UniControl Inc. wishes all our customers and suppliers a safe and happy Holiday Season as we look forward to 2022.
Hard as it is to believe, we are at the end of a second year of coping with the Covid-19 pandemic and it continues to spread with the Delta variant remaining a serious concern even as the Omicron variant emerges. There is, unfortunately, no reason for us to think that pandemic-related issues will disappear any time soon.
Globally, every aspect of conducting our business continually evolves as the pandemic itself evolves. At UniControl, we monitor the effects of these changes on our activities, always prioritizing the health and well-being of our employees, customers, and community, while striving to stay current with all Federal, CDC, state, and local guidelines. As an essential business, all our efforts are directed toward keeping our doors open and products flowing out to our customers who rely on us.
Unfortunately, many factors impede our best efforts. For example, the disruption of the global supply chain is having a tremendous impact on our manufacturing capabilities. When essential components are on allocation from our suppliers, and shipments to us are delayed, our ability to maintain a steady, predictable production rate across our product lines is compromised. We continuously work with our suppliers to monitor and improve their ability to meet our requirements, and we have extended our lead times so that customers have realistic information to plan around. Even so, our ability to maintain our materials inventory is limited, and disruptions will certainly occur.
Another challenge we are experiencing is the shortage of qualified labor, exacerbated by the measures we must take to avoid the spread of the virus in our workplace: fewer workstations, reduced attendance due to contact tracing and quarantines, and limits to production hours to allow for enhanced sanitation. All of this applies pressure to our labor costs, while at the same time, materials costs are steadily increasing. Often, we receive material cost increase notices that are substantial and immediately effective giving us no choice but to pass those through to our customers. We try to avoid this whenever possible, but unfortunately there are increasing instances of this that must be addressed.
At UniControl, we take our role as an essential business very seriously. We work vigorously with both customers and suppliers to maintain effective production levels. While greatly appreciating your patience, understanding and support of our efforts, we also understand and applaud your own efforts to work with us during these challenging times. We are all trying to cope with the same extreme, unprecedented difficulties, and excellent communication plays a key role in managing these circumstances. Therefore, as 2022 approaches, we are renewing our commitment to providing our customers with timely, honest, and realistic information. We encourage our customers and suppliers to reach out to us with their scheduling needs so that we can work together toward a satisfactory solution.
We believe that working together is the way forward to a stronger, brighter future for everyone. With hopeful hearts we wish
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year to All of You from All of Us!