Despite all of the headwinds affecting our business in 2021, demand for new equipment and replacement parts was very strong.
In fact, some of our dealers will report record years for Superior Industries sales this year. Personally, we characterize 2021 as a very solid year. It wasn’t quite a record, but pleasantly solid – again – despite so many headwinds.
Starting in the late summer and early fall of 2020, things really started to pick up. That momentum carried into 2021, and it grew throughout the year.
Momentum for our processing equipment continues to grow as we saw further increases in our 2021 crushing and screening sales. We certainly need to credit our dealers for their tireless efforts in the market.
Despite all of the challenges, our industry continued to work together. We needed to be creative to overcome some of these very significant, once-in-a-generation challenges.
Similar to others, our top three challenges were and continue to be: steel prices, supply chain logistics and staffing. Altogether, the challenge is producing a quality product at a fair price for customers.
We already have several large projects in the books for 2022, and our dealers are placing significant stock orders as they prepare for increased demand in sales and rental activities. We’re expecting double-digit growth in 2022, and looking further into the future than we ever have before so procurement levels match production schedules in the new normal.
Increased shipping costs and supply chain issues from both domestic and international vendors will continue throughout 2022. This will drive lead times out and add cost to the landed price of goods. Finding sufficient workforce in our manufacturing facilities will also continue to be a challenge next year and into the foreseeable future.
John Garrison is vice president of sales at Superior Industries.
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