b'BUSINESS MANAGEMENTTHE SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGEBUSINESSES BOLSTER INVENTORIES, WOO SUPPLIERS TO KEEP CUSTOMERS HAPPYPhillip M. PerryW ethoughtthesupplyand shuttered production facilities. The return chain issues that aroseof a vigorous economy only increased pressure in the aftermath of theon an already thinly stretched delivery structure COVID19pandemicwouldbeas businesses and consumers accelerated their resolved by now. No such luck.purchasing. Most recently, the arrival of inflation Businessesaregrapplingwithcaused businesses to increase their buying of recurringproblemscausedbygoods even more, in a move to beef up inventories labor shortages, a new round of inflation-spurredbefore anticipated price hikes kicked in. Finally, over-buying, and shipping disruptions causedin early 2022 the Russia-Ukraine war created by the Russia-Ukraine wear.Faced with robustshipping disruptions that fractured vital sections consumer and commercial demand, companiesof the global supply chain.are beefing up costly inventories and wooingAll of these forces have come together to create a second level suppliers to help close the gapschallenging environment for businesses looking to when shortages arise.balance the dependable delivery of raw materials Product shortages and delaysand associatedwith the need to keep inventory at manageable pricehikeshavebeennostrangerstolevels. Everyone in manufacturing and wholesale companies in recent years, thanks to internationaldistribution sems to be dealing with supply chain tariffs. What had been an exercise in efficientdisruptions, says Bill Conerly, Principal of his materials distribution, though, morphed into aown consulting firm in Lake Oswego, Oregon full-scale crisis with the arrival of COVD-19 and(conerlyconsulting.com). Many companies are its effect on labor shortages, bottlenecked ports,telling me the problem seems to be getting worse 6 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'