These are some of the headlines about congested ports along the west coast plaguing the supply chain.
An article in Marketplace Business News cited a record 38 container ships waiting to offload at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in 2021.
What’s creating this mess? A combination of a global increase in shipping traffic, lack of warehouse space nationwide (especially near ports) and the impact of the pandemic.
This push and pull of a fractured supply chain has caused offshore shipments to be delayed a month or more. Experts expect ports to remain congested for the next six months.
What’s this have to do with custom wood shutters?
Broken promises.
Supposed guarantees and promised lead times are thrown to the wayside at the expense of customers’ time, money, and patience.
Let’s dig into the state of the industry and how we are creatively bucking the trend to still deliver our customers their custom wood shutters on time.
In most cases, the components of window shutters are pre-finished and purchased from suppliers overseas. Next a factory in the United States takes those products and cuts and assembles them based on the specifications given to them from a window shutter company.
But since container ships aren’t able to make it to port on time, suppliers are tight on products and uncertain about when they’ll be in stock to sell again.
This conundrum feeds the larger problem:
Most shutter companies are making promises they knowingly can’t keep.
In the window shutter industry, it’s common for a customer to receive a quoted lead time at the time of sale.
Pre-pandemic, the industry standard for lead time was eight weeks. But now, eight weeks has turned into 16 weeks and in some cases even longer.
Yet many companies are still casting a line with the bait of a fast turnaround time. When the consumer bites, they reel them in. Then when those promises are inevitably broken, the consumer is too far in with money and time to restart the process with another company.
“At Avalon, we base our lead times on the customer’s needs while allowing us to maintain a 100 percent on-time production schedule in our factory and a 100 percent on-time delivery rate to the customer.”
Said Bob Marcynyszyn, co-founder of Avalon Shutters.
* “We’ve only missed delivery appointments because of weather (snow) and when an installer was sick and couldn’t work.”
Avalon’s commitment to the customer and keeping promises is a byproduct of our tried and true process that keeps every aspect of the building of custom wood shutters in house.
The Avalon Process Makes the Difference for You
Years ago we made the decision to make all the components of our custom wood shutters in our Perris, California factory.
This made us the only company on the west coast to mill its own components. We also pre-prime our shutters under the same roof with a priming process that’s the best in the country.
Our in-house processes enabled us to become a vertically-integrated company and eliminated the middleman. Controlling our own supply chain and lead times has proven to be especially beneficial during the pandemic.
What’s that mean to you?
We deliver what we promise.
Bob Marcynyszyn, Co-Founder of Avalon Shutters
Why
Because all we need to build your custom wood shutters from 100 percent North American Hardwood are trees, a renewable resource.
And for every tree that’s harvested, two and a half are planted. This aligns with our continued commitment to the environment because Avalon Shutters is about more than not breaking promises to close the sale. We care about our customers, our team and our community.
We can guarantee our process and lead times have remained intact which means you can Transform Your Home on YOUR schedule with custom wood shutters.
Delivering What We Promise... For You
Our customer-centric approach has allowed us to match our lead time with the homeowner’s needs and what’s right for them instead of setting a lead time that can’t be met, especially under the current circumstances.
We can deliver what we promise despite the pandemic and the port issues around the world because we’ve planned ahead with you in mind.
