Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida late on Sept. 26 and traveled to Tennessee before degenerating to a post-tropical cyclone and stalled.
It then dissipated on Sept. 29, but not before unloading a substantial amount of precipitation on the region as far and wide as the Carolinas. The people along the track of the storm cleared the shelves of bread and eggs, and of course toilet paper, as they typically do in response to these conditions.
From a laundry and linen viewpoint, high winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Helene destroyed one-fifth of the cotton crop in Georgia, the second-largest cotton state in the nation, according to the USDA’s monthly crop production report.
The USDA reduced their forecast of Georgia’s cotton production by 792,000,000 million pounds or 20%. The USDA lowered its estimate of the U.S. cotton crop to 14.2 million bales, down by 2% from a month ago due to hurricane damage.
“Georgia and North Carolina accounted for much of the reduction as high winds and heavy rain pummeled open cotton bolls, while some other states experienced partially offsetting gains,” said the monthly WASDE report.
The hurricane hit the states during harvest time. North Carolina’s cotton crop was estimated at 700,000 bales, (a cotton bale in the United States is typically 480 pounds) down 7% from last month due to the hurricane.
Is this a problem for laundry and linen operations? Let’s examine it in perspective. In 2022, The United States produced 18,670,076,178 pounds of cotton. This loss is equivalent to approximately 4% of the 2022 U.S. cotton production number.
To carry it forward, the global production of cotton in 2022 was 153,660,620,000 pounds, meaning the impact on the global market would be 0.52%.
On Oct. 1, 45,000 dockworkers belonging to the International Longshoremen’s Union working at East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike. On Oct. 3, the strike was suspended until Jan. 15, 2025.
Supply-chain experts say that for every day of a port strike, it takes four to six days to recover. That means it will take probably about 20 days to recover, said William Brucher, an assistant professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University, who follows ports.
The people went out and bought toilet paper. Why? Is it because they have been trained to, dating back to the Jonny Carson show from the ’70s? It’s important to remember that toilet paper is made in the United States from eucalyptus pulp imported from Brazil.
Do you know anything about the supply chain that your purchased linens follow? Do you have the knowledge to be able to recognize what events may impact your ability to purchase and receive linen on a timely or typically expected basis? Would this information help you to stay ahead of trouble?
Knowing even a little about the way your products arrive at your facility may be hugely impactful in keeping you from making decisions based on the wrong indicators, or even unfounded concerns. Fiscally speaking, losing revenue from ordered linen not delivered is a travesty.
Asking about the products you use and how the logistics work is completely acceptable and prudent if you are responsible for the product availability for your client’s use. The journey many items take can be highly enlightening and very useful to determine what events may impact and impede your supply chain.
Where is the product blended, spun, woven, cut and sewn, and so on, is not a secret. You just simply ask the questions and discover the answers. If your vendor rep does not provide useful answers or does not know, you should press for follow up.
When you begin asking questions, do not forget to discuss the logistics of your vendor’s linen supply chain. Many suppliers keep substantial inventory in warehouses in the United States, but definitely not all of them have this.
In the world of just-in-time delivery, even a small hiccup on the other side of the planet can cause you grief if the vendor’s forecasting does not account for these considerations.
A little attention to these events can save lots of pain.
I noted that the International Longshoremen’s Union strike was suspended until Jan. 15, 2025. As of the writing of this article, there has not been a new contract agreement. If your linen comes to the United States through the East Coast or Gulf ports, have you asked your vendor about their contingency plans and what you can expect from them in the event of a strike, both in the short and the long term? Should you be stocking up right now or is there no need to consider it?
Wait and see may be like going to Walmart looking for toilet tissue the day after the frenzy buying occurs. Lots of empty shelves and no options.
By no means will a stampede for products and price gauging be factors if you are able to be proactive and carefully consider the potential to adopt a metered approach intended to mitigate risks wherever possible.
There are factors that contribute to a full utilization of your options for your own supply-chain management. One of these is your ability to hold and maintain a stock of your core products.
If you have space for new linen storage, are you utilizing it and is it being used efficiently? Are new linens on the floor, on pallets and can the pallets be stacked or put on racking to maximize the warehousing space?
Building inventory over time will alleviate minor supply issues and delays in delivery, even small ones which will not be as impactful to your operation’s performance. Even budgeting for a quantity of shelf stock and beginning to accumulate key items will be beneficial when events occur.
A small amount of flex allows for breathing room and time to advance on a solution.
Linen suppliers can be very helpful to you in this endeavor as well. Perhaps a consignment agreement can aid in building critical item availability and should be explored with your vendors if it is an option.
Alternate suppliers are an important consideration as well. Having at least three options on each key product may make a big difference when faced with a supply issue.
Please note that the time to explore alternative and backup suppliers is not after the linen is already unavailable.
Gathering your linen specifications and requesting both pricing and availability from secondary vendors and prearranging terms with them is also advisable. Please keep in mind that the next item that may influence the availability of your new linen orders may happen tomorrow or next year.
Either way, knowing more about the linen you use will assist you in avoiding difficulty and protecting your client’s interests and protect your revenue stream.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
