Aquiline Drones, a manufacturer in downtown Hartford, has laid off nearly half its workforce in the city, blaming the manufacturing industry’s difficulty in getting materials and travel restrictions in the pandemic.
Barry Alexander, chief executive of the drone maker, said 33 were laid off Thursday — 13 in manufacturing and 20 in customer service and sales, with 42 full-time employees remaining in the company’s workforce.
“Our country is currently in a manufacturing crisis,” Alexander said, in an email. “As I write, there is a record-breaking number of delayed cargo ships not able to bring supplies and goods into their respective ports, which has affected to American manufacturing supply chain across the board, Aquiline Drones included.”
The Connecticut Business & Industry Association, the state’s largest business lobbying group, said the disruption in the supply and delivery of parts and materials is particularly acute in shipping from outside of the United States, particularly China, elsewhere in Asia and Europe.
Dozens of cargo ships hauling shipping containers are now waiting off the coast of California, for example, because of a shortage of trucks and drivers to transport parts and materials from ports. The shortage, some experts say, is caused, at least partly, by the rise in e-commerce during the pandemic and the demand for drivers to deliver orders.
“That’s a huge issue right now, and then we’re seeing a huge increase in the cost of materials, so that’s a problem as well,”
Ashley Zane, a CBIA lobbyist who follows the state’s manufacturing sector.
Jamison Scott, executive director of Manufacture CT, which represents manufacturers across Connecticut, said prices have gone up “exponentially” for raw materials. And the lead time for delivery of parts and materials, which might have been four to six weeks before the pandemic is now closer to 12, he said.
Scott, also executive vice president of Air Handling Systems in Woodbridge, said he is paying double what he did at the beginning of the year for the steel that is made into the industrial duct systems produced by the family-owned business.
“You’re buying items without even knowing what you are going to pay for them just to ensure that you will have the materials, which is unheard of,” Scott said. “We’re all — as manufacturers — really struggling.”
Scott said the pressure on the supply of parts and materials will certainly ease, but he couldn’t predict when that might happen.
“It is temporary but how temporary, we just don’t know,” Scott said.
CBIA’s Zane said she believes will the supply chain disruptions will certainly ease with the pandemic, but she cautions that the health crisis was a global. So other countries, Zane said, will need to move past the pandemic and the time frames may be different.
In Hartford, Alexander said Aquiline Drones also was hurt by travel restrictions that hampered the company from meeting with potential new clients, Alexander said.
Alexander said the drone manufacturer hopes to hire back all those who lost their jobs once supply chain and other economic issues are resolved.
Aquiline Drones drew some high-profile attention earlier this year when Gov. Ned Lamont visited the drone maker’s downtown Hartford office in what has traditionally been an office building on Main Street.
Lamont said the company could be a model for smaller companies taking over office space once leased by large tenants before the pandemic. Thee pandemic is changing workplace needs of employers who are already shifting some workers to their homes permanently.
Source: Yahoo! Finance