Snapshot: Global Supply Chain Issues

Updated: November 18th, 2021

The chaos of the pandemic caused consumers to panic buy goods across many industries. This increased demand and several other factors have created supply chain bottlenecks, with no clear end in sight.

What Is the Problem?

Currently, there are shortages of everything from timber to semiconductors. These shortages led to transportation bottlenecks and price increases, all of which are at the highest levels they have been in a long time. To make matters worse, there have been a series of incidents to further exacerbate the situation, from the Suez Canal blockage backing up global shipping to hackers bringing down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., driving gasoline prices to the highest they’ve been since 2014. Not to mention the storms in Texas, which is a huge driving force to the price increases and material shortages across North America. To summarize, most supply chains globally are strained, causing delays and price increases across the board.

As of November 16th 2021, we are facing additional delays with both incoming and outgoing shipments due to severe weather conditions and many road and railway closures. 

What Does This Mean For You?

Unfortunately, we are not immune to these global supply chain issues. Currently, we are seeing increased lead times and price increases for many materials and shipping delays. Given the circumstances, we’re anticipating this to last a while.

What Can We Do?

Although we can't fix the problem, we do have a few suggestions that may help:

• Ship partial orders
• Use a similar material if your usual material is out of stock
• Use oversized material
• Forecast your inventory for a more extended period than usual to ensure you remain in stock

These options may trigger some extra costs, but it could be worth it, depending on the delay with the material.

If you are concerned about an upcoming order, please reach out to your sales representative as soon as possible. We always suggest planning ahead as much as possible to avoid delays, especially in these situations, and we’d happy to assist you with this!