Navigating Shipping Challenges the Smarter Way
By this point, workers in all industries are feeling the effects of the global supply chain challenges brought on by COVID-19. While everyone in the shipping world navigates uncharted waters, we’re getting ahead of future challenges by prioritizing a few key things…
The State of Shipping in 2022
According to information from global transport and logistics company, Kuehne + Nagel, the Ports of LAX/LGB recently had over 800 workers test positive for COVID-19. As you can imagine, this makes it more difficult to get vessels processed and unloaded in a timely manner. East coast ports are experiencing significant backlogs. West coast delays are slowing train traffic, which is leading to a rise in cargo theft. The state of the industry is shocking, but not unsolvable…
Growing Wiser with Every Challenge
Now more than ever, our customers need reliable partnerships. On top of that, they want each project to be a positive experience from start to finish. So that’s our focus.
By providing reliable service during busy and slow times, we’re able to get quality products that are built to last where they need to be. This focus on quality during the entire customer experience can be the difference between students having a comfortable place to rest at night, or not. In a healthcare facility, it can be the difference between patients having a relaxing place to recover, or not.
Getting Ahead with Proactive Planning
We believe it’s our job to help customers overcome and prevent interruptions to business. The way we look at it: there’s no such thing as “too soon” right now. There’s bound to be disruption in the supply chain, but pre-planning is the best answer to avoiding major issues.
“We are proactively talking with our customers. We started conversations about 2022 in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2021. No one really knows what the future holds, so we decided to build a wider timeline into each project. We’ve essentially doubled our lead times to ensure we’re on time for the students, patients, and guests that are counting on us.” – Dean Harvison, Partner/Managing Director
In addition to wider timelines, we made plans to keep projects moving and costs down in other ways. We ordered raw materials based on forecast, moved certain manufacturing to other factories, and increased inventories. For our team, pre-ordering raw materials for Summer 2022 projects began earlier than previous seasons.
Expectations for the Future
As for the rest of the year, we’re expecting the best and ready to overcome the worst. While we’re prepared to see certain supply chain challenges continue, we’re also optimistic that conditions will improve in the near future.
By early 2023, it will be somewhat of a new environment for companies, so it’s going to be imperative that new rules are followed. Businesses should expect to make adjustments now in order to remain competitive in the future once things settle down. For instance, we’re already excited to be making improvements in areas like training and installation to help our team and customers stay ahead of the curve.
Smarter Customer Service: Our Promises to You
With all the uncertainty, it can be easy to get caught up in the stress of an upcoming project. Let us simplify your furniture buying experience with a partnership that promises:
- To look ahead, continue to adapt, and create contingency plans as needed
- To communicate with you every step of the way, so you can rest easy
- To be there for you with long-lasting products and reliable service
Ready to meet and discuss the details of your project? We offer livestream demonstrations from our showroom or in-person presentations at your convenience. Give us a call at (205) 621-2502 or contact us online today.