You cannot open a newspaper or listen to the news at the moment without talk of shortages, delays, price pressures, or labour problems so we thought it may be a good idea for us to update our customer in respect of our own situation.
Quite simply, as things stand, we are able to supply any of our normal manufactured and stock products (Zone Guardian, air compressors, initiation boards, alarm valve booster pumps, priority demand valves, resi-risers, gauges & switches etc) as normal.
Why are we able to do this? We spotted, almost pre-Covid, that difficulties lay ahead and so we took a decision at that time to massively build up our stock to even out any ups and downs in the supply chain. The value of our stock ranges from 50-100% higher than pre-Covid; this is a big investment, but one which we are able to make due to careful decision-making and expert financial management. This has been, and continues to, work extremely well for us, and therefore for our customers.
Has it been perfect? No. There are times when we have been very close to the wire, and there are one or two exceptions where severe delays of certain components may have a small impact for a short time. In such cases, you will receive our best advice about alternatives.
Does it cover everything? No. Unfortunately, in some cases of special components (non-stock items) we may struggle from time to time. For example, certain types of water pumps are dwindling in supply, with even major manufacturers unable to confirm lead times. Even in these cases, we have the knowledge to be able to consider work-arounds, alternatives or apply pressure where needed.
How can we help you? If you need something, ask us! If it’s not something we have on the shelf, we have many contacts and possible suppliers to call upon, and we have the expertise to be able to help source even some fairly obscure items.
How can you help us? If you need anything at all for your project, forget everything you thought you knew about lead times and logistics! Tell us, at the earliest opportunity, what you need and approximate timings. We have a number of call-off orders on our system, where customers commit to taking delivery of goods at some future date which may be clear… or not. If it means us holding stock for you, we can do this. If it means us working closely with our own suppliers to try and help, we can do this.
Can you deliver quickly? Quite honestly, as everyone knows, carriers are an absolute nightmare at the present time. Most deliveries are incident-free, but it seems that the most urgent are those which get delayed or even go missing. Please don’t wait until the last minute to arrange deliveries – get it there early if at all possible.
In a nutshell, we are here to help as we always are – and even if you normally use other suppliers who are now struggling… just give us a call 0161 428 1180!