More than ever before, the manufacturing industry has had to prove a high degree of flexibility during the past few months. Even though flexibility has always been an important corporate goal for manufacturing companies, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the level of requirements. It has become clear that companies in the manufacturing industry are not equally well prepared for the demands of rapidly changing markets. A recent McKinsey survey of manufacturing companies in Asia cites material shortages (45 percent of respondents), a sharp drop in demand (41 percent), and a shortage of labor (30 percent) as the biggest problems.