The end of the year is fast approaching, with just 10 days until New Year.
As in 2020, the outdoor living and solar shading industry has seen tremendous growth. The pandemic with its various lockdowns, restrictions and travel bans has meant we all continue to invest in our homes, with gardens a key focus as we look to create a slice of paradise in our garden, enabling us to holiday at home.
However, this huge surge in demand for external shading has also created an issue with the supply chain, with our suppliers (like the whole home improvement sector) struggling to keep up with the increased volumes we require. Our team behind the scenes pulled out all the stops to keep orders flowing through production, but despite our best efforts and planning, we had to increase our lead times.
On a positive note (and in some ways to counter the increased lead times), we decided to absorb all raw material increases during 2021 which became a monthly occurrence and therefore provide all our customers with the best value for money on the finest UK manufactured external shading systems.
The demand for external shading shows no sign of slowing down as we move into 2022 and there are still challenges ahead particularly with the supply chain, however, we have invested heavily during 2021 in our personnel, processes and supply chain to minimise any delays next year and to ensure we keep our leadtimes as short as possible – the quickest in the industry!
This includes holding much higher stock levels, including additional buffer stock. As we stand our stock holding has almost doubled compared to this time last year (and bear in mind we overstocked last year due to Brexit!). Additionally, our factory has also undergone significant modifications with the production capacity for external blinds and awnings almost doubled and for louvered roofs (Classic model) increased by 50%!
Whilst the Corona crisis is not over yet, we have done everything we can to ensure we can meet the continued increase in demand for our external shading systems within the shortest possible lead times whilst retaining the highest quality!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners and suppliers for their loyalty and support of our brand and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Don’t forget, our factory, offices and showsites close at 12noon this Wednesday 22nd December and reopen on Tuesday 4th January 2022.
Warm wishes
Stuart Dantzic (MD)
