For a variety of reasons - from the pandemic, to general shipping delays (including the Suez Canal fiasco!) to a fire at a major semiconductor manufacturing plant - you've probably heard that the world's supply chain is in disarray.
We've also been hearing this, and communicating with our partners that this wave was headed our way and likely to affect the technology integration sector in the near future.
Well, the future is unfortunately now, and sadly our industry and our company are not immune from these impacts on global trade.
In the last days and weeks, we have heard a steady drum-beat of bad news from our vendors related to availability and pricing.
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Regarding Availability - We are hearing about delays multiple times per day from key vendor partners like Crestron, Crown, and JBL, just to name a few, and our expectation is that we're going to hear about delays from most, if not all of our vendors in the coming days and weeks.
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Regarding Pricing - Over the last few months, vendors have pushed through pricing increases on many product categories due to price increases they are experiencing in semiconductors, steel, wood, and almost every other commodity.
We are working to adapt our business practices to mitigate the above as much as possible - for example, we have changed our buying posture from "just in time" to "just in case" and have acquired far more inventory than we would normally carry - but there are also some things you might want to consider doing as well.
Strategies to Mitigate the Supply Chain Impact
In order to help mitigate the effects on your institution, we recommend the following:
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Stay close to LightWerks and your other vendor partners to stay up to date on the latest developments.
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Expect delays and prepare contingency plans for dealing with the potential that implementations - especially those that involve multiple construction trades, like new construction - may not be able to be completed per your original, hoped-for deadlines.
- Finalize your decisions, and place orders with your vendor partners as soon as possible.
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Be prepared to accept product substitutions if we learn that certain products are totally unavailable, but that other similar products might have better availability.
- Unfortunately, prepare for rising prices on pretty much everything across the board, whether it is electronic or otherwise. Expect short-term fees for basic shipping materials which are also in very short supply.
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Share future plans with our personnel as well as manufacturers with whom you may be in direct communication. The more they know that you will need product in the near future, the more likely they will be able to allocate product to your project and advise the factory on future production needs further out into the future.
Finally, it is our expectation that these supply issues will persist at least into the first quarter of 2022. You can count on us to update you as things progress, but please share as much information back to us as possible.
Like every other challenge, we will all get through this one...together.
