Supply chain mitigation strategies published by Fiber Broadband Association

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) announced it published the “Strategies to Mitigate Bottlenecks in the Current Fiber Broadband Supply Chain” white paper. Vital statistics are presented regarding the ongoing supply chain changes in the fiber broadband industry and examples of how to protect fiber-related projects from the negative effects of supply chain stressors. The white paper will help companies carefully plan to overcome the current supply chain challenges and build more robust systems and processes to buffer them from future challenges and keep fiber projects on target.

“The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically underlined the necessity of fiber broadband to support remote education, telehealth services, and work from home. The pandemic also had a large negative impact on the global supply chain by raising costs and restricting access to all components of fiber broadband network builds,” said Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. “The FBA Supply Chain Working Group developed an industry white paper which offers multiple strategies for service providers in the fiber broadband ecosystem, including how to pursue stronger partnerships, long-range planning, high-level design optimization, changing how companies recruit and train their labor force, and smarter technology options to plan and maintain stocking levels.”

With over $100 billion in federal and state funding committed to broadband projects over the next five years, properly understanding and managing supply chain issues is vital. The 24-page white paper was created by the Fiber Broadband Association’s Supply Chain Working Group to examine how supply chain delays are crippling the fiber broadband ecosystem and provides various mitigation strategies to successfully and efficiently deploy new fiber networks. This working group included supply chain experts from fiber manufacturers, electronics manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and deployment specialists.

“The Fiber Broadband Association represents the full fiber industry ecosystem, and we pooled the collective experience and insights of our stakeholders to develop this very important whitepaper for the industry,” said Scott Jackson, National Broadband Market Manager at Graybar, Fiber Broadband Association Board Member and Chair of the Supply Chain Working Group. “The intent of this white paper is to provide critical information to help mitigate supply chain challenges and accelerate fiber broadband moving forward.”

CT Bureau