COVID-19 has impacted all of us and our families. Kitesurfing Magazine publisher John Bryja caught up with some of the leading CEOs to find out more about the impact of COVID on the kitesurfing industry.
RICHARD MYERSCOUGH: CEO OCEAN RODEO
The single biggest challenge has been related to the supply chain. This includes raw materials, shipping delays, and then production capacity. During the first year many factories closed completely or ran at a reduced capacity.
That’s tough if you your moulds are in a facility that has closed its doors for months. Some unexpected non-COVID surprise events included the Texas ice storm and the Suez shipping blockage. A few key chemical ingredients critical in manufacture of Dacrons, ripstops, cloths for boards etc rely on a key chemical company in Texas, which was taken out in the ice storm. This has kicked off a back log in some raw materials. The canal blockage seems to have been like the COVID virus for freight; the back log and container mess is still ongoing. Ocean Rodeo is located on Vancouver Island (Canada) and we have been fortunate in terms of COVID impact. The government managed it well, and islanders behaved well. We are essentially back to “normal” here with the entire team back at the office.
Raw materials impacts will continue into 2022. We work closely with our suppliers to forward plan and do our best to reduce the impact of these issues, however the occasional curve ball still comes at you no matter how well you plan. We are also working closely with Aluula who managed not to miss a beat thus far. They are delivering on time from their facility in Canada, so it’s up to us to make sure all other materials follow their lead. Timely sales forecasting, working closely with our global dealer network and taking into account these new delays has driven us to more advanced planning for raw materials, product production and freight planning. Despite all that has happed in the last two years Ocean Rodeo has enjoyed healthy growth and thanks to this we have been very fortunate to expand our team who focus on theseoperations. As a side note, to all our loyal customers who have been so patient during these strange times: thank you!
