So says the Wall Street Journal:
With its furniture made by a couple of dozen rural American workshops and in-house craftsmen, Arcola, Ill., manufacturer Simply Amish would seem to be far removed from the global supply-chain strains that have hobbled most businesses.
But the seller of handmade tables, chairs and beds famous for clean, simple lines and old-fashioned sturdiness has seen its costs skyrocket as volatility in lumber markets has raised prices for the wood used to make its products.
Lead times for Simply Amish’s deliveries to dealers have also increased dramatically even though the company sources the maple, cherry and other woods from within 500 miles of its plant in central Illinois. The furniture also includes parts like knobs and pulls whose sellers import them from Asia, as well as table slides from Germany, items that have been caught up in bottlenecks at ports and other swamped distribution hubs.
The problems in such a seemingly pared-down domestic supply chain, one that harks back to an era before offshoring and other pillars of globalization, suggests how deeply embedded global sourcing has become in manufacturing. The issues at Amish furniture shops and sellers of their goods also highlight the challenges companies face in trying to get more resilient to global disruptions by bringing production closer to home.
The story goes on to point out that materials such as lumber are traded on a global market, so price fluctuations around the world affect prices at home.
The solution to global supply-chain problems is not unplugging from the rest of the world. There are reasons to rethink some specific aspects of supply chains, especially in China, and businesses are very much in the process of doing so all on their own. But those who advocate a more general withdrawal from global markets as insurance against disruptions severely underestimate how much international interconnectedness affects nearly every product in nearly every industry. The Amish produce top-quality, made-in-America furniture with craftsmanship deeply rooted in their traditional way of life — and even they rely on global supply chains.