The past year brought many challenges for the welding and fabrication industry: Rising costs, supply chain issues, long lead times, and hiring/re-hiring as people return to work.
Are these issues affecting you and your business?
Rising Costs
A number of factors contribute to rising costs in the welding industry:
- Price Increases
Prices respond to raw material shortages, labor shortages, and higher costs associated with onboarding new staff. In some cases, transportation and shipping costs have nearly tripled.
- Inefficient Manufacturing processes
- Over welding- It is common to make a weld larger than it needs to be. A fillet weld that is 1/16” of an inch larger than required could be up to 125% more weld volume than necessary depending on the size.
- Not maintaining equipment- unreliable equipment can lead to inefficiency in operations. An unmaintained machine can lead to poor quality welds and costly downtime.
- Not using correct process- carefully selecting the correct welding process is important to ensure the best operator and process efficiency, while maintaining quality requirements. Reworking a weld increases labor and material costs.
Supply Chain
Many factors can lead to disruptions in every stage of the supply chain. From turning raw material and natural resources into a finished product, and shipping products overseas and across the country, problems can arise. Changes in supply and demand bring with it variation for certain products and very little for others. The challenge for supply chains, manufacturers, and retailers is how to juggle this demand, and allocate resources where they are most effective.
Lead Times
The time it takes to manufacture a product, ship it, and into the hands of the consumer can also suffer for a number of reasons. Reducing lead times increases output and productivity, ultimately leading to higher revenues. In contrast, long lead times will cause revenues to decrease. Evaluating your supply chain could result in needed changes such as switching suppliers, reviewing communication channels, or automating certain workflows.
Welders Supply’s team of experts can help you optimize your programs to ensure efficiency, productivity, meet deadlines, and increase profitability.
Contact us for more information.
