In March when businesses shuttered their doors to protect workers from contracting coronavirus, factories came to a grinding halt, and output was severely reduced. That’s caught up to us.
“Everybody thought it was a great idea to shut everything down, says KTRH’s host of Texas Home Improvement, Jim Dutton. “What they failed to take into account is that it doesn’t automatically open up and start going again.”
Supply chains have been slow to get the basic parts to the manufactures that can be assembled into shiny new washing machines and dishwashers, and home improvement experts are finding back orders on basic kitchen staples.
“Yeah, virtually everything in the building supply stores is being affected,” Dutton nods.
Warehouses were emptied early in the shutdown orders as homeowners passed the time of quarantining updating kitchens and bathrooms and addressing those long overdue projects, buying up the available inventory in the local building supply store.The manufacturers are struggling to get product into the warehouse to meet orders now and homeowners are losing patience.
“Now the supplies to manufacture the appliances, the wood to run to the plants is on short supply and so everyone is having to gear up to start making everything again,” Dutton says.
Factories, he says, are having to reduce workforce to allow for social distancing at manufacturing plants, and that’s contributing to the backlogs. The only thing that will get the system moving again is time and good health.
You can hear Jim Dutton’s Texas Home Improvement weekends on KTRH: Saturdays 2 to 4 and Sunday 2 to 3.
photo: Getty Images