By Dan Sullivan, managing director, Doorco
There’s been a lot of talk in the press over the last week about lead times and the supply chain and I have to agree that we are all creaking at the seams in this post-lockdown boom. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand and pretend that any one of us is delivering on time, in full – no matter what investment has been made into systems, machinery, facilities, etc. But, what I think is a fair point to make is that the majority of us in the supply chain are doing their very best to deliver and agree that the most important thing is to be transparent with your customers.
Doorco is one of those companies that has invested, across the board. We place a huge emphasis on stock and came out of lockdown with bolstered levels. We are also in the unique position that we are independent in both the UK and Korea, so we can react quicker than most. But it’s still not enough. We saw 1,000s more doors than usual come through our prepping lines in July, a 34% increase, plus a 10% increase in distribution slab sales. There has also been a massive shift in demand, with consumers making bolder choices in style and colour – this adds even more pressure to suppliers because we move into supplying the ‘added value’ services, like painting.
As we came out of lockdown, we were just thankful to be opening up and unfurloughing some of our staff. We certainly didn’t predict this boom. We are doing all we can to keep on top of this with double shifts in Korea to get the slabs to the UK, and in the UK to make the doors and support our customers. We are in constant communication with our suppliers and customers, sharing stats and predictions, and ordering as much as we can but we are up against widespread stock outages higher up the supply chain.
I appreciate the patience and understanding the customers are showing right now. We will improve and we will improve quickly, and we all hope for the continuation of the good problem to have – higher volumes than expected.
