“It’s going to different airports, I guess to alleviate some of the backlog,” he says, adding that inexperienced customs agents, recently hired to process that backlog, may be contributing to the issue, being unfamiliar with the finer points of Harmonized Tariff Schedule shipping codes. Willam Crockett Jr., vice president of Tanaka Precious Metals-which supplies to the electronics, semiconductor and automotive industries-is seeing his company’s product bound for Bay Area ports or Tennessee’s air cargo hub being rerouted to Hawaii, adding delays. That, combined with elaborate customs rerouting from busy ports to faraway alter natives, could add weeks to a container’s journey/layover, and also created another problem: container shortages in Asia, where production was just starting to pick up, but the goods couldn’t be shipped because the containers were held up at ports overseas. Truck and port labor shortages increased backups and delays. Lauren Pittelli, principal and founder of industry consulting firm Baker Logistics, says that automakers’ sudden zeal to bulk up inventory created a bullwhip effect where everyone progressively overestimated the product they needed, and relatively small increases in demand at the consumer level became magnified deeper into the supply chain. In early 2021, pent-up demand for new passenger vehicles greatly exceeded forecasts (36% actual increase vs. Challenge 1: Supply Chain Uncertainty/Changing Supplier Relations It’s a good time for those who love a challenge-and are ready to roll up their sleeves and tackle it. Of late, the skills for dealing with that complexity have really been put to the test. Manufacturing, and especially automotive manufacturing, has always been complex. Each section below describes a challenge but also talks about how auto manufacturers are addressing it. We heard about lots of headaches, and forward motion. IndustryWeek talked to OEM and supply chain leaders and observers about the state of the industry and their outlook for 2022 and beyond. That innovation will motor ahead, not only in EV and tech, but also in more stolid yet all-important areas like manufacturing processes and supplier relations.

That the supply chain problems will run their course. So in lieu of grand forecasts, let’s hope for the best: That in 2022, the auto industry will have more of the same, but better. Predictions for the new year feel like fluff and frivolity when automotive OEMs and suppliers are dealing with serious shortages and trying to keep their workers safe.

And don’t even get us started on semiconductors (rest assured, we will address that critical topic). Supply chains have been tossed, tangled and turned inside out.

Volvo premium tech tool training