Is 2025 the year you’ll de-risk your supply of rubber products?
Nobody wants to hear about COVID these days, especially with a new year underway and so many possibilities on the horizon. The pandemic was so 2020, and we’d all like to forget about face masks and social distancing. But do you remember the chip shortage? It lasted until 2023 and was due in large part to the COVID-driven failure of global supply chains.
As you may recall, automakers couldn’t ship otherwise-completed cars because their vehicles needed computer chips. The United States and the European Union responded by making major investments in chip manufacturing, but today’s vehicles can have 30,000 and 40,000 individual parts. What happens if parts besides chips become unavailable?
It’s not just the automotive industry that’s concerned with supply chain risk. Last year, aerospace OEMs were fined for installing parts with falsified quality records. Traceability is a different problem than stock-outs, but OEMs and tiered suppliers alike face a dual dilemma. How do you get what you need and ensure that it’s what you ordered instead of an inferior substitute?
Don’t Wait to Mitigate
If you’ve been following the news lately, then you know that the future is, in a word, “uncertain”. You can’t control who’s running the government or which policies, such as tariffs or taxes, they may or may not enact. Decisions about war and peace are beyond your control, too. You’ve got a business to run or to work for, and “time waits for no one”, as the saying goes.
Don’t wait to mitigate. Yes, supply chain risks abound, but there are opportunities to reduce them – including for the rubber products that you need. Heavy equipment manufacturers don’t have to delay shipments of vehicles or equipment because they’re waiting for gaskets. Aerospace suppliers can get traceability, even for non-critical components.
Elasto Proxy understands the needs of these and other industries. We’ve been supplying industrial rubber products for over 35 years and have grown from a single location near Montreal, Canada to become a multi-national operation. Today, we have warehouses near Toronto, in Belgium, and in the fast-growing Southeastern U.S. between Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina.
De-Risk Your Supply Chain in 2025
Elasto Proxy is ready to help de-risk your supply chain, especially if you share your production forecast with us and issue a blanket purchase order.
You could secure your supply by buying a year’s supply, receiving everything at once, and then paying a hefty invoice. That approach ties up cash – a lot of it. You’ll also tie up space in your warehouse (if you have one) or make it hard to move around your shop (if you don’t). Plus, you’re not in business to store rubber or plastic products. Your job is to manufacture whatever it is that you make.
With Elasto Proxy, you can send us your production forecast as a spreadsheet, whether it’s for a year or for 30, 60, or 90-day intervals. Then, issue a blanket PO. We’ll import your forecast into our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, buy and store everything you need, and replenish you with deliveries when you need them. You won’t have to pay for products until you receive them.
Because Elasto Proxy works with a carefully-vetted network of suppliers, we can also help you with traceability. You’ll know that you’re getting what you ordered, and that what you need next time will be there. Remember, too, that Elasto Proxy is more than just a distributor. We’re also a fabricator that can provide finished parts like ready-to-install gaskets according to your production schedule.
Ready to learn more? Contact us today and let us know what you need in 2025 and beyond.
