Throughout COVID and into this year, there has been an overwhelming delay in the supply chain. We’ve all seen record shortages of products ranging from household items to lumber doors, frames and hardware. No matter what industry, supply chain disruption has caused us all turmoil, even software providers like Software for Hardware.
Vice president of the National Retail Federation told Insider, “ Demand grew so rapidly in the past two years that it’s equivalent to about 50 million new Americans joining the economy. The article also explained that most components of the supply chain are built on ‘lean’ principles, which basically means there is no redundancy from truck drivers to inventory warehouses. This lean idea did not help prepare for the intense increase in demand. Even when consumer demand increases in a few months, it takes more time to increase port availability, build warehouses, hire employees, etc,.
Not only is there a huge shortage of goods and material, there is a high demand for workers across many industries. Economists argue that in order to see solutions, consumer spending needs to be cut back immensely. According to Insider, many experts do not expect to see drastic improvements in the supply chain until 2023.
However, at Software for Hardware we do not subscribe to such pessimistic predictions. Just one year ago, many industry experts predicted a potential economic collapse in commercial construction. Did that pessimistic prediction come true? No. In fact, we published in November 2020, a 2021 optimistic commercial construction industry forecast which predicted continued growth and we were right! (Click here to read our 2021 forecast whitepaper) https://softwareforhardware.net/research-resources/
Hence, no surprise we are optimistic about supply chain disruption coming to an end sooner than the “experts” predict. Why? Because economic models, mathematical projections, do not account for human, and dare I say American, dedication and innovation. From ships to ports to trucks to door, frame and hardware distributors warehouses, dedicated and innovative Americans are working to create solutions. I am confident those solutions will soon take hold, supply chains will again resemble normal and all this will happen before 2023. Don’t bet against Americans.
Ian Oxman, Co-Owner, Software for Hardware LLC, based in Atlanta, GA. You can reach Ian at ian@softwareforhardware.com
