FEDA NEWS & VIEWS
THE CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
Maintaining Our Hard-Earned Good Habits
With the industry trending upward, now is the time to reinforce the successes of the challenging last few years to keep moving forward.
The COVID-19 shutdowns and the supply chain issues that followed were a challenge unlike anything our industry had ever seen before. But they also gave us all a chance to step back and reevaluate ourselves. Through this process,
we found new opportunities to become more efficient and profitable. That education came with a cost, so we can’t afford to lose those lessons just because the situation has stabilized and sales are up. As leaders, it helps to keep evaluating and build further on the good habits we’ve developed. Take the supply chain situation. We learned a lot about communicating with manufacturers, having close coordination with project partners and keeping the customer informed when there is so much uncertainty. Keeping those things that worked will only benefit our businesses, but we can also recognize that the supply bottlenecks have mostly disappeared. The months-long delays and extreme lead times of the past few years are over, so it’s a good time to review our supply chain strategies so we don’t end up stocking our warehouses with equipment for projects that won’t start until next summer.
Carrying our good habits and practices forward will help us make the most of what is set up to be a great 2024. The market is busy, many consultants have full boats and dealers are seeing increased quoting activity. Even costs are coming down as record inflation levels cool off. For
all the talking heads and economic indexes warning of a slowdown, operators are still buying equipment — they are just being smart about how and what they buy. We can make it easier for them to follow through on those purchasing plans by being responsive and keeping them away from the pain points that can emerge with equipment acquisition.
Like dealers, FEDA is also building on its own lessons
“Carrying our good habits and practices forward will help us make the most of what is set up to be a great 2024.”
and reinforcing good habits. In addition to expanding needed industry-specific educational programs and activities and growing the involvement of dealers and manufacturers in making the FEDA Data Portal and other initiatives so successful, the FEDA Annual Conference will continue to evolve as the best place for our industry’s leaders and executive teams to come together. While last year’s event was a challenge from a timing standpoint because it had to be scheduled so close to Host Milano, this year’s conference dates, Sept. 17-20, should work well for everyone. Attendees will enjoy a great lineup that features lively and engaging business, economic and industry speakers and even more time for networking, including some new special opportunities.
Everything is coming together in a way that should make for a great 2024 for the industry and FEDA. Let’s make sure we maintain the good practices and habits that cost us so much to learn.
Dave Stafford is the president and CEO of Stafford- Smith and chairman of FEDA’s Board of Directors.
4 FEDA News & Views
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
