How Going with American Made Furniture & Domestic FF&E Cuts Down on Shipping Times
Unless you've been totally out of the loop for the past couple years, then you're already aware that the global supply chain isn't working quite like it used to.
Clothes imported from China can now take several months to arrive at your doorstep. The manufacturing industry has also seen a major slowdown in getting things like forklift forks and other attachments in from Europe and Asia in a timely fashion. Even those who have an Amazon Prime membership are now seeing their standard two-day shipping times extended due to delays.
So, what exactly is going on with the supply chains?
According to an article published by McKinsey & Company, the three critical challenges facing global supply chains include labor shortages, lack of equipment availability, and the ripple effect of global bottlenecks, which mainly refers to the shipping ports being backed up.
Essentially, it is a perfect storm of everything going wrong, and the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) space isn’t immune to it, either.
Supply Chains and the Furniture Industry
The last couple years were an interesting time in the furniture industry. Back-ups at the ports, shipping container shortages, and other supply chain issues forced several furniture retailers to try to find clever solutions to where there seemingly were none.
In fact, according to a recent Retail Dive article, some of them tried to avoid ground shipping altogether by taking to the skies. These big furniture brands were shipping their couches, bedroom sets, and other huge pieces of furniture by large cargo plane.
Of course, there's a big difference between using air transport for clothing, toys, and other light items compared to bulky pieces of furniture. Companies quickly learned that the expense of shipping furniture by air wasn't financially feasible. Worse yet, furniture was getting more expensive because materials like oil and lumber were seeing major price hikes.
Essentially, any FF&E trying to get in from outside the country was going to see some type of slowdown at the ports or some other link in the supply chain. So, what do you do as a customer when everything being imported to the U.S. takes exceptionally longer than it used to?
As someone that works in commercial interior design or the restaurant business, how do you find custom furniture near you that won’t take months to ship?
Buy American, of course!
American Made Furniture – Built in the Midwest and Shipped Everywhere Domestically
Here's the cool thing about working with Black Hound Design: we specialize in making handcrafted, bespoke American made furniture that leaves a lasting impression with clients and customers. Whether you need custom woodworking or metal fabrication – we can make your idea come to life.
Once we finalize the design and build out your piece of custom furniture to spec, it's not going to need to travel thousands of miles by ocean freighter only to arrive at a parking lot of other freighters waiting for open port.
Going with American made furniture means you’ll get domestic shipping. Your piece will get loaded directly onto a truck in Colorado (our home base) where it is then speedily shipped along on the open highways and interstates to your location.
Although it’s possible for your shipment to hit one or two traffic delays along the way, that is nothing compared to what international shippers are dealing with. By going with custom furniture near you, the days of waiting months for a couch and some tables to arrive are a thing of the past.
Creating Custom American Made Furniture with Black Hound Design
Here’s the thing you need to know about us: every piece we make is a one-of-a-kind piece. We’re in the business of only making originals, so you should expect a good amount of time spent on the front end designing and fabricating. It also won’t be cheap. Custom American made furniture comes at a premium for a reason – because it’s worth it.
When you work with Black Hound Design, you’re getting 50 years of combined experience from some of the very best designers, builders, project managers, and fabricators in the custom furniture space. We can create a statement piece for your living room that will have your guests talking. We can also handle the entirety of your commercial interior design for your hotel or large event space.
Whether you need millwork, metalwork, or custom FF&E, there’s no project that’s beyond the realm of possibility. If you’ve been searching for custom furniture near you that will elevate the aesthetic of the space while keeping function commensurate with fashion, contact the team at Black Hound Design today.
Use the contact form on our website to kick off the conversation. You can also call us directly at (303) 424-3391 and a real live human being will pick up the phone. We love talking shop and discussing ideas.