Page 16 - THE SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL

C. TODAY
Small Businesses Are Still Grappling
with Supply Chain Disruptions
By U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Small business is bearing the brunt of supply chain
challenges caused by worker shortages and delays.
Nearly two in three small businesses have had to
alter their supply chains in the past six months,
according to the Q4 2021 U.S. Chamber and MetLife
Small Business Index.
As the country quickly approaches year three of
the COVID-19 pandemic, empty grocery store
shelves, delayed packages, and an insufficient
supply of everything from refrigerators to
microchips has become commonplace.
While these shortages have a major impact on
consumers (supply chain disruptions are leading
to price inflation amid a growing shortage of
goods) small businesses are withstanding the
worst of the disruptions.
According to the Q4 2021 U.S. Chamber and
MetLife Small Business Index, 61% of small
businesses said their supply chains have been
disrupted by the pandemic and worker shortages.
As a result, 63% say they have had to alter their
supply chains in the past six months.
Nearly half (47%) said the disruptions make it
difficult to keep up with customer demand. Traci
and Lori Tapani, Owners of Wyoming Machine, have
been facing supply chain challenges for months
at their metal manufacturing business located in
Stacy, Minnesota, which creates metal components
for the defense and aerospace industry, custom
packaging solutions, and lab instruments.
“Everything is more difficult right now... Right
now, we do not include a quoted lead time on an
estimate, just because it's rapidly changing,” said
Lori Tapani. “There are certain materials that we
buy, stainless feel for instance, that some sizes of
sheets are very difficult to come by. In the past, we Solving the challenge will require coordination
could virtually get any of the materials we need to
do our job in seven days. And right now, we do not
know until we issue a purchase order how long it's
going to take for us to get certain items.”
There are two significant drivers for current supply
chain challenges, U.S. Chamber Vice President
13 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
of Supply Chain Policy John Drake explained in
a recent article. First, U.S. consumer spending
is roughly 20% higher than it has ever been.
Second, there are thousands of open jobs across
the country, especially in the transportation and
logistics sectors. There are 80,000 open truck
driving jobs, and thousands more open jobs in
warehousing, railroads, and ports.
The combination of those two things have resulted
in significant delays in moving goods from ports
and warehouses to stores.
Small businesses in the retail sector report the
greatest impacts from supply chain challenges. More
than three in four (78%) retail businesses said the
pandemic has disrupted their business’ supply chain.
Three in five (61%) retailers say these disruptions
leave them unable to keep up with customer
demand – compared to 47% for other sectors.
Small businesses across the board, however, seem
to agree that supply chain disruptions will not be
resolved any time soon. Of the small businesses
that said the pandemic disrupted their supply
chains, 64% think these disruptions will last six
months or more.
One third (32%) think disruptions will last six
months to a year, and another third (32%) think
they will last more than a year.
“These delays on both the front end and the back
end are really holding Wyoming Machine back,”
said Traci Tapani said. “And I think it's holding
other parts of the economy back. We have an
opportunity to generate revenue, but because
of these long delays, our revenue recognition is
taking far longer than it has to.”
across multiple industries, as well as between
business and government. The U.S. Chamber is
working with top supply chain leaders, the White
House, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
to solve these challenges. In addition, the U.S.
Chamber is advocating for solutions to ease the
worker shortage crisis.