Things have changed a lot over the last few years and I don't think they won't return to how they were before Covid & Brexit.Originally Posted by ProtoTipo
Not only have material costs gone through the roof across the board but there are also long lasting supply chain issues and specific things we used to buy are simply no longer available.
On a more local level finding reliable staff who can actually do the job rather than just thinking they can is a challenge.
A lot of people got too comfortable being paid to sit at home last year and they now simply don't want to work.
Out of those that do want to work some think they are worth twice as much as their abilities suggest they are actually worth.
Finding people devoid of ego who can also work with others is a challenge and from experience that is not necessarily within a big group either.
Outsourcing is another issue as whilst you can find companies to do things their rates have increased considerably as well which combined with the additional material cost means things are expensive.
A prime example of this for me was wiring looms, our previous supplier of looms closed in line with protocol & I don't think they caught back up. Their lead times were so bad that we then tried to source elsewhere. The first (very reputable) company who quoted were asking for around 6 times the price of the original supplier, the second one was more realistic but was still around 2.5 times the cost of the original supplier. The issue with that one then was that they wanted us to provide a full bill of materials before they would make the looms at which point we had done the majority of the work for them which meant that we might as well make them ourselves. So the general feel was that yes, you can get companies to do things for you but they want you to all the hard work and they will then charge you for the privilege.
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