Hartford Business Journal

10 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 20, 2023 On The Record | Q&A A look inside the warehouse of North Haven-based Ulbrich Stainless Steels & Special Metals Inc., which moved away from some of its Asian suppliers amid the pandemic in favor of North American companies. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Inventory Control Three years after pandemic disrupted flow of goods and services, supply chains begin to 'normalize' By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com S upply-chain issues have plagued many executives of Connecticut small, midsize and global manufacturers in recent years. New Britain-based Stanley Black & Decker announced in July it would initiate a supply chain overhaul that would help generate $1.5 billion to $2 billion in savings over three years. The tools and outdoor equipment manufacturer's efforts include reducing inventory, closing manu- facturing plants and standardizing product parts. In a February earnings call with analysts, Stanley CEO and Pres- ident Donald Allan Jr. also said the company had approximately 50,000 SKUs, or products, it was no longer manufacturing and approved for decommission. "We activated our transformation with a sense of urgency to optimize our operations, which better serve our customers while also being efficient and agile with our footprint and cost structure," Allan told investors. Developers looking to add to Connecticut's housing stock have experienced similar headaches. Numerous Greater Hartford apart- ment projects are being put on hold, taking longer to complete or have come in over budget amid higher materials costs and shipment delays, along with rising interest rates. The topic has been so prevalent that UConn recently announced it would be launching a new global supply chain course as part of its remodeled MBA program. UConn also offers supply chain management as one of its core MBA concentrations. And the state of Connecticut, in partnership with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, recently launched a new online service — called CONNEX — that allows manufacturers and suppliers to more easily connect with each other to strengthen and grow their local supply chains. All these activities are in response to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that disrupted the global flow of goods and services. So, where does the supply chain crisis stand today, exactly three years after the COVID-19 virus led to initial lockdowns in the U.S.? That's one of the key questions recently posed to Mary Rollman, a principal and U.S. supply chain strategy practice leader at Big Four accounting and consulting firm KPMG, who has nearly 30 years of industry experience. There is, finally, some good news, Rollman said in a recent interview with the Hartford Business Journal: Supply chains are starting to normalize, particularly the cost to transport goods into the United Sates, including from Asia. Her comments came days before the New York Fed published a report earlier this month that also concluded "global supply chain conditions have returned to normal after experiencing temporary setbacks around the turn of the year." "While we won't see that reflected in prices or the financials of an orga- nization for another several months, the costs have gone down," said Rollman, who has been with KPMG since 2018 and began her career working in the supply chain depart- ment of consumer packaged-goods company ConAgra Foods. Rollman, who is now based in New England, also spent time at consulting firm Accenture and over- seas in Brazil, Turkey, Russia and China where she was tasked with helping California biopharmaceu- tical company Amgen search for international partnerships. She has a global view of supply chains, and in the pandemic's wake, Rollman has been encouraging New England-based companies to re-evaluate their logistics networks, including inventory management, vertical integration (or moving more production processes in house) and onshore/nearshore/offshore manufac- turing and distribution. Rollman said none of the chal- lenges most companies faced over the last few years were new, but "they were more intense and the frequency was much higher — things were happening all at once." As a result, "Every point in a company's supply chain that had vulnerabilities was exposed." Here's what else Rollman had to say. The Q&A was edited for length and clarity. Q. With supply chains starting to normalize, might that have other consequences? A. Yes, so now what companies are dealing with is trying to figure out what to do with all of the inven- tory coming into the ports that was ordered a year ago. They are asking 'Do we still need it? Do we not need it?' I was in a recent meeting with a range of different industries repre- sented and almost every retailer had the same message, which was they are sitting on a lot of inventory. It's inventory that they generally don't need anymore and so they're going to have to discount it in order to sell it. MARY ROLLMAN Principal, U.S. Supply Chain Strategy Practice Leader KPMG Education: Bachelor's degree, Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, Iowa; Supply Chain Executive Leadership Program, Georgia Institute of Technology

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