Equipment Shortages Industry-wide

The following is a letter from John Owens, President and CEO of Owens Companies.

We all experienced arguably the most unusual and disruptive year of our existence in 2020. As the nation tries to return to some sense of “normalcy”, we are experiencing new challenges in labor shortages, and even more critically shortages and significant lead times for parts, supplies and equipment. As one key supplier to Owens said today, “the supply chain is a mess! I am worried about the fall and winter. I would have your customers start stocking up on fans, blowers, pump motors, etc…What used to be 2-3 week lead times is now 10-12.” This could have major implications for maintenance and replacement of your heating and cooling systems. We’ve also seen this written about in trade publications, such as ACHR’s “The News”.

Our service manager, Rich Sahli says, “Preventive Maintenance now while your air conditioning and heating system is still running could potentially save you from expensive temporary fixes, and even the inability to obtain replacement parts or entire system components. It is always best to address an aging system with preventive maintenance and replacement before total failure.”

For our commercial customers, if you have delayed major repairs or equipment replacements, we urge you to proceed so we can get the parts and equipment you need.

For our residential customers, we have added to our inventory of air-conditioning systems and are already pre-purchasing furnaces for the heating season. But with the uncertainty of this global parts shortage, there is no guarantee we will have all that we need for our expanding customer base.

If you have delayed your preventive maintenance, please call us to get on the schedule. If your system is older or has had past operational issues, call us for a free estimate of replacement costs and even consider if you want to get a system ordered sooner than later.

We don’t say this to scare or take advantage of anyone. We are genuinely concerned as we have never seen a phenomenon like this in our 64 year history.

As always, Owens Companies is here to help 24/7 at 952.854.3800. You can also reach out via our website.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

John Owens