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The expression “pulling teeth” is probably overused in everyday life. If you have to wait for months on end for home improvement supplies, however, it’s not. It’s very much a pandemic case of misery-loving company. You’re certainly not alone and thanks to the work of Florida TaxWatch, we know now how not alone you really are.
In Florida TaxWatch’s report, Supply Chain Resiliency in the Face of Economic Disruption, they said, "COVID-19 led to widespread economic shocks, including manufacturing shortages, production inefficiencies, and distribution channel delays. During the early stages, over 70 percent of supply chain leaders encountered shortages in their supplier base, and 75 percent experienced issues in production and distribution". So yeah, three-quarters of everything you want was, and in many cases, still may mess up with supply chains having been broken. An interesting way of looking at what’s happened as it pertains to Florida is the last event prior to the pandemic which reached such a high level of disruption.
What do you think the last event was that broke at least 70% of Florida’s supply chain for goods? If you guessed Hurricane Irma you’re right. That context is extraordinarily instructive to help explain what’s happened over the past year. Hurricane Irma’s impact on the supply chain, save the lower keys, about two weeks.
Our supply chain has effectively been in a persistent state of hurricane Irma-like impact. Pretty incredible, right? As part of Florida TaxWatch’s report, they identify the potential for Florida to have severe supply chain issues every 3.7 years. Rather than just waiting for the next big issue to arise they did point to a solution. Connex Florida, which is a partnership between FloridaMakes, Associated Industries of Florida, and Space Florida. It won’t help you get cat litter faster today, but it might be the next time we have a hurricane, many years from now of course.