Economy

Supply Chain Under Strain

Supply Chain Under Strain

Proficient Sourcing LLC provides OEM’s access to a network of outstanding manufacturing suppliers.  As almost all are midwestern, we offer an alternative to companies being subjected to supply chain difficulties with overseas suppliers. The January/February edition of Expansion Solutions magazine has an excellent summary article “A Supply Chain Under Strain”.  The article points out several key supply chain points. Everyone involved with foreign suppliers is aware of the potential for sea, air, rail, and road… Read More

Manufacturing Outlook: Problems Remain

Manufacturing Outlook: Problems Remain

What is the near term outlook for US manufacturing?  Not particularly encouraging. There are nearly an infinite number of internet answers to this, and we found 2 good ones at the National Association of Manufacturers 4Q 22 survey and Deloitte’s 2023 Manufacturing Industry Outlook. Here’s a segment of NAM’s Summary of Findings: “While manufacturing proved to be quite resilient through the challenges of the past few years, the sector ended 2022 with weaker conditions, both… Read More

China: Big Problems Lurk!

China: Big Problems Lurk!

  China has very big demographic problems. Is this situation meaningful for us folks interested in US manufacturing at present or soon? We shall see. All of a sudden, a large number of news sources are reporting a potential demographic crisis beginning in China. We wonder what this means for OEMs with Chinese manufacturing. The government has a very major issue dealing with these things and still maintaining a manufacturing powerhouse. Apparently, for the first… Read More

Manufacturing Outlook for 2023

Manufacturing Outlook for 2023

Making sense of economic forecasts is risky business, but we looked at many claims of such expertise concerning manufacturing.  This is a summary of one such source from Hitachi Solutions.  Their report contained several factors widely reported in other places. As we all know the trifecta of problems, labor issues, supply chain and inflation remain as a combined big deal.  How these will shake out over 2023 remains to be seen.  The Hitachi report lists… Read More

Pandemic Effects on the Economy

Pandemic Effects on the Economy

Recently we found “The Economic Disaster of the Pandemic Response”, a talk by Jeffrey Tucker from October 2022.  Mr. Tucker is a writer of some note, but evidently a strong conservative.  Whether or not his remarks are 100% accurate or not is beyond our ability to determine, but it makes a lot of sense.  We’re no fan of central planning, especially for the national economy, which created a number of problems in this case. The… Read More

The 4 Day Work Week

The 4 Day Work Week

Recently we heard a radio report that the government was considering 4 Day work week legislation.  No further details were reported, so we can only speculate that this is a move that might happen sometime in the future.  To whom, how and when unreported. The US economy consists of a wide variety of types of work, so just how such legislation would work seems very confusing.  Just some examples:  blue collar workers in a company… Read More

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Proficient Sourcing finds sources for primarily OEM’s seeking suppliers for some manufacturing requirement.  To do this we feature a very large and diversified network of proven suppliers with a history of happy customers. But nearly all of these companies are looking for employees, a situation evidently pretty widespread these days.  What’s going on with employment and employees? According to current news, the economy is great/awful, and employment is problematic/great.  So what’s the real story?  Why are… Read More

Need Improvements to Your Supply Chain?

Need Improvements to Your Supply Chain?

We’re all about improving your supply chain.  Whether reshoring something or any of a myriad of possibilities, if you want excellent candidates for your outsourced manufacturing, we can probably help. Key areas of success have been large metal parts, such as machine bases, fabricated and molded plastics, domesticating ferrous (and large!) castings, tanks, pressure vessels, and even micro machined precision items.  We can also offer special ISO candidates for specific industries.  Here’s a partial listing of our… Read More

ESG Scoring: Useful or… Horsepucky?

ESG Scoring: Useful or… Horsepucky?

Over the past several years many major funding organizations have become more interested in ESG scoring criteria for their decisions. We became interested in this because of 2 recent factors. One was the apparent increasing difficulty that fossil fuel producers are finding in obtaining new funding for their needs. And since this industry is capital intensive with long lead times, funding problems would surely contribute to the increase in fuel prices. So if there is… Read More

Supplier Visits: Important Clues About Prospective Suppliers

Supplier Visits: Important Clues About Prospective Suppliers

Several years ago a Business Leader Post article recommended visiting suppliers as often as feasibly possible.  The main reasons appear to be relationship building and the opportunity to discuss cost/scrap/quality and other production details that may be problematic. Proficient Sourcing’s business is finding excellent sources for your manufacturing needs (mostly metal and plastic machining/fab work).  To fully appreciate what a supplier can contribute to your business, a visit to the facility making your items can be… Read More