The faltering global supply chain

Dusty Negative · Mar 9, 2021

I don’t disagree. The more local industry, the better. Of course, that does not translate into *cheaper*, and since so much of our (US) economy is based on the availability of cheap products, I don’t really know if “buy local” will ever be more than a niche activity.

The pandemic has afforded me plenty of time to think about how I can contribute in my own small way. I am currently only buying Sprint Systems chemistry and Tri-X (as a first choice). Let’s see how long I can hold out.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 9, 2021

I was reading that for every 4 containers that come into the LA port loaded from Asia, only one of the four goes back loaded with American stuff. So all that stimulus money we get goes to Asia. The price of shipping containers has gone out of sight. Everything has gone up like copper, tin, oil, lumber, etc. along with housing and the stock market. Who says there's no inflation? Coffee pods from my supermarket have gone up 25% in the last year.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 9, 2021

Dusty Negative said:
I don’t disagree. The more local industry, the better. Of course, that does not translate into *cheaper*, and since so much of our (US) economy is based on the availability of cheap products, I don’t really know if “buy local” will ever be more than a niche activity.

The pandemic has afforded me plenty of time to think about how I can contribute in my own small way. I am currently only buying Sprint Systems chemistry and Tri-X. Let’s see how long I can hold out.

Tri-X is sold by Kodak Alaris, a British company. I believe the film is still made in the USA by the original Kodak Co. for Kodak Alaris.

Auer · Mar 9, 2021

Alan Edward Klein said:
I was reading that for every 4 containers that come into the LA port loaded from Asia, only one of the four goes back loaded with American stuff. So all that stimulus money we get goes to Asia. The price of shipping containers has gone out of sight. Everything has gone up like copper, tin, oil, lumber, etc. along with housing and the stock market. Who says there's no inflation? Coffee pods from my supermarket have gone up 25% in the last year.

Your stimulus money goes to wherever you decide.

Coffe pods...haha...first world problems...

Dusty Negative · Mar 9, 2021

Alan Edward Klein said:
Tri-X is sold by Kodak Alaris, a British company. I believe the film is still made in the USA by the original Kodak Co. for Kodak Alaris.

Yes, that’s my understanding... Eastman Kodak evidently still makes the film. I could certainly be wrong... and in any event, I still need (desire) other films... but at least it’s a start.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 9, 2021

Auer said:
Your stimulus money goes to wherever you decide.

Coffe pods...haha...first world problems...

Well, I like buying American-made. But it's hard. We just don't make stuff as we use to. I shoot Tmax but that goes through Alaris in Britain. Velvia I like it but its made in Japan. Is there an American camera made here? Lens?

Coffee pods and I assume regular coffee as well are going up as a commodity and the loss of value of the American dollar in international trade. That also accounts for rises in film and other photography equipment that comes from overseas. The dollar can't buy as much anymore and it's going to get worse as we print more money. It's going to make all our photo purchases more expensive

Auer · Mar 9, 2021

Alan Edward Klein said:
Well, I like buying American-made. But it's hard. We just don't make stuff as we use to. I shoot Tmax but that goes through Alaris in Britain. Velvia I like it but its made in Japan. Is there an American camera made here? Lens?

Coffee pods and I assume regular coffee as well are going up as a commodity and the loss of value of the American dollar in international trade. That also accounts for rises in film and other photography equipment that comes from overseas. The dollar can't buy as much anymore and it's going to get worse as we print more money. It's going to make all our photo purchases more expensive

I'm not worried, Print away, We did that when we bailed out Wall Street and Detroit.
Governments can dictate things. Its not like balancing your checkbook at the kitchen table. Not the same rules.

But that's enough from me.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 9, 2021

Auer said:
I'm not worried, Print away, We did that when we bailed out Wall Street and Detroit.
Governments can dictate things. Its not like balancing your checkbook at the kitchen table. Not the same rules.

But that's enough from me.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

MattKing · Mar 9, 2021

Our (Canada's) biggest customer is the US.
We buy a large amount of our imported goods from the US, and a large amount of our imported services from there as well.
We sell a lot of commodities to the US, but we sell a lot of stuff as well - such as car parts.
Everything we sell to the US helps maintain our standard of living.
There is lots of room for mutual benefit as a result of trade, but a system that only values price is not going to result in a healthy global economy as well as a healthy populace.

Kilgallb · Mar 9, 2021

John Bragg said:
They worked hard to build stocks of everything before closing the production line during lockdown. Net result, no shortage, but I bought an extra brick to be sure.

But I cannot get Kentmere 16x20 from B&H. Waited months and cancelled.

Wayne · Mar 9, 2021

Freestyle is out of all c-41 kits...not sure if this is "global" but its faltering

markjwyatt · Mar 10, 2021

Chip shortages are causing Ford, GM, and other car companies to idle plants. Kodak may become a source of domestic pharmaceutical ingredients as well as our film.

Minolta93 · Mar 10, 2021

ced said:
The west needs to wake up and start up local industries that were lost to the countries where near slavery goes on.
We need to bring that work home & give the pleasure back to the home grown labour force where they could take pride again to see their own work valued as in the past, putting people back to work along with food on the table. Price is not everything, sometimes some of us appreciate quality over mass produced throw away junk (ending in places we can ill afford) we would even be prepared to pay the extra & not shipping around the globe causing all sorts of other disasters.
Alas this is just a scratch as nobody gives a hoot anyhow woe awaits...

Couldn't agree more.

MattKing · Mar 10, 2021

Dusty Negative said:
Didn’t Ilford/Harman shut down completely for a while?

MattKing said:
Yes, as did Eastman Kodak.

I was a bit premature on this.
As I understand it now, for Eastman Kodak consumer and professional film finishing did not stop, although a lot of the technical and other staff were furloughed for various periods of time.
And photographic film manufacture continues apace, with growing volumes.

Wayne · Mar 10, 2021

Wayne said:
Freestyle is out of all c-41 kits...not sure if this is "global" but its faltering

Oh nvm...they have Tetanol and Cinestill but the rest are sold out.

Dusty Negative · Mar 10, 2021

MattKing said:
And photographic film manufacture continues apace, with growing volumes.

...and growing prices. Five-pack box of Tri-X currently being sold at Freestyle at a *discounted* price of $43 (rounded). Not sure my “Buy American” strategy is going to last long.

Wayne · Mar 10, 2021

Shiitake are back in stock. My world is saved.

nbagno · Mar 11, 2021

Wayne said:
I can't find dried shiitake at my usual place. That really sucks but I still have some, and other than that things aren't so bad.

I bought some. https://nearbynaturalsfl.com/products/shiitake-jumbo-kit

Wayne · Mar 11, 2021

nbagno said:
I bought some. https://nearbynaturalsfl.com/products/shiitake-jumbo-kit

I actually don't like fresh shiitake very much. Drying improves/intensifies their flavor IMO. But as my later post states, they are back in stock so I'm happy again. These are the ones I buy, although they are 2 dollars cheaper at my grocery store, a fantastic deal https://yummybazaar.com/products/ma...mushrooms-3-5-oz-100-g?variant=38135760715955

When I do grow mushrooms they will be oysters, which I also love...

4season · Mar 11, 2021

Wayne said:
Shiitake are back in stock. My world is saved.

Mmm, the water used to soak them is loaded with umami. I haven't seen Japanese dried shiitake for awhile, but the Chinese stuff was readily available at H-Mart the last time I checked.

etn · Mar 11, 2021

btaylor said:
We are seeing these issues at work, random automotive parts are simply unavailable from any of our suppliers.

It does not surprize me. I work in the semiconductor industry and as far as I can tell, the following occurred:
- In spring/summer 2020, customer demand in the auto industry collapsed; customers were quick to cancel orders and deliver low forecast volumes (when forecasts were communicated at all)
- At the same time, working from home created a boom in the Computer/Telecom/Datacenter industries. Naturally, a shift of founders' production capacity occurred.
- Now the auto sector seems to have recovered quicker than expected, and auto manufacturers place orders in higher than usual quantities, in total disaccordance to communicated forecasts. And because they got bitten once, they don't want to be bitten twice and want to build inventory at the same time, resulting in even higher than normal demand.

The auto industry has been about reducing cost for decades, e.g. by having as little inventory as possible, pressuring suppliers on cost etc. The situation shows us that it went too far - far enough in fact, that the industry could not deal with a relatively small crisis. The market already started recovering end 2020. The auto industry just got what it deserved if you ask me. The bad side of it is that the cost is borne by the taxpayers and the employees who have become, temporarily or permanently, unemployed because of it.

Disclaimer: the above is my own, possibly uneducated, opinion on the current global situation. It does not engage or represent my employer's or any of our customers' specific situation or opinion by any means.

Minolta93 · Mar 11, 2021

It sure would be nice if they could just not use a hundred microchips in every car, but I suppose that's a pipe dream now.

btaylor · Mar 11, 2021

etn said:
It does not surprize me. I work in the semiconductor industry and as far as I can tell, the following occurred:
- In spring/summer 2020, customer demand in the auto industry collapsed; customers were quick to cancel orders and deliver low forecast volumes (when forecasts were communicated at all)
- At the same time, working from home created a boom in the Computer/Telecom/Datacenter industries. Naturally, a shift of founders' production capacity occurred.
- Now the auto sector seems to have recovered quicker than expected, and auto manufacturers place orders in higher than usual quantities, in total disaccordance to communicated forecasts. And because they got bitten once, they don't want to be bitten twice and want to build inventory at the same time, resulting in even higher than normal demand.

The auto industry has been about reducing cost for decades, e.g. by having as little inventory as possible, pressuring suppliers on cost etc. The situation shows us that it went too far - far enough in fact, that the industry could not deal with a relatively small crisis. The market already started recovering end 2020. The auto industry just got what it deserved if you ask me. The bad side of it is that the cost is borne by the taxpayers and the employees who have become, temporarily or permanently, unemployed because of it.

Disclaimer: the above is my own, possibly uneducated, opinion on the current global situation. It does not engage or represent my employer's or any of our customers' specific situation or opinion by any means.

That makes a lot of sense to me. The miles not driven were often replaced with semiconductors as so many transitioned to working at home.
The “just in time” philosophy has been in place for decades and was surely affected by the pandemic disruption. Even at our retail service level, our inventory is almost non existent. With up to 7 deliveries a day plus “hot shots” from local warehouses, inventory has become a waste of space and money.

btaylor · Mar 11, 2021

Minolta93 said:
It sure would be nice if they could just not use a hundred microchips in every car, but I suppose that's a pipe dream now.

Yep- definitely a pipe dream. The manufacturers could never achieve the economy/reliability/performance without a boatload of microchips in today’s vehicles.
I remember the introduction of the BMW 7 series in 2002- they boasted of the 70 (!) computers (control units) in that car. Once on the road the subsequent software patches and upgrades could take up to 12 hours to push the data through the gateway which would overheat and fail without pulling it out of the dash and putting a fan on it!

etn · Mar 11, 2021

btaylor said:
Yep- definitely a pipe dream. The manufacturers could never achieve the economy/reliability/performance without a boatload of microchips in today’s vehicles.
I remember the introduction of the BMW 7 series in 2002- they boasted of the 70 (!) computers (control units) in that car. Once on the road the subsequent software patches and upgrades could take up to 12 hours to push the data through the gateway which would overheat and fail without pulling it out of the dash and putting a fan on it!

You are right. Some (high-end) cars have over a hundred microprocessors. The trend is to reduce the amount for mainly 2 reasons: optimization&cost (many unused compute cycles are just a waste) ; security (less processors represent a lower attack surface to hackers). The electrical architecture of vehicles is becoming more and more centralized.
Keep in mind also that the electronics bill of materials of vehicles is increasing, independently of the electrification of the power train. Automated driving, communication, etc. are functions which are all based on semiconductors.
What an exciting topic

The faltering global supply chain

Dusty Negative

Alan Edward Klein

Alan Edward Klein

Auer

Dusty Negative

Alan Edward Klein

Auer

Alan Edward Klein

MattKing

Moderator

Kilgallb

Wayne

markjwyatt

Minolta93

MattKing

Moderator

Wayne

Dusty Negative

Wayne

nbagno

Wayne

4season

etn

Minolta93

btaylor

btaylor

etn

The faltering global supply chain

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency