In the last 18 months, supply chain shortages have roiled the construction industry as contractors and dealers scramble to get parts, attachments and machines. One company that’s seeing its business booming in all of this is the parts and equipment broker Lighthouse Machinery.
We caught up with Brad Pruitt, parts sales manager at Lighthouse Machinery during the AEMP Connect 2022 conference in March. In a subsequent interview, Pruitt shared with us his understanding of the problem and what contractors and dealers need to know to manage their shortages and help prevent downtime due to future supply chain issues.
Sam Light started Lighthouse Machinery about three years ago, focusing primarily on equipment. But just before the supply chain crisis hit, he realized there was a tremendous need for parts to support the equipment. “We've gone from one guy working out of the pole barn to six people now, and we've just bought a building to stock inventory,” says Pruitt.
“I'd love to sit here and say we saw this coming, but we didn’t,” says Pruitt. The first clues came in 2020. “It started suddenly. We were having trouble getting filters and ground engaging tools. High volume items that we've never had trouble getting before were suddenly in short supply.”
To meet the demand, the company is sourcing parts from all over the world, including Asia, Spain and South Africa. “We’ve got 14 containers on order right now, four of which should be here shortly with ground engaging tools from China,” says Pruitt. “We’ve already pre-sold the majority of that to dealers and large customers who are willing to buy a truckload at a time.”
Not that long ago, dealers, OEMs and even contractors were operating on the principle of just-in-time inventory. The idea was to avoid tying up your cash in inventory since a streamlined and digitally connected global logistics chain could get you almost anything in 24 hours or less. The pandemic, shipping container shortages, issues at the ports, trucking strikes and unforeseen demand, blew that idea to pieces.
