Page 36 - BusinessWest February 7, 2022

Steve Graham stands in front of spools of 3D filament at Toner Plastics.
Manufacturing
Making Changes
Local Manufacturers Still Grappling with Supply, Workforce Issues
In manufacturing, as in many industries, the story of the past year has been one of shortages and high costs — shortages of both materials and workers, and rising costs of supplies and wages as a direct result of those trends. As this story and the one on page 39 make clear, the problem isn’t demand for manufactured products, but meeting that demand at a time of global disruption. Yet, for many companies, this may turn out to be a time of innovation, too.
SBy Mark Morris
teven Graham called it a “double whammy.”
Specifically, throughout 2021, manufacturers faced a year full of supply-chain
issues and the constant challenge of having enough workers. And when Graham, president and CEO of Toner Plastics in East Longmeadow, could find raw materi- als, they cost more — lots more.
“You operate at a smaller profit margin because you can’t necessarily pass along the price increases,” he said.
In Graham’s company, raw materials are mostly plastic pellets that are fabricated into diverse types of products ranging from craft items to medical devices. Because plastic is derived from oil, price swings are nothing new to him, but he described the last couple of years as brutal.
On top of normal supply-chain issues, Graham said last winter’s sudden freeze in Texas exacerbated an already-tough situation. There are usually plenty of warnings before hur- ricanes hit the Gulf of Mexico, which allows oil refineries to shut down days before to ride out the storm. The freeze arrived with no warning, leaving the refineries unprepared.
“The damage was more extensive, which shut them down much longer than we’ve seen after other weather events they’ve endured.”
As a result, Graham has seen persistent cost increases for the last 12 to 18 months. “I’ve
36 FEBRUARY 7, 2022
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