With this in mind, here are our top tips for ‘staying ahead‘ in the current industry climate...

The single most important recommendation we can make is to assess realistic customer demand for both the short and medium term and ensure you manage your customers’ expectations. It’s vital that you forewarn your customers of the delays that can be expected due to the current strain put on the supply of products. This will hopefully prevent a lot of phone calls from frustrated customers coming through the office.

Secondly, create a clear plan throughout your supply chains, establishing a list of critical components, determining the origin of supply and identifying alternative sources wherever possible.

For our Trusted Installers who also fabricate, it would be wise, wherever possible, to optimise production and distribution capacity based on the real time availability of certain products and materials. This could minimise any downtime due to a lack of materials and will enable Managers to understand current and projected capacity levels in both workforce and materials.

With increasing supply-chain issues, it is inevitable that this will result in a financial impact, so we recommend implementing a proactive plan and formulating a pricing policy that will protect your company against future supply-chain price increases.