Dear Friends,
It is time to summarize a year that once again have been full of surprises. The economic year was fantastic with strong comeback sales and a demand that has been hard to meet. The negative part is that we now see that Covid once again are surging, leading to lock down and restrictions. I personally believed it was over and that the era of restrictions was ended. At least we learned that the future is impossible to predict. Let us hope and believe that 2022 is the year that the pandemic end.
2021 started in an optimistic spirit with vaccine programs being rolled out through Europe and USA with an impressive speed. After the first lockdown time many people started to spend money and we saw a strong surge and demand for products.
When the demand for products in Europe and USA quickly bounced back was Asia and the rest of world still facing Covid-19 lockdown. The imbalance of demands, production capacity, supply and a stranded ship in the Suez Chanel quickly lead to major delays in shipping. Shorty after the delays started the prices to increase in a manner that we have not seen in decades. Price increases was the new buzz word and many companies increased prices 3-4 times in less than a year. The companies that dared to have high stock levels ruled the waves this year. The just in time business model has been pushed back and the focus to keep low capital employed has been none existence.
As always it is important to reflect what we have learned during a year and how this could help us moving forward. Last year I wrote about the EDiS companies have different business models. It is key to understand why some of us are more successful than others, to continue to grow profitable. After two years of none travel, I now miss the personal meetings, the football talk, meeting new and old friends.
Let us hope that we could restart the EDiS meetings 2022. Wish you all a healthy 2022.
Staffan Johansson, President of EDiS and CEO of Beijer Tech
