While tight supplies of semiconductors are set to ease later this year, the next bottleneck is likely to come from growing demand for analog chips, which are increasingly being used in automobiles as they become electrified and autonomous.

U.S. supply chains have a chance to normalize after retailers replenish inventories next quarter, even if peak summer demand arrives sooner than usual, according to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.

There’s nothing in the lean and just-in-time supply chain methodologies that recommend keeping a bare minimum of parts on hand. In fact, they preach the opposite.

Protestors blocking traffic between the U.S. and Canada to oppose vaccine rules have further stretched an auto supply chain already worn thin by pandemic-related labor shortages and a scarcity of chips.

Surging prices of the raw materials needed for your refrigerators, automobiles, window frames and plumbing show no signs of abating as America’s supply chain crisis spills into another year.