Here is a good article from MITSloan Management Review about the supply chain shortages. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-the-never-ending-covid-19-supply-chain-crisis/
@lovendures the article is a very good primer. I should point out that “just in time” is a nice phrase that in actuality does not exist for the most part except for perhaps the final manufacturer within the supply chain. People will argue that, but always note the supply warehouses built around major manufactures. Those guys basically store enough goods and run trucks 24/7. I see it less eloquently as off site on demand physical storage management.
As for food, despite the shelf shortages the most recent stats continue to show more than 50% of food in North America ends up wasted. We don’t help ourselves at all on this front.
Not all is doom and gloom, at the the same time, the supply chain that has emerged has resulted in the largest increase in standard of living for the lowest socioeconomic classes the world over.
This is a great article about the 7 major shortages we are facing right now. I knew about perhaps four of them, but I was surprised by a few. Wheel chairs and crutches. Some areas around the country are in such need, they are asking people to donate their gently used wheel chairs and crutches. It went from a 3 day wait to an eight week wait. Wow! There are not things people can wait on either. A friend just became overjoyed this week when someone donated a wheel chair to her, now I understand why it became a treasured gift...she couldn't find one anywhere.
Another surprise was the beer wine industry because of a shortage of glass to make their unique bottles. ( I wonder if recycling glass will become a bigger thing now?)
The other was sweatpants. Everyone wore them during the pandemic and many are not made in China anymore because of tariffs so the switched to smaller countries like Vietnam who recently closed down shops due to Covid outbreaks.
Many of the delays have to do with one or just a few of the component parts not being available. For instance, for toys, Lincoln Logs are not available because the plastic for the doors is delayed.
There was an article in yesterday's New York Times about the global urea fertilizer shortage, which is straining mostly farmers but also carbonated beverage producers and South Korean truck drivers. I've been thinking lately about peak phosphorous and how a shortage of industrial grade urea fertilizer will help contribute to the spiraling food prices some of us have seen. But the urea shortage is not causing me to see famine or a Malthusian population collapse. Even the NYT article notes that urea is found in pee.
I once visited an intentional community in Rhode Island where their toilets are designed to capture and divert urine for storage in underground vats (because of the design of the toilets, you have to sit down, no matter your anatomy). After 2 weeks of fermenting, the urine is then sprayed as fertilizer on their crop fields. I think shortages of industrial urea fertilizer will force us to become resourceful about using our waste and will play a role in the re-localization of agriculture. I'm also pretty sure there are a lot of indigenous traditions surrounding pee as fertilizer...
YES!!! There is a young struggling company in VT that has this mostly figured out. Not only does processing urine produce fertilizer, the big money savings is in the reduced energy use by sewage treatment plants from what is not flushed into the system. I will look for the name of it and post it. They say they only need about 2 million dollars to go big; in the venture capital world, that is chump change.
Not all is doom and gloom, at the the same time, the supply chain that has emerged has resulted in the largest increase in standard of living for the lowest socioeconomic classes the world over.
I haven't heard about that. Can you elaborate? (Good news is nice to hear)
Like to celebrate your holidays with spirits? That might be more difficult this year. It might even be more difficult if you like bottled water or soda.
While typical grocery categories are experiencing 5 to 10 percent of products out of stock right now, beverage shortages are higher, with around 13 percent missing from shelves. Shortages have been showing up in waters, iced teas and soft drinks, as well as beer, hard seltzer and canned cocktails.
The problems are certainly true for the world’s largest beverage company, Coca-Cola, whose chief executive James Quincey has said repeatedly that consumers will see sporadic shortages on grocery shelves through 2022.
The company is seeing strong sales, but Quincey said supply chain problems are “a bit like whack-a-mole” during a recent third quarter earnings call. He described shipping, freight and labor problems; ingredient shortages; as well as freak and unexpected challenges — a plastics factory in Brazil bursting into flames or the rising cost of natural gas causing a global shortage of CO2, which gives soda its bubbles.
More can be found at the link below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/08/beverage-supply-chain-shortages/
1 Potato, 2 potato 3 potato no more.
The globe is having a potato shortage. They are even limiting McDonald's French fry orders to a small size in Japan.
Good thing potatoes are super easy to grow. Might actually use this incentive to start growing some soon.
@blackandwhite I need potato-growing lessons. I have planted them over the last two years and have poor results. Maybe it's our weather in Boston. Maybe I started too late in the season. Maybe we need a lot more sun and a lot more land to grow all the potatoes I want to eat.