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Popular Guangzhou’s Purchasing Department tackled the challenges brought by the pandemic to ensure a continuous supply to Singapore and Malaysia. 中国广州采购部勇克疫情挑战，保证新马大众货源不断。 When the Popular Guangzhou staff returned to the office after a month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, the Purchasing Department faced a huge challenge. Responsible for supplying Singapore and Malaysia with high-quality stationery and gift ideas, the subsequent lockdowns in the two countries meant that ensuring a smooth and steady supply became their most urgent task. equipment (PPE) like face masks and face shields. Though the situation in China was better, the prices of PPE had risen. Although some of our long-time stationery suppliers had started producing face masks, they had to meet the demand of the local governments before offering the remaining stock to their customers. There was a huge collective sigh of relief when we finally located a supplier who could meet the demand from Singapore and Malaysia! Keeping a Lid on Costs and Time The pandemic also resulted in the closure of many smaller raw material processing plants, which caught many companies by surprise and led to a rush to look for alternatives. POPULAR was no exception. The producer that we had approached was a new partner, and it was only natural for them to prioritise the orders of their long-term customers. The implementation of our quality control assessment for our new partner also affected the speed of delivery. What used to take one month could take up to three months. A further impact of the tight supply was the increased cost of production, which led to increased procurement costs. Hence, our staff was in constant communication with our suppliers to negotiate for the best savings at the earliest delivery. Procuring Equipment Personal Protection The outbreak in Singapore and Malaysia also led to a short supply of personal protection By Huang Jia Wei & Pan Yu Chun (Guangzhou) 文:黄嘉玮、潘玉春(广州) 133 popularnews - 19