DIRECTIONS CANADA

CHANGES AFTER THE FACT

Written by: JASON KELLN, ATP, CRTS®

When the pandemic first hit our country, many businesses asked, “What will we do? How will we keep going?”

As I watched changes in the world, news stories about shortages broke day after day after day. I noticed at the beginning of the pandemic that we did not seem to have a shortage, and there were no delays. It was business as usual. When there was business, not all areas were equal.

In 2022, we noticed the bigger changes from the pandemic in our industry. Production times for products went from days to weeks. At times, months. We issued purchase orders (POs) to companies, and orders never shipped.

ONE CAN HOPE THE STRONGEST COMPANIES HAVE MADE CHANGES, AND AS WITH ANYTHING, THESE IMPACTS WILL SOON EBB AWAY, THE TIDE WILL TURN AND OUR INDUSTRY WILL RETURN TO ITS FOCUS OF SERVING CLIENTS.

During the pandemic, many people stayed home for health and safety reasons. As a result, the industry lost talented and skilled people. Some never returned, and manufacturers had the responsibility to find and train new people for their production lines. This takes a lot of time and resources to get people trained in production, so many shipments were delayed. Not all companies, however, suffered this. Some made the decision to have higher inventory levels and/ or change production locations. Word spread about these organizations, and those companies benefited from being able to service customers and clients with high-quality in-stock equipment.

Inevitably, price increases resulted in all markets and all industries. Our industry was not left alone. Around the world, prices have increased. At the writing of this article, prices still increase. Raw materials, shipping and labor are the biggest reasons for the price increases in our industry.

As we say all the time, if we had a crystal ball to look into the future, we might choose a different industry. One can hope the strongest companies have made changes, and as with anything, these impacts will soon ebb away, the tide will turn and our industry will return to its focus of serving clients.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Jason may be reached at jason@phmobility.com

Jason Kelln, ATP, CRTS ®, the first NRRTS Registrant from Canada, serves as the NRRTS board secretary. He works at PrairieHeart Mobility in Regina, Saskatchewan.