Planning your 2022 pump purchases

A successful start to the 2022 production season may very well depend on the steps taken – or not taken – right now. Photo: P&Q Staff

A new year is nearly upon us, and now is the time for aggregate producers to communicate their equipment needs for the 2022 production season to manufacturers and dealers.

Producers should share any details about pump needs sooner than later, as supply issues should persist early into 2022.

“Lead times are dragging out farther and farther,” says Matt Olivieri, product manager of construction, mining and rental products at Gorman-Rupp Pumps. “Some of these companies do not foresee or plan for the future enough to see a supply chain shortage.”

Olivieri says Gorman-Rupp aims to keep a vast inventory of pumps and parts readily available. The struggle, he says, is that manufacturers are experiencing delays in castings and engines.

“It’s really the ancillary parts,” says Olivieri, referring specifically to engine-related delays. “The cores themselves are usually readily available, but it’s the parts and pieces that go along with the block.

“Engines in general are just hard to come by right now as far as having them readily available,” he adds.

Gorman-Rupp aims to make a substantial amount of engine-driven stock available by the end of the first quarter, Olivieri says, with the understanding that customers will need that equipment in the spring.

“The biggest thing is to let manufacturing know what their next year is going to look like,” he says. “Whether it’s new products or aftermarket products, manufacturers need to make sure they are supplying what the customers need and that customers are telling us what they need. It’s a symbiotic relationship that has to be there.”

Olivieri anticipates an uptick in use of aftermarket products in 2022 due to availability issues.

“Customers obviously aren’t going to know what’s going to break before it breaks,” he says. “The best thing they can do is forecast the new pumps they need. Forecast that with their manufacturer along with having replacement parts on the shelf, making sure the manufacturer has those same parts on hand, as well.”