Firms “Sleigh” Competitors with an Increased Focus on Inventory
With a record 81 container ships now sitting idle off the Port of Los Angeles, it has become increasingly obvious that supply chain issues will continue to be an issue as we close out 2021 and move into 2022. Distributors are working harder than ever to secure new business, but all the new business in the world won’t move the sales needle without inventory available to ship to customers.
As we enter what will be the third year of the pandemic, it has become clear that “business as usual” no longer works for those suppliers seeking to take care of their distribution partners’ needs. It is more important than ever to have open dialogue with distribution customers to better understand their current, but in many ways more importantly, their future business needs and with that aggregated information, make the appropriate investments in inventory to anticipate sales growth across the channel.
Deco Lighting, along with our industry leading partner Premium Quality Lighting (PQL) are working diligently to ensure that a continuous flow of inventory makes its way to the US to satisfy our customers’ orders. With more than 50 containers having recently arrived, and hundreds more en route or scheduled for delivery, Deco and PQL are in an envious position where we can offer our customers amazing lighting solutions for a wide variety of C&I fixtures as well as LED lamps that are in inventory and ready to ship.
Andy Sreden, Founder and CEO of PQL stated, “As the pandemic, natural disasters and other recent crises disrupted supply chain issues, we rethought our standard sourcing practices such as just-in-time manufacturing. Over the last 20 months we optimized our supplier network, forecast demand, and managed inventory and supplier relationships effectively to streamline and safeguard our supply chain.” As a result, many of the changes made last year allowed Deco and PQL to better manage, improve and forecast our inventory needs and make the requisite changes to how we collectively addressed our supply chain. Together we have strengthened our ability to schedule a steady supply of products in a coordinated effort of advanced forecasting and excellent communication within our supply chain network.
“We were able to weather the challenges we faced only with the help of our loyal customers and reps that stood by our side,” shared Sam Sinai, Founder of Deco. “Many of our customers turned to us because we are collectively nimbler than the bigger companies in this space with plenty of inventory of price competitive products.” Deco and PQL are focused on continuing to increase capacity and deliver product while making investments in new technologies to drive future growth and enhance overall customer service. “We believe these changes are necessary to ensure that our distribution partners have the inventory that they need in order to grow their individual business, and we stand ready to support each and every one of our collective channel partners in their quest to make 2022 their best year ever!”
