Northwest Aerospace News — Issue No. 40 August | September 2024 | Page 23

Sales and incoming work
Post-pandemic , suppliers ’ sales have slowed , making forecasting and hiring more challenging .
" I believe the industry is still recovering from the ‘ COVID hangover ,’ which spurred uncertainty in the market ."
One leader said , “ The industry is still in a bit of a slump following COVID . We do not see the kind of R & D or rapid manufacturing requests we did before COVID-19 .
“ The big changes , of course , came after COVID . A 60 percent reduction in sales in aerospace was almost immediate . Sales are slowly returning , but the availability of raw materials has been a big challenge , and material costs have skyrocketed . Labor rates have also skyrocketed , transitioning into much more work going overseas to low-cost countries .”
Another expert echoed those remarks and added , “ I believe the industry is still recovering from the ‘ COVID hangover ,’ which spurred uncertainty in the market . High interest rates are cooling the economy slowly , and the change to the R & D tax credit at the federal level has stifled innovation .”
Our third expert shared that there are “ significantly more supply chain disruptions , rising costs , and more volatility of demand , e . g ., demand was down during COVID-19 , up significantly after the COVID " hockey stick ,' and down due to OEM problems .”
They added that these changes have caused “ a slowdown in demand due to excessive inventories at the OEMs and Tier 1s , caused partly by an overreaction to the COVID-19 hockey stick and supply chain disruptions , as well as OEM issues affecting build rates .”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2024 ISSUE NO . 40 23