Managing an Unpredictable Global Supply
As the world’s economies have become more reliant on global sourcing, a beleaguered global supply chain has continued to combat a number of significant challenges over the last five years including the unforeseen turbulence of the global pandemic, an increasing number of international conflicts, and political upheavals across the globe. Identifying and mitigating global supply chain issues remain paramount to a company’s success.
Besides the world events that inject a degree of unpredictability into global trade, manufacturers are also feeling the ramifications of economic hits to their business operations, including the great resignation and talent hiring and retention in both technical and craft personnel.
Added to the challenges of the post-pandemic era and geopolitical risks are disruptions to ocean freight flow that can reroute cargo ships, adding a week or more to transit times.1 The good news is that transportation has mostly recovered, and capacity presently matches or exceeds current volumes.
Global Supply Chain Trend
The consistency now with global trade is that there is no consistency in recovery efforts as manufacturers struggle with quality issues, parts shortages, and production delays at the same time that there is growing demand for manufactured goods across the U.S.
Some areas are rebounding as seen with fixed and rotating mechanical equipment (i.e., heat exchangers, pumps, pipe valves/fittings, and pressure vessels). These leads times have stabilized and returned to pre-Covid levels.
On the other hand, there are longer lead times and schedule delays for PVF, electrical, and control systems equipment. Some of the reasons include parts shortages and increased quality issues revealed during testing or caught by third party inspectors.
Control systems component delays are the new normal, and lead times for electrical equipment remain much higher than historical averages. For example, a transformer that used to take 42 weeks to manufacture after an order was placed can now hit a lead time of upwards of a year and a half to two years.
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Managing an Unpredictable Global Supply7-24
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