Countering disruptions: Industry Trends & Analysis

Every business and consumer can cite unique examples of product delivery delays and cancellations resulting from pandemic-bred supply chain interruptions. As a provider of premium machine tools worldwide, Mazak Corp. is no exception. By the second year of the pandemic, the time required to transport machine tool parts from Asia to the United States essentially doubled, and the delays do not end when cargo arrives in this country.

Backups in unloading ships, combined with shortages of containers and the wheeled chassis used to transport them by highway, further increased those delays. For Mazak, various models of machines require different components, and maintaining sufficient part inventory for all of them can be a challenge. To overcome this, the company has implemented countermeasures to expedite component transportation and, ultimately, machine tool production to meet customer demand.

To counteract pandemic-driven interruptions of rail transportation, Mazak has used a tactic called diversion. It involves trucking parts directly from the port of entry — typically the West Coast — to the company’s plant in Kentucky. This shortens cross-country travel time from a week to three days.

Another approach is a “less than a container” strategy in which two smaller loads from different shippers are combined in one container. Yet another traffic-dodging method avoids the West Coast altogether and sends shipments through the Panama Canal to eastern U.S. ports. Extended time on the water is offset by reduced delays at the ports and the shorter highway trip to the facility in Kentucky.

Previously, 90% of Mazak’s imported manufacturing material came by way of the West Coast and 10% via the East Coast. Currently, those percentages are reversed. For some smaller parts, airfreight is an alternative to dealing with customs and port clearances, COVID-19 restrictions and other slowdowns. It should be noted that all these workarounds involve a delicate balance between increased costs and the ability to meet customer needs in a timely fashion.