b'30 SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGE (continued from pg 29)producing a finished product.Despite the inventory mind shift, business owners feel that a return to the days of warehouses bulging withexpensiveinventoryisnotinthecards. Everybody has become accustomed to reducing costsbyminimizingtouchpoints,movinggoods from the ship straight to the distribution facility and ontothecustomer,saysoneoperator.Indeed, cooperativeeffortswithsuppliersandcustomers may well help bring back a greater emphasis on JIT. I believe that the economy will eventually get back to that just in time concept as market disruptions lapse and the continued collaborative partnerships with vendors and suppliers remain a priority, says Hannan.The Road AheadBusinesses face a conundrum as the world emerges fromthepandemic:Howquicklywilldemand increaseforproductsandservices,andwillthe increase be steady or erratic? The wrong answers Dedicated to keeping its members at the forefront in their industrycan result in a pile up of inventory or lost revenues andcustomers.Theriskisespeciallygreatfor consumer and business goods requiring long lead times where businesses cant easily turn the supplyAsfortheroadahead,Conerlyanticipatesa chain spigot on and off, says Hannan.gradual improvement in the operating environment. Now that people are able to travel, they may well The solution, says Hannan, is to develop a playbookreturn to spending on vacations instead of home to address possible disruptions and evaluate risksimprovements as they did in 2020 when demand up and down the supply chain, then develop a planforhouseholdfurnishingsandbuildingmaterials toaddressthoserisks.Andmanagementmustchallengedthewholesupplychain,hesays. grapple with other unknowns such as whether theConsumerswhohavealreadycompletedtheir recentsurgeinthepriceofmanufacturedgoodsprojects will be spending their money elsewhere.can be passed along to the consumer. Indeed, many operators feel that with the pandemic All this may soften profits until everything shakescomingtoanend,nowistherighttimefor out.Revenueswillprobablyholduporevenbusinesses delivering quality service to gain market increase because of higher demand, but marginsshare.Says one: Were assuming the worst and will likely be hit because of increases in the costshoping for the best. Our overriding goal is to protect of raw materials, labor, and inventory, says Palisin.the health of our people and service our customers. Its a very unusual situation where all of these costThose things havent changed a bit. And well do increases are happening at onceand at a timewhat it takes to get it done.when tariffs are still in place. Companies just cant pass along everything to customers.The InsulatorFebruary 2023'