Today, machining companies must manage their materials purchasing with 12-15 month mill lead-times. Compare that to the 6-month time frame expected just a couple years ago, and it makes you wonder: what’s to blame?
Let’s rewind to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: demand plummeted and in a panic, many of the major mills that produce the high quality stainless steel and specialty metals our industry relies on, used early retirement packages for some of their most skilled employees as a means to cut costs.
Before we knew it, however, demand skyrocketed. These mills, now operating with far fewer employees, were expected to fulfill more orders than they did in “normal” times. Compile that with an overall shortage of skilled workers, the time necessary to train new employees into skilled employees, and the difficulty of acquiring even unskilled labor right now, and there’s no question that constrained capacity is the primary reason for the material shortage plaguing our industry.