Anyone having trouble buying stuff?

[WobblyHand]

Constant backorders. Tried to buy an ER40 chuck (zero set) and backplate from Shars. Backplate ETA given 1/12/22. After that date passed, Shars now says ETA unknown, 4-5 months?

Ordered an AXA-4D boring bar holder in November, after one month, order was cancelled by eBay. Ordered again at end of December from All Industrial. Now informed ship date has slipped another, "2 weeks". Have low confidence in this estimate, since the previous ship date was delayed "2 weeks". Think Aloris is having trouble meeting their commitments. Bogus tracking numbers were posted twice, but retracted after I challenged them. The numbers were pretty easy to do, since the bogus tracking numbers originated 22 days prior to me ordering the part. Product just hasn't shipped from Aloris. I've been given the option of cancelling my order. Wish it was expediting the order, instead.

I could make the backplate, and the boring bar holder. Made a boring bar holder out of 7075 on my mini-lathe, suppose I could make one out of steel for the G0602.

Never made a backplate before. The backplate has a boss on it that sticks out about 13.5mm, so a regular backplate isn't thick enough for the zero set chuck. Figure I need a 2" long slice of 5" cast iron to make the backplate. Speedy Metals has a 2" long slice of grey cast iron 40 at $53 + shipping. Durabar is priced at $8.33/inch if you buy 6 feet. Can neither afford nor move 6 feet of Durabar. The Shars machined backplate was $62 + shipping, but no ETA. From a cost and labor perspective, it makes sense to buy rather than make, but there's no backplates to buy.

Wasn't expecting so much trouble sourcing finished goods. Anyone else having similar issues?

 

[rabler]

I've been trying to find a zero-set ER40 chuck and matching D1-6 backplate for almost a year ...

 

[davidpbest]

I’ve been waiting on an R8 shell mill arbor for 6 months. Sure glad I don’t need to buy a car at this time.

 

[WobblyHand]

I've been trying to find a zero-set ER40 chuck and matching D1-6 backplate for almost a year ...

Slight consolation not being alone...

 

[Just for fun]

Your not alone......

 

[woodchucker]

this is what happens when you offshore everything. Not only can't we make anything, our raw materials are also tied up offshore.

Corporations have screwed us over, and now we are paying. This is not a dem or repub thing, this is corporate greed that owned congress and had them pass laws to allow them to do this to us.

It's all back to corporations, and their short sighted CEOs.

Ok, off my bully pulpit.

 

[wachuko]

VFD ordered delivery date keeps being pushed out...

 

[Wheat.Millington]

this is what happens when you offshore everything. Not only can't we make anything, our raw materials are also tied up offshore.

Corporations have screwed us over, and now we are paying. This is not a dem or repub thing, this is corporate greed that owned congress and had them pass laws to allow them to do this to us.

It's all back to corporations, and their short sighted CEOs.

Ok, off my bully pulpit.
View attachment 393061

My day job is/was as a management accountant, mainly for manufacturing firms (recently changed roles, not in accounting any more). What you said is... basically true. Whenever us accountants prepare reports for management, low inventory levels is always a green light - management KPIs almost always include keeping inventory as low as practically possible, as high inventory means capital tied up and poor P&L performance.

Since this whole pandemic started and supply chains were ruined, there has been a bit of a reckoning behind this. It turns out you can't just pick and chose the things you like from Lean Manufacturing and Just in Time operating policy - it's not enough to just say "hold less inventory". Lean principles say more like "hold just enough inventory to be resilient", but resilience was forgotten during the "easy" times.

Shipping has never been more challenging or expensive in modern times. Logistics are chronically overworked and understaffed EVERYWHERE, and now holding inventory is seen as (or SHOULD BE SEEN AS) a competitive advantage.

Sadly the world of management accounting is slow and conservative with respect to structural and cultural change. So don't expect too much change once this is all over.

PS: In conversations like this there's always a tendency to blame the bean counters, and I understand the impulse. But in defense of my profession, try to remember that accountants are typically not decision makes, and their role is to provide useful and accurate data TO THE DECISION MAKERS.

 

[mmcmdl]

Yes , our company can not get the parts we need and these are from USA manufacturers . More on the lines of electrical stuff such as die heaters . I talked to my leader late last week , he is searching for other places which make these parts . We also live and die by the JIT and Lean Manufacturing codes . SAP ..................stop all production .

 

[woodchucker]

My day job is/was as a management accountant, mainly for manufacturing firms (recently changed roles, not in accounting any more). What you said is... basically true. Whenever us accountants prepare reports for management, low inventory levels is always a green light - management KPIs almost always include keeping inventory as low as practically possible, as high inventory means capital tied up and poor P&L performance.

Since this whole pandemic started and supply chains were ruined, there has been a bit of a reckoning behind this. It turns out you can't just pick and chose the things you like from Lean Manufacturing and Just in Time operating policy - it's not enough to just say "hold less inventory". Lean principles say more like "hold just enough inventory to be resilient", but resilience was forgotten during the "easy" times.

Shipping has never been more challenging or expensive in modern times. Logistics are chronically overworked and understaffed EVERYWHERE, and now holding inventory is seen as (or SHOULD BE SEEN AS) a competitive advantage.

Sadly the world of management accounting is slow and conservative with respect to structural and cultural change. So don't expect too much change once this is all over.

PS: In conversations like this there's always a tendency to blame the bean counters, and I understand the impulse. But in defense of my profession, try to remember that accountants are typically not decision makes, and their role is to provide useful and accurate data TO THE DECISION MAKERS.

I blame the MBA's.

It's why the landfills are filling up, and we waste so much. Rather than have parts to fix things, we have to buy new. Hence a throw away society, and massive waste.

in the USA congress started heavily taxing inventory, so it made it less desirable to have parts for repair. I'm not fully certain, but I believe it was a liability until sold. Now it's an asset.. I THINK... so who wants to pay tax on that asset if it sits on the shelf for a long time.

But who can afford to repair many small things? Everyone wants to be rich, but that means that the repair shop wants $75 just to look at your broken thing. Then the repair cost is on top of that, then parts...

Most people have been trained by the new replace policy that it's not worth fixing.

That's the new cycle, been around since the 80s.

Add to that nothing is built here anymore... We were told 6 new steel plants, then the number was moved to 7... Guess what, not a single plant is in the works. It's all BS no matter who's in charge. The only people that are in charge are the corp CEO's.. sorry if this is political, but I have watched the greed grow, I have watched the lies at the top, the golden parachutes that guys that destroy companies get paid millions to leave.. and keep collecting from those companies for years...