Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. exercise equipment supply chain

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had drastic effects on many industries around the globe. With shelter-in-place orders set to slow the spread of the virus, many high-risk facilities like gyms were forced to close until further notice. Individuals who rely on these facilities for access to exercise equipment had to find alternatives. For these reasons, individuals are now purchasing their own exercise equipment, creating "at-home gyms." This has overloaded the exercise equipment market, creating a substantial positive surge in production. This increase in demand and new manufacturing regulations have disrupted exercise equipment companies' supply chains. The goal of this paper is to identify all impacts of COVID-19 on this industry in the U.S. and analyze current methods of regulating production and delivery. We determine the effects the pandemic has had on the economy relating to the fitness equipment industry and investigate potential correlations between certain equipment types and delays. The paper discusses the performance of other kinds of at-home exercise programs offered by the fitness industry. Throughout the paper, we analyze, detail, and compare both solutions from equipment companies and consumers' responses. © 2021 IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2021. All rights reserved.