Business View Magazine | June 2022

63 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 “We’ve seen the labor market change so much in the last two years,” she explains. “Two years ago, we would place job openings on Indeed and get 50 to 60 applicants overnight. Last summer, we posted two job openings, and we had one applicant over two weeks. Now, we’re in a position of hiring again, and we are inching back to the 2018 - 2019 numbers, which is a great sign. We have more skilled people applying, plus the sheer number of applicants is increasing, showing the market is getting back on track.” The move to a larger facility also brought some fortuitous benefits. It afforded the company ample space to allow everyone on the shop floor to work while abiding by social distancing protocols. “Our new facility was designed to allow for lots of space, lighting, and air in the shop,” says Kweton. “So, while the protocols required six feet, most of our workers are in some cases as much as 24 feet apart, which allowed us to keep working throughout the pandemic.” Like most companies in the building and construction industry, SMS faced severe materials shortages and delays at the height of the pandemic, something Kweton and McCorkindale agree compelled the company to adjust. “We were fortunate, timing-wise, that we moved right when the pandemic was starting because we now had all this extra square footage that we didn’t have at our old location,” McCorkindale explains. “As lead times from some of our critical vendors went from one week to between four and eight months, we could now bring in more inventory, helping offset these delays, bulk up inventory on the floor, and continue servicing our customers.” Other areas of adjustment have been in the costing matrix, which, as Kweton points out, is influenced by a surge in upstream pricing. “On the incoming side, we’ve seen sea containers go from three to four thousand dollars freight cost from Europe to our door, to current prices of SHEET METAL SUPPLY LTD .