In the face of spiraling unemployment claims triggered by coronavirus shutdowns, grocery chain The Kroger Family of Companies has hired more than 100,000 workers in the past eight weeks, including those from sectors hardest hit by the economic shock of the pandemic, like restaurants, hotels, and food service distributors.

Supply chain snarls and work-from-home policies have caused spikes for essential goods like food and medical gear, while nearly idling other sectors of the economy. As a supermarket retailer, Kroger has seen a jump in demand for its products, helping drive the hiring increase.

Kroger's workforce topped 460,000 associates prior to the crisis, so its recent hiring efforts have helped provide continuous access to food and essential products during the pandemic. To handle the increase workforce, Kroger initiated an expedited hiring process in early March to shorten the time between application and employment, onboarding new hires in an average of 72 hours. Kroger also adjusted its new hire approach to focus on tasks as opposed to role-based development, allowing new hires to more quickly acclimate to their roles and expectations, the company said.

"Throughout the pandemic, Kroger's top priority has been to provide and maintain a safe environment for our associates and customers with open stores, comprehensive e-commerce solutions, and an efficiently operating supply chain," Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chairman and CEO, said in a release. "Since March, we have invested to reward our associates and safeguard our associates, customers and communities."

And in other examples of the logistics industry dedicating its assets to the coronavirus fight:

• Liquid and powder coatings supplier Axalta has shifted the manufacturing capabilities of its facility in Tlalnepantla, Mexico, to produce more than 1,000 liters of hand sanitizer, which is being donated to local healthcare facilities, first responders, and other essential businesses. These efforts complement Axalta's global support of coronavirus relief efforts which include sending personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals in the U.S., France, Belgium, and Germany, and providing more than 5,000 seat covers to medical professionals who can use the seat covers in their own cars to reduce the risk of transmitting the coronavirus when they are visiting those diagnosed with the virus. "Several Axalta plants in Latin America, Europe, and the United States have shifted production from paint to hand sanitizer to help meet the growing need of this product in countries around the globe," Daniel Salcido, Axalta's president of Latin America North, said in a release. "Axalta has already donated thousands of liters of hand sanitizer to support the local communities where our employees live, work and raise their families. We will continue to do our part for our customers, employees and all those on the front lines of this pandemic that are helping to keep us safe."
• Aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. has donated cargo capacity on its corporate aircraft as an in-kind donation to support the federal government's Covid-19 response for medical transplants, helping ensure that that life-saving products from European donors would reach American patients on time. The flights help ensure the timely delivery of bone marrow and blood stem cells for transplant, a need that arose when the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match ran out of available European Union couriers to deliver life-saving cells to U.S. patients, since tens of thousands of commercial flights had been canceled during the pandemic. Lockheed Martin will be providing weekly air transport based on government medical need – flying government medical teams to the most critical, high-priority locations around the country and/or flying to support bone marrow transport to help with the government's coronavirus response.
• E-commerce micro-warehousing platform provider Ohi is helping to keep restaurants in business despite social distancing policies during the pandemic. Ohi has helped the San Fransisco-based wine bar Noeteca pivot from food service into another industry, transforming their brick-and-mortar restaurant into a micro warehouse that supports delivery throughout California for e-commerce brands such as HAUS, Juneshine, and Taika Coffee. Coronavirus has significantly accelerated consumers’ desire for instantaneous commerce across all categories, and Ohi is also working with a variety of brands across the beverage, beauty, health/ wellness, and apparel/footwear spaces, enabling them to reach customers with same-day service during today's new, remote landscape, the firm said.
• Less than truckload (LTL) freight management software provider Carrier Logistics Inc. (CLI) has introduced a free, artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool for determining the exact location type for a pick-up or delivery during the Covid-19 crisis. The “LOCI” tool helps clients to plan and dispatch the right driver with the right equipment by interfacing with the firm’s transportation management software (TMS). For example, the tool offers over 115 categories of locations—covering everything from “airport” to “zoo”—to provide much more detail than the classic binary choice between residential and commercial. “Right now, many carriers are servicing different customers and locations than they have in the past,” CLI President Ben Wiesen said in a release. “And we know that staff at the carriers is in a state of flux, with people covering dispatch who might not have the tribal knowledge about the customer base. And of course, we know how confusing that can be. In order to assist our clients during these turbulent times, (and even as the economy starts to open up) we are offering this emerging technology for free through June 30, 2020.”

To see further coverage of the coronavirus crisis and how it's affecting the logistics industry, check out our Covid-19 landing page. And click here for our compilation of virus-focused websites and resource pages from around the supply chain sector.