The broken global supply chain has businesses scrambling to get goods, especially with holiday shopping underway. But there are no easy solutions. Just about every link along the chain is busted, from factory shutdowns in China to a lack of truck drivers in the United States.
“The bottlenecks are literally everywhere,” said Brian Glick, the founder of Chain.io, a Philadelphia-based supply chain technology provider. “There’s no shortcut.”
Philly shoppers are still expected to spend more this holiday season than last year despite the supply chain woes, according to Deloitte. But the problems could persist well into next year and possibly 2023, said Dan Hearsch, a managing director at the New York consulting firm AlixPartners. And the supply chain disruptions will likely lead to lasting changes. Many businesses will keep suppliers closer to home and want them to have a reserve of finished goods, Hearsch said.
“They will require or at least allow the suppliers along the supply chain to have more safety stock, more inventory, finished goods,” he said. “So that when something like this happens again, the impact won’t be as bad.”
In the meantime, Philadelphia-area businesses are trying short-term solutions. Here are how a few companies are adapting to supply chain challenges, from stockpiling shingles to teaching shoppers how to cut chickens.
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