Kinks in Multi-family Supply Chain Make a Case for Spend Management
The economic fallout from the pandemic plus a quagmire of untimely events is kinking the global supply chain, spotlighting the importance of solid spend management and vendor relations in the apartment industry.
When the pandemic hit the multi-family supply chain more than a year ago, a big concern for property management companies was the availability of personal protective equipment and sanitizing products. More than a year later, as restrictions loosen and the industry welcomes a return to normalcy, the attention has shifted to other staples that are in short supply.
The economy’s steady reopening is creating a high demand for essential products for apartment make-readies, repairs, and improvements that were already scarce because of factory shutdowns and reduced production attributed to COVID-19. And it may not be until the end of summer or early next year that inventories return to normal.
Suppliers are scrambling to keep everything from AC condensing units to plastic buckets in stock during what analysts say are the biggest disruption to the global supply chain in decades.
A tsunami of logjams in production and shipping has affected more than three-quarters of global supply chains. And buyers are paying a premium, stressing construction, renovation, and maintenance budgets.
“It’s the perfect storm,” says Roger L. Bowman, Vice President of Merchandising and Replenishment at AZ Partsmaster, a major multifamily supplier. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and neither I nor folks I know in the industry have ever seen anything like what we’re dealing with today.”
Stress on the apartment supply chain
A confluence of global economic disasters, with the pandemic mostly to blame, has reduced inventories of lumber, HVAC products, paint, chlorine, foam insulation, appliances, water heaters, plastics and other products essential to multifamily. Some products are no longer in production.
Factory closures and li...