Back in March 2020, I shared a blog post similar to many other companies at the time, that talked about the impacts of COVID-19 on our business. I talked about our supply chain and what we were doing to maximize our supply. I talked about our workload, and how we were working hard to keep up. I talked about how we were being diligent to protect the health of our people and our customers. It feels like a lifetime has passed since then! It is time to give another update on what we're seeing in the technology industry, and what we are doing in response.
Unprecedented Growth
I'm sure that "unprecedented demand" is a phrase you are growing tired of hearing, as you look at the cost of everything climbing through the roof, from lumber to chlorine. I can tell you as an insider in the technology industry, that the phrase is accurate. At Puget Systems, we have been seeing a 2x to 3x increase in demand for our workstations. It took us a long time to get to a point where we had adequate staff to handle a sustained surge like that, all while protecting the quality standard we expect of ourselves. We feel incredibly blessed with an abundance of work, and to have your patience as our lead times grew substantially earlier this year. I am very happy to report that we have completely recovered our ability to keep pace with this incredible demand. We have many new faces on our team and it has made me proud to see them shine as they work hard to get orders out the door! Our lead times are back to normal, and we're ready to work!
Supply Chain
The technology supply chain also continues to be a formidable challenge. You've probably heard about how car companies have been forced to turn off production lines due to semiconductor shortages. You've heard about how understaffed ports are leading to long container ship offload times, and skyrocketing shipping prices. The latest shortages extend to PCB substrates, which are the base materials that nearly all electronics are fitted onto. This obviously then has impacts across the board. These issues are very real, and they impact Puget Systems daily. We continue to leverage our reputation and relationships in the industry to maintain our supply, and have always been strong at planning ahead. It has been an incredible amount of work, but I am happy to report that our supply is in a state where we are able to keep pace with demand. That is not to say that we don't have problems. New problems come up daily! It is important that you work closely with us to plan your purchases and make sure we have that supply ready for you. Thankfully, those problems are now the exception, not the norm. We get immense satisfaction from the fact that we have been able to perform well through this situation, and are meeting the needs of our customers.
Let’s Work Together
What we continue to need the most from you, is to have early and detailed conversations with us about your needs. We now have daily internal conversations about the state of our supply, and about our production capacity. Especially if you need a large quantity of computers, we need to bring you in as a part of that planning! We can work with you to forecast the supply needed, and communicate that forecast upstream to our manufacturing team, and into our supply chain. We can even schedule deliveries in the future, giving us a longer window of time to execute within. Either way, the action we need from you is the same — reach out to us!
It is painful but rewarding to look back at this last year! In many ways, we're facing the same challenges, and are in many of the same situations as a year ago. But this last year has been a shining example of how good people can come together to meet a challenge. I’m proud of our team. We have people here that have become seasoned beyond their years. The state of our industry is not going to improve anytime soon, but we're now stronger and experienced against those ongoing challenges. We're not out of the woods, but we're winning. Let’s get to work!
To start a planning conversation with us, use this form below and we'll get started!