Creativity helped these companies navigate supply chain disruptions

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the way supply chains operate, but some CEOs are finding success in creative solutions to combat material shortages and staff outbreaks.

The big picture: Stay-at-home orders and COVID-19 made operations for many manufacturing companies difficult to maneuver. Close-quarters provided ample space for outbreaks and shipping overloads bottlenecked some products and deliveries.

On production, Cuyana CEO Karla Gallardo said at an Axios Event on Wednesday that her fashion brand was deliberate in how it allocated its materials.

• "[W]e became creative. We repurposed materials towards products that we knew were going to be more demanded. We moved some new styles to the later parts of the year or 2021. And so each [product offering] we treated as a unique case."

Edgewell Personal Care CEO Rod Little said giving people the ability to stay home when they're sick without docking their pay helped prevent COVID-19's spread, while also allowing them to keep up with supply demand.

• "[P]re COVID-19, if our hourly people were sick or needed to miss work because they were feeling unwell... they would lose pay... We changed that from the very beginning. And we said, hold on a second. If you're sick and feeling unwell, do not come in ... Go sort that out."
• "And what we did is we gave everybody the right and option to have two weeks fully paid leave to go sort all those things out, effective an incentive not to come in to get paid. We still paid you if you if you stayed home."

Watch the full event here.