“Manufacturers looking for any kinds of raw materials or ingredients are having to revise their schedules continuously, and it’s a daily challenge,” said Lisa Anderson, supply chain consultant and president of LMA Consulting. “There are issues from one end of the spectrum to the other.”
The current supply chain disruption has become a simultaneous viscous cycle and web of complications, where one setback can set off a chain of events in any number of directions.
A group of suppliers, associations, consultants and bakers sat down with Commercial Baking to assess their most recent challenges and their often-unanticipated side effects.
While bakers scramble for raw ingredient materials and items like packaging film, the equipment manufacturers are in the same predicament with items such as lumber, steel and electrical components.
The supply chain disruption is broader and deeper than just a problem between bakers and suppliers. It goes back to the beginning with agriculture and hits all the way to consumers.
The Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture (CME)’s latest Ag Economy Barometer, a monthly survey to measure agricultural producers’ economic confidence, indicated weakening sentiment among agricultural producers, dropping to the lowest levels since the early stages of the pandemic. September’s Ag Economy Barometer dropped 14 points to 124, representing the lowest reading since July 2020.