience to emergencies and improve the responsiveness of production systems to community needs. These approaches can also help to reduce waste, limit carbon emissions, and mitigate the impacts of production systems on the environment.

Global Auto Systems team members assembling 3D printed face shield (Photo Credit: GAS)