The current world of business has led to many delays in industries across the board.
It’s no surprise to anyone doing business that there are new difficulties and challenges in completing what used to be fairly straight forward manufacturing programs. Guild Optical has been hard at work the entire time trying our best to keep our multiple supply chains open and flowing in order to keep our customer’s sapphire optics moving at normal speed.
What are the reasons for late delivery these days?
– The most common delay is raw material delivery. Guild builds in time for shipments of raw material and then we need about 2-4 weeks to manufacture the sapphire window depending on the complexity. If the material is late, that puts our team up against the clock before they can even put their hands on the job. We have been working to get late raw material right into process as soon as it is received. This alone has helped many deliveries to our customers remain on time. Some raw material shipments are so late, that even our skilled team can’t make up the difference.
– The next most common reason is coatings. Our trusted coating vendors have been dealing with the same raw material supply issues as the entire industry. Things that may have taken two weeks in the past could take up to four now. Guild can’t compensate much for this except by getting the finished sapphire optics into our trusted vendor’s hands with lots of time to spare.
So what can be done?
Hopefully, the business world as a whole will recover and get back to normal soon, but in the meantime, we all have to work together to save as much time as possible. Time seems to be the #1 enemy to the optics industry right now. Placing PO’s with plenty of time is the best way to combat the enemy. Just in time tactics of the past are not always the best way to go these days. If your company is able to order optical components with an extra buffer of time built in, we highly advise it. Giving us an extra 3 weeks to manufacture your sapphire windows is greatly appreciated right now. We advise getting those optics on your shelf ahead of time whenever possible.
We have a handful of qualified raw sapphire producers that we work with. Guild has used them strategically to keep material flow as normal as possible.
This has not been without hang ups or difficulty, but for the most part, we have been able to push the right buttons in order to deliver on time and according to specifications. Have there been some late deliveries due to material or coatings? Yes. There have been instance where there was no way to avoid tardiness. In these cases, I have been in communication as early as possible to relay the extra time that would be needed to complete the job.
Inflation:
That’s the next enemy we’re dealing with. Everything costs more these days. Raw sapphire, the consumables to process it, and the expertise needed to work it. I can’t think of any industry or commercial business that has not had to raise pricing due to the rising costs of just about everything around us. Guild is no exception to that rule. Luckily we were well set up with strategic vendors to help curb the rising costs of raw material. We have been able to keep costs the same in some cases, but many older quotes beyond the turn of 2022 have needed updating. I’ve been crunching numbers as best I can to keep the increases as low as possible.
Please, never hesitate to let me know if you have a different target price needed for Guild to win the bid. Sometimes we have options to help lower costs. I’ll do everything I can to help.
Guild is extremely thankful for all of our customer’s continued business. Some have been ordering sapphire windows from us for decades. Then we have new customers turning to us for their sapphire optics every day. We’re very happy that you all have found us and our goal is 100% customer satisfaction. We want to deliver your sapphire to spec., at the best price possible, and On Time!
We’re going to keep delivering the highest quality sapphire windows in the business.
Give us a call or email jlavoie@guildoptics with anything sapphire you may need. Their may be delays in materials, but I’m still lightning fast on the email machine!
Talk to you soon.
Published: May 31, 2022.
