Pandemic supply chain in your area

[PhotonWrangler]

I had to wait for a month for an RMA replacement for a device at work when the usual turnaround time is a day or two. This is for something that's designed in the U.S. but built offshore.

 

[aznsx]

I had to wait for a month for an RMA replacement for a device at work when the usual turnaround time is a day or two. This is for something that's designed in the U.S. but built offshore.

So much of offshore(ing) and the new world order of globalization! That's real progress

 

[PhotonWrangler]

So much of offshore(ing) and the new world order of globalization! That's real progress

Yeah, "Just in time" logistics is now "fuggedaboudit."

 

[aznsx]

Yeah, "Just in time" logistics is now "fuggedaboudit."

For years every time someone mentioned JIT, I called it JTL (Just Too Late).

 

[idleprocess]

Between the extremes of JIT and JIC the economy is swinging from the former closer to the latter. Seems that the scope of all the contingency planning that JIT is supposed to do focused more on micro interruptions specific to a supplier or small-region crisis didn't account for the likes of the global pandemic and now the serious belligerence in Europe and the resulting macro effects. To wit: brick-and-mortar retail may be dying a slow death that smells of the 'Zon but warehouse space is a hot commodity in commercial and industrial real estate.

 

[ampdude]

I think it's kinda ironic how it is making this recession worse. I have enough laundry and dishwasher soap to last me a long time. So I don't plan on buying any more any time soon. Got a closet full of TP. What did they think was gonna happen when the panic ended? People were gonna run out and buy more?

 

[ampdude]

Now it's contrast dye for medical imaging. What's next? What will it take for U.S.A. idiots to finally learn? (rhetorical - please don't try to answer that). Unbelievable.

Contrast dye shortage causing problems in health industry

Potentially lifesaving procedures are delayed, causing a crisis for healthcare. People across the Valley and the country are having to wait to get tests like CT scans as contrast dye is running out.

www.abc15.com

It's the media making up things for us to worry about.

It's what their entire business model is about. I try to ignore them most of the time, but it's hard not to.

 

[idleprocess]

I have enough laundry and dishwasher soap to last me a long time. So I don't plan on buying any more any time soon. Got a closet full of TP. What did they think was gonna happen when the panic ended? People were gonna run out and buy more?

Consumption curve got a little lumpy but it's doubtful that the production curve reacted much to spikes in demand - or that it had the spare capacity to react. Early on in the pandemic when some of the shortages were really bad the retail industry simply pivoted to meet the momentary mismatch in demand: a few resourceful people I knew bought the likes of institutional toilet paper (in commercial packs or odd sized rolls) piling up at supply houses and a number of restaurant supply stores opened to the public to deal with the likes of chicken being vacant on grocery store shelves yet piling up on their shelves in bulk packs. The demand whipsaw eventually sorted itself out, and to the extent necessary the retail/commercial packaging SKU mismatch was adjusted.

 

[ampdude]

idleprocess, it's all what happens in wartime to meet demand.

Same example. You're well aware I'm sure. IBM was making .30 M1 carbines back in WWII.

Then there's a ton of surplus hand wipes and they start giving the stuff out for free at the entrance doors of Walmarts.

 

[idleprocess]

idleprocess, it's all what happens in wartime to meet demand. You're well aware I'm sure. IBM was making .30 M1 carbines back in WWII.

As did Smith-Corona (EDIT: actually M1903A3s) - however, this was a major displacement of typewriter production for something entirely different.

The great toilet paper and packaged chicken crisis of 2020 involved shifting channels for the same basic good: temporarily shift logjammed commercial SKUs to starved retail channels, then the planned adjustment of SKUs since the increase in commercial demand was well-telepgraphed.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

What did they think was gonna happen when the panic ended? People were gonna run out and buy more?

Yes. Haven't you heard? They think if they drive up the price of gas, food, utilities, rent, and everything else, you'll spend a year's salary to buy a new electric car which you'll now have to pay off with a higher interest rate.

 

[Poppy]

I hate the media. When a crisis happens they talk it to death. Even if it is not a crisis, they make it sound like it is so that they have something to talk about. They then move onto the next topic they can turn into a crisis.

What happened to reporting on Ukraine? CNN commercials state... "I am so-and-so in Ukraine" yet I can watch the show for hours, and there isn't 5 minutes on Ukraine. People are dying 100-200 a day, yet over here if one person dies for whatever reason, it gets national coverage.

For a month, they dwelled on the baby formula shortage. Now not a word!

I don't have an infant at home, so it doesn't affect me, but I am wondering... is it back on the shelves yet?

 

[idleprocess]

I hate the media. When a crisis happens they talk it to death. Even if it is not a crisis, they make it sound like it is so that they have something to talk about. They then move onto the next topic they can turn into a crisis.

Creating anxiety has become a fundamental business imperative for the news media. Anxiety keeps your ears tuned, your eyes glued, and - most importantly - those fingers clicking on The Great Link which then feeds back into the most financial reward. Agenda is secondary - a means to differentiate - in this business model that's evolved in the 21st century.

 

[fulee9999]

and here in Hungary, we pay $8.26 for a gallon of petrol... ( which is the cheapest in the EU I believe )

What we are dealing with now is an everything shortage. We have a skilled labor shortage, a fuel, oil, and energy shortage, a fertilizer shortage, a food shortage, a computer chip shortage, a plastic shortage, a metal shortage, a baby formula shortage, a water shortage, a trucker shortage, and a cement shortage.

That's true globally... Everything is more expensive as everything is in short supply, and those things that are not, are artificially increased in price...

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

We lost a lot of skilled workers during Covid. The ones that were doing their jobs the best were working the longest and had the most exposure. Then we decided it would be a good idea to fire a bunch of people who refused to get a vaccine that has been ultimately proven ineffective with the newest strains. Dr. Fauci got two shots and two boosters and still got Covid. So now we have a huge worker shortage. I wonder why? Then we had the mess in Ukraine and a lot of fuel and food got cut off from the world. Did we ramp up oil production in the U.S. to help ourselves and our European allies? No. We decided now we're going to quit oil cold turkey and go green. The problem is that green technology can't function without plastics for insulation around the wires (made from oil). Everything transported largely depends on oil and most green technologies (batteries, computer chips, solar panels) are made overseas and require transportation as well as a dependency on nations that may not be friendly with us in the future. In the western U.S. we are in a megadrought. We were told we only have half the water we need in California to get through the year. Yet if you look at who uses the water, 5% goes to homes and businesses, 40% goes to agriculture (for growing food), and 55% flows out to sea to protect a two inch fish (Delta Smelt). Now they want to use state surplus money to buy farmers water rights so they can kill off more crops and flush more water out to sea. Want to know why food and water bills are rising? It's because of decisions like that. If you flush 55% of the state's water out to sea on purpose you don't get to blame it on global warming.

 

[knucklegary]

^^ Not to mention CA has not built new reservoirs in 40 years. Yet the population has doubled since then. Seems to be a no brainer to me🦧

 

[idleprocess]

Dr. Fauci got two shots and two boosters and still got Covid.

Neat, but the real point is that the overwhelming majority don't so much as need treatment to say nothing of hospitalization.

So now we have a huge worker shortage. I wonder why?

I don't. No small percentage of the workforce in the bottom rungs of the service sector got laid off to the tune of rampant inflation and the realization that no matter how hard they worked that better life they dreamed of was going to remain out of reach. So now scores of businesses and even local government services are operating reduced or multiple-choice hours because the supply of people willing to work for those wages under those conditions with those limited prospects has seen a sharp decline.

Did we ramp up oil production in the U.S. to help ourselves and our European allies? No. We decided now we're going to quit oil cold turkey and go green.

Nah. The oil companies have been enjoying tidy profits without tapping either available supply nor refining capacity.

The problem is that green technology can't function without plastics for insulation around the wires (made from oil).

Soy-based insulation has been a thing for decades now.

In the western U.S. we are in a megadrought. We were told we only have half the water we need in California to get through the year.

The unavoidable reality is that neither situating agriculture nor building population centers in the desert are good ideas in the long term since transporting water is energy-intensive (CA State Water Project alone requires some 11.5TWH to move water from north to south) and assumes the distant sources will cooperate. It is unfortunate that fundamental assumptions based on the optimistic projections or possibly hubris from a ~century ago are proving to be unsustainable but the reality is that there's not much more rainwater that can be diverted to southern California - or Arizona for that matter - thus some adjustment will be necessary. Whether this will be desalination plants for municipal drinking water, scaling back agricultural water, allowing something akin to actual market prices to regulate demand (say what you will about the Nestle bottled water plants treating municipal water for profit, but no one is going to water their lawn nor fill a pool with said water at those prices), or halting new water-intensive development is hard to say.

If you flush 55% of the state's water out to sea on purpose

I disagree that rivers flowing into the ocean is wasting water.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I disagree that rivers flowing into the ocean is wasting water.

Consider that in August, Lake Mead and Lake Powell will have changes made to the water agreements downstream reducing water by at least 25%. Most of California is already in severe drought with reservoirs so low, we'll likely lose most or all hydroelectric power this year. That means rolling blackouts. California is the world's 5th largest supplier of food, cotton fiber, and other agricultural commodities. If you divert water away from agriculture for producing food, drain the lakes so they can't produce power, take away people's water reserve to weather the drought, to let over half of the water flow out into the ocean, then yes, you are wasting water. A drought requires prioritization of life saving assets like water, food, and power. I'm not saying we let the rivers dry up completely. They are letting 11 times the total amount of all the water used by businesses and homes in the state flow out to sea. If they only used 10 times as much, businesses and homes would have double the water, and we're told we only have half the water needed to make it through the year. If farmers had a share of that water, maybe food prices wouldn't be so high and people wouldn't starve to death. Seems like a no brainer to me. Probably won't happen though because the state doesn't prioritize people.

 

[scout24]

Soy-based wire insulation has been a problem in automotive applications, being tastier to rodents than non soy based insulation. That said, "Pandemic Supply Chain In Your Area", gents..

 

[knucklegary]

So, if folks get hungry enough they can munch on vehicles wire looms.. Hunh, I wonder how it'd taste with a little ketchup?