For decades, manufacturers have mostly had quick and ready access to the things they need to assemble products that people use everyday. When things are running smoothly, it usually takes about three weeks to receive what they need. Now, according to UMKC professor Larry D. Wigger, Jr., the average wait time for manufacturers is 92 days.
"The struggles we're seeing in the supply chain — the congestion, the glut — is at all levels. So, it's not just consumers waiting for their finished goods to reach their retailer," Wigger explains, "but, it's our own manufacturers waiting for the materials they need to make their products."
Things like labor shortages along with the lack of truck drivers and shipping containers also play a role in the supply chain issues that we are seeing today. And pandemic only made the situation more complicated.
Wigger says we have been setting ourselves up for these kinds of problems since as far back as World War II. While there have been good things to come out of our current global supply chain, Wigger believes some serious adjustments need to be made.
"We don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water and just turn our back on lean operations for all the good it does us. But we need to adjust some of the levers."
The professor joined us to break down what needs to happen moving forward to correct some these major concerns.
- Larry D. Wigger, Jr., assistant teaching professor of supply chain and operations management
