SHIPPING PAINS

Worldwide supply chain disruption is impacting LW

Story by Malena Avila & Ruth Osborn

Pandemic-related shortages are continuing to plaque GRF projects, such as the pool reconstruction, and the Purchasing Department, which has had to stay nimble to keep needed items in stock.

Cool weather is coming, and GRF Purchasing Manager Julie Rodgers knows there is a greater demand for ovens and range tops in the fall and winter, when LWers want to cozy up in their units. But she has exactly two in stock right now, with no deliveries on the immediate horizon.

“We are struggling. Factories have stopped production on our standard white-and-black ovens, delayed delivery of refrigerators and cooktops, and even LED bulbs are in short supply,” said Rodgers, acknowledging that delays, product and labor shortages and rising costs continue to confound businesses of every size all over the world, including the GRF.

There’s a worldwide supply chain disruption. Manufacturers are grappling with a shortage of building materials and are more selective in what they are producing; labor shortages are backing up deliveries; and the Port of Los Angeles is the busiest it’s been in its 114-year history as people buy more online than ever before, according to port officials last week.

This affects Leisure World in significant ways. The pool project continues to see delays directly attributable to a lack of needed parts. Plastic drains, pipes and other parts are increasingly out of stock. Purchase orders issued in June have come back with November delivery dates, according to Rodgers.

She has been diligently working with her suppliers to keep up inventories. “They are supportive of us,” Rodgers said, “but their hands are tied, too.”

LW has specific needs that are challenging. The older buildings have size constraints that are harder to meet in this world of McMansions. Manufacturers aren’t producing as many smaller appliances, so Purchasing has had to be creative to keep up with demand.

“We are looking into substitutes for products that are no longer manufactured or are just not available,” Rodgers said. “And I’m reaching out to new suppliers.”

Service Maintenance is also doingitspartbymakingsureovens and other LW appliances are kept in good repair, according to Facilities Manager Ruben Gonzalez.

No one knows if this will be an extended period of disruption or if factories will catch up with demand, and ships will work through the backlog of deliveries.

But as of this week, a record 75 cargo ships—carrying almost 500,000 containers—are sitting off the coast, stretching all the way to Huntington Beach, according to K-Cal 9 News. They are waiting to be offloaded.

Once unloaded, a shortage in truck drivers is hampering getting goods to warehouses, which in turn must grapple with low inventories and an inability to meet customer orders.

Leisure World and the rest of the world is seeing first-hand how interconnected economies are, with delays and shortages in one place rippling out nearly everywhere.

Here is one scenario from a Sept. 23 New York Times story titled “The World is Still Short of Everything”: “A shipping container that cannot be unloaded in Los Angeles because too many dockworkers are in quarantine is a container that cannot be loaded with soybeans in Iowa, leaving buyers in Indonesia waiting and potentially triggering a shortage of animal feed in Southeast Asia.”

The holidays are coming. Normally, the peak demand for trans-Pacific shipping begins in late summer and ends in the winter, after holiday season products are stocked, according to the NYT story.

But last winter, the peak season began, and it has not yet ended. And that ongoing peak is morphing into the seasonal holiday rush—reinforcing the pressure on factories, warehouses, ships, trucks and businesses.

That pressure is already filtering down to LW.

So the takeaway for residents: Be patient, buy holiday gifts early, and rest assured that GRF staffers are working hard to keep supplies stocked and projects progressing.

Julie Rodgers Purchasing Manager

The Port of Los Angeles is one of the world's busiest seaports and leading gateway for international trade in the Western Hemisphere. It has ranked as the No. 1 container port in the United States each year since 2000. More than 75 cargo ships are waiting for offloading at this port.