Astlett Rubber Inc.: Shortening the Supply Chain

Shortening the Supply Chain

Shrinking Distance and Time

Tree Tapping Natural Rubber is mostly produced by small farmers in South East Asia. This vital raw material must travel half way around the world, some 20,000 km, before reaching factories in North America.

As a result, the process of purchasing and receiving rubber takes time. After a contract is struck, it easily takes 60 days to arrange shipment, transport to the docks, wait for the vessel, and sail overseas before final delivery. This requires consumers to purchase rubber with a lead time of about 90 days for the next delivery.

But you can't always plan all your material requirements 90 days in advance! Thus Astlett Rubber always carries unsold, healthy natural and synthetic rubber stocks both afloat (in transit) and in our warehouses. This aids our customers in several ways.

To accommodate your changing medium and short-term requirements. If your orders step up or new (spot) business comes in, we will have raw material available to support your production. This also reduces the average inventory you need to carry.
If there are quality or condition problems discovered by Astlett or yourself, we have substitute material available so that your production is not disrupted.
If another party lets you down, we can come to the rescue. We don't risk our customers' business.
You like, and we like, just-in-time delivery.

We know that, in the long run, our healthy, pooled-stock approach can save you significant money in carrying charges and lost production. We go even further, by arranging Vendor Managed Inventory programs for some of our customers. This transfers even more risk and cost to Astlett. But then we are experts at risk and know how to manage costs!

Astlett is your reliable partner for all your natural rubber and synthetic rubber needs.