Wow….what a challenging number of months it has been. In January we described some of the activities surrounding our expansion. At that time I was hopeful that our new equipment would be coming on-line within a few weeks. Now here we are, two months later, and we still haven’t gotten one new piece of equipment operational. What gives? Unfortunately we are living in an age when nothing is simple and everything just takes (much) longer than we expect. The images of container ships sitting idly outside the port of Long Beach/Los Angeles aren’t mirages – they’re real. And LA is not an isolated case. Many of the world’s ports and transportation hubs are overrun with gridlock.
Last month I attended my first trade show overseas in two years. No matter if I was speaking with someone from Europe, Asia or the Middle East, I was struck by how similar all of the stories were. Transport costs through the roof, unheard of delays and key ingredients/components simply unavailable. These were the common refrains. So, at least I know we aren’t alone in our frustrations.
During this time we are especially thankful for the loyalty and understanding of our customers who are walking this journey with us. We are disappointed that at times we are out of stock on certain items and are not able to meet the demand of our customers. We are hopeful that the macro situation will somehow return to some level of normalcy within the coming months; until then, we can only buckle up and hope for the best!
