Transportation issues, rising demands and other factors have led to higher costs or delays . Suppliers and Gardner Intelligence share their perspectives.
1. Overall business activity of glass fiber manufacturers from 2015 to early 2021, based on data from Gardner Intelligence.
As the coronavirus pandemic enters its second year, and as the global economy slowly re-opens, the worldwide glass fiber supply chain is facing shortage of some products, caused by shipping delays and a fast-evolving demand environment. As a result, some glass fiber formats are in short supply, affecting the fabrication of composite parts and structures for the marine, recreational vehicles and some consumer markets.
As noted in CompositesWorld’s monthly Composites Fabricating Index reports by Gardner Intelligence Chief Economist Michael Guckes, even as production and new orders recover, supply chain challenges continue to persist across the entire composites (and manufacturing in general) market into the new year.
To learn more about reported shortages in the glass fiber supply chain in particular, CW editors checked in with Guckes and spoke to several sources along the glass fiber supply chain, including representatives of several glass fiber suppliers.
Many distributors and fabricators, especially in North America, have reported delays in receiving fiberglass products from suppliers, particularly for multi-end rovings (gun rovings, SMC rovings), chopped strand mat and woven rovings. Further, the product that they are receiving is likely at an increased cost.
According to Stefan Mohr, business director of global fibers for Johns Manville (Denver, Colo., U.S.), this is because a shortage is being experienced throughout the glass fiber supply chain. “All businesses are restarting globally, and we sense that the growth in Asia, especially for automotive and infrastructure projects, is exceptionally strong,” he says.
“At the moment, very few manufacturers in any industry are getting everything they want from suppliers,” notes Gerry Marino, general manager of sales and marketing at Electric Glass Fiber America (part of NEG Group, Shelby, N.C., U.S.).
Reasons for the shortage reportedly include rising demand in many markets and a supply chain that can’t keep up due to issues related to the pandemic, transportation delays and rising costs, and decreased Chinese exports.
Post time: May-19-2021