OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant - General Woodworking - Woodworking

OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

10/13/21, 7:26 AM #1

David Yoho
Member
Offline
2,135 posts

Registered: 1/5/04

OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

David Yoho

We recently realized my wife's cell phone needed replacing ASAP. While visiting our son this past weekend my wife showed him her phone and how it was coming apart. He said the battery was swollen and had pushed it apart and could overheat while charging causing a fire.

When we got home we started researching phones and prices. We were only looking for an Android phone either from Google or Samsung. I have a Pixel that has an incredible camera but hers was an old Samsung S6. Turned out either nobody, including Verizon, had a new version (Pixel 5 or Samsung S20) or they wanted a king's ransome for it. I guess I hadn't realized cell phone availability was a problem like so many other items now.

I finally found an S20 on Amazon that was unlocked and what they termed "renewed premium". This means it's reconditioned by Samsung and carries the original warranty. Ordered it and it arrived yesterday. It looks brand new. We set it up by transferring everything from the old phone. This evening we will visit the Verizon store so they can install the SIM card and make the new phone active.

This supply chain mess we are experiencing in this country is total BS. Sheesh - don't find yourself in a need to purchase and new vehicle and a new mobile phone! Ain't gonna happen!!!

- - -

I live in Mechanicsville, VA (not far from Richmond) and I've been building furniture and cabinetry for well over 20 years now. It all started with my frustration of not being able to cut a straight line with a hand saw. About this same time, a guy named Norm appeared on my local PBS station. The more I watched, the more I learned. I also started thinking, "Hey, I can do that"! And so, I began with small projects and soon found myself moving up to increasingly advanced work. Word of mouth started the ball rolling and before I knew it, I was building all kinds of things for people. While this is not what I do to pay the bills, it has provided me with a means of equipping my shop over the years. The main downside to all of this is when my wife looks at a finished project and says, "I want one of those" and I know I don't have the time to make that happen right then. I take advantage of any slack time between commissions to work on things we want and this seems to keep her "on my side". She even surprised me one day with a new Tormek sharpening system. Sometimes it pays to leave that tool catalog lying around open! For me, woodworking is a type of therapy. I can go out to the shop and totally forget about the world outside. There have been days when I get out there early and before I know it, it's dark outside and I have no idea where the time went! I also enjoy challenging my skills and learning new things. Most of the time, since the majority of my work tends to be custom pieces, I'm working on projects I�ve never built before. While this takes me longer than if I were doing production work, I find it more appealing because there's always something new to learn. I haven't had any formal training in woodworking. My teachers have been experience, the many books and magazines I've read, WoodCentral, and of course, a guy named Norm.

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

10/13/21, 1:38 PM #2

Kevin French
Member
Offline
655 posts

Registered: 10/11/06

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

Kevin French

I ran into the same kind of problem. My camera went for a swim when I overturned my canoe and is now resting on the bottom of a lake in NY.

I did a search for a new one and found everyone that had the one I wanted and my second choice was on backorder.

I found a site that let me order the camera not telling me it was being shipped from China.

I ordered it on 30 Aug and it is still not here. ALLEDGILY according to the tracking, it arrived at my local PO on 09 Oct but I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully, it will be here today.

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

10/13/21, 2:00 PM #3

John in New Mexico
Guest

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

John in New Mexico

In the case of semiconductors, its world wide. I was reading about the beginnings of it months ago in regards to phones. Its the unfortunate flip side of business practices that have helped keep consumer products cheap for decades now, and it will be temporary. In the automotive corner of it, I recall reading that a lot of the problem is on the automakers, apparently they insist on sticking to their unique custom chips rather than using more readily available units that have applications beyond a single industry. Sounds good, but I've no idea how true it may be - sometimes people write stuff that simply sounds good based on a tiny grain of truth and only succeed in further muddying the picture.

However, its a pretty complex problem. I've yet to read a really well thought out discussion of it, just articles touching on pieces here and there.

On the plus side, I've read that some big companies are looking for ways to go around the domestic bottlenecks in order to improve their prospects of surviving the holiday shopping season. While I don't much care whether the big retailers survive or not, I do think that is an encouraging development because it improves the odds of new good ideas in turning up in how supply chains are managed.

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

10/13/21, 9:40 PM #4

don stephan
Member
Offline
1,483 posts

Registered: 11/1/12

Re: OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

Don Stephan

I doubt the supply chain issues are confined to this country. And news reports suggest it is not always supply - huge backlog of cargo ships waiting to unload on the west coast, not enough truck drivers to transport from the docks to distributors, not enough warehouse employees . . .

OT - Supply Chain Semi Rant

Posts