Drawer Slide Supply Chain Shortage

[andrew whicker]

They know better than any of us, but I'd imagine it's a big risk to sink millions into a new mfg plant that will take a few years to build.. may be that the economy is close to normal in those few years.


risk it for the biscuit I guess.

[Dave Sabo]

I've got to say, I don't understand how drawer slides can be looking at supply disruptions out until 2024. In my professional/day job I deal with suppliers, complex supply chains, etc. Some of it involves sheet metal. Sure, there are certain items that are tough to buy now, but everything is significantly more complex than drawer slides. These things aren't exactly that complicated. Something sounds fishy...

Bit arrogant aren’t you ?

Sheet metal isn’t the only raw material in Tandems. And the peons on this site aren’t the only buyers of them. Blum sells Tandems globally on a colossal scale. And just like auto makers that have factories and workers standing by to build cars - one little item in your supply chain can render you and your competition at a relative standstill.

Even if it were as simple as increasing factory capacity , those don’t get built and worker bees trained overnite. And both cost a lot of money, with the building part hard to quantify because of supply chain issues and rising costs. Then there’s calculating the return I’m likely to see from such an investment that I’ll be pay8ng for with more expensive money because of rising interest rates and weighing it against the risk that demand will remain high for a term long enough to pay for this endeavor.

And then after all that’s said and done , I’ve got ship all these slides to you. You’ve seen the state of shipping ports and containers & prices haven’t you ?

And you still have an incredulous attitude towards slide manufactures not getting you a couple of drawer runners next week huh ?

[Ben Schmidt]

Bit arrogant aren’t you ?

Sheet metal isn’t the only raw material in Tandems. And the peons on this site aren’t the only buyers of them. Blum sells Tandems globally on a colossal scale. And just like auto makers that have factories and workers standing by to build cars - one little item in your supply chain can render you and your competition at a relative standstill.

Even if it were as simple as increasing factory capacity , those don’t get built and worker bees trained overnite. And both cost a lot of money, with the building part hard to quantify because of supply chain issues and rising costs. Then there’s calculating the return I’m likely to see from such an investment that I’ll be pay8ng for with more expensive money because of rising interest rates and weighing it against the risk that demand will remain high for a term long enough to pay for this endeavor.

And then after all that’s said and done , I’ve got ship all these slides to you. You’ve seen the state of shipping ports and containers & prices haven’t you ?

And you still have an incredulous attitude towards slide manufactures not getting you a couple of drawer runners next week huh ?

You act like all of that is some kind of insurmountable problem for a multi-billion dollar corporation to solve. These companies crying "supply chain issues" all stand to benefit because it paradoxically INCREASES sales and demand, so of course they're incentivized to continue dragging their feet on whatever issue they can. If enough consumers took a beat and stopped buying, things would rapidly correct.

[derek labian]

I have used Blum in the past. Given the shortages I ordered Salice hinges and slides back in February from Woodworkerexpress because they said they would ship in 7-10 days. I got the hinges right away, but now they are telling me 4-5 months for the slides and the clips, though the website still says 7-10 days. Anyone have a source for Salice Futura Smove slides and clips? I only need 10 pair of 21" slides and 2 pair of 18" plus clips.

I purchased some slides from WWE as well a couple of months back. I couldn't find a better supply either and just resigned myself to wait for the product.

[Dave Sabo]

You act like all of that is some kind of insurmountable problem for a multi-billion dollar corporation to solve.

You mean the same kind of insurmountable problem all the multi billion dollar multinational auto manuf./ face with getting computer chips for their cars ? That one item is stagnating car production and sales.

You are quite naive and/or crazy if you think there is a cabal of manuf. in any housing related industry sitting around plotting to curtail production in order to drive up pricing and frustrate customers. Even if there were, you think 100% participation is guaranteed ? You're just going to have to accept the the new world reality.

CEO's would love nothing more than to be able to deliver more product right now because they know this type of demand is not sustainable long term.

And you are still not acknowledging the shipping container / port crisis that still lingers in the USA. Which is a bottleneck in your idyllic manuf. system where drawer slides are raining down from the heavens in quantities aplenty.