Supply Chain Delays
Are you waiting for products to complete your project?
As the nation is approaching holiday season, news about supply chain delays seems to be adding up everyday. From empty shelves in grocery stores, to department stores hoping to get merchandise before gift giving season, almost every industry is strained by the supply chain. Looking at construction and manufacturing, these industries have put their projects on hold while waiting for products from overseas manufacturers.
Taking a deeper look into the construction industry, these delays are making developers have cold feet about continuing projects. To explain, the rise in material costs have developers rethinking if they could turn a profit on these stalled projects. For many builders, their initial budget was from pre-pandemic times where material costs were significantly lower than today’s prices.
Focusing on hot-rolled steel alone, one ton traded around $500-$800 pre-pandemic, but is now trading for around $1,700 since July 2021. Affecting general contractors, the highest factors that cause fluctuations in their cash flow are rising material costs, longer lead times, and COVID restrictions, per Business Wire.
Furthermore, the long wait time for cargo ships to dock is another major factor in supply chain delays. Wait times that took days to complete are now taking weeks, due to the shortage of port workers. Like the port, there has been a shortage in manufacturing workers as well, leading to longer production times. To combat this, manufacturers are offering higher wages and sign-on bonuses to entice more people back to the workforce.
In addition to labor shortages, manufacturers are fighting for valuable space on shipping containers coming from overseas. According to Freightos, freight charges traveling by sea from Asia to the US West Coast are up 270% from last year. Domestic companies that rely on overseas manufacturers are forced to pay higher prices for spaces in shipping containers.
What is Spectrum doing combat supply chain issues?
With supply chain delays adding up day by day, it is important to have material on-hand to continue progressing on current projects. This is where Spectrum Concrete Products has you covered. Unlike our competitors, we manufacture many of our products domestically instead of being 100% dependent on overseas manufacturers. Spectrum provides our customers the opportunity to complete their jobs in a timely manner, rather than waiting for products to arrive.
Contact out Sales Representatives to receive quotes or make a purchase. Like always, be sure to view our Product Catalog for our popular products and ask us about custom manufactured products.