Page 15 - BusinessWest December 8, 2021

By now, the phrase ‘supply chain’ has become one of the economic buzzwords of our time, as global shortages and slowdowns of goods, not to mention staffing crunches, have impacted industries ranging from food service and retail to manufacturing and auto sales. The construction industry has been particularly vulnerable to those trends, which is especially unfortunate considering that most builders say the work is there — they just can’t tackle it all until these broader issues begin to stabilize. When they will is anyone’s guess.
By Joseph Bednar
M
ost people have heard about the challenges facing the construction industry these days, Scott Keiter said —
how they’re really part of one large issue. “Part of the supply-chain issue is the work-
force,” said the president of Keiter, the new name for his company, which now encom- passes four divisions: commercial and indus-
workforce shortages and supply-chain issues foremost among them — but it’s helpful, he noted, to understand
Keiter recently completed a 14,000-square-foot addition to VCA Inc. in Northampton.
Construction
More Demand Than Supply
Construction Firms Deal with Fallout from Workforce, Material Shortages
CONSTRUCTION
DECEMBER 8, 2021 15
BusinessWest