“As individuals, as companies, as a society, much of our perceived wealth is measured by how far we can stretch a dollar. We’re willing to shop local as an act of war, but that gets quickly forgotten when the conflict is over.”

How quickly we forget.

Can it really be just five years ago that the Covid pandemic shut down the world, exposing our vulnerability to international supply chains? Remember the panicked shopping and inflated pricing on everything from Lysol wipes and toilet paper to gasoline and computer chips?

In a 2020 interview, Terry Malley, president and CEO of specialty vehicle manufacturer Malley Industries Inc., in Dieppe, N.B., told me their production could be held up for months because of something he described as “golden nails”—five-dollar parts that could hold up the shipment of $100,000 vehicles. “Just in time delivery, in Atlantic Canada, usually means late,” he said.

But he, like many business owners, found creative workarounds. He reconfigured production to create new revenue streams from products like directional signage and protective shields for retail stores. And he recognized a previously unrecognized marketing advantage of their thermoform ambulance interiors, one which was actually a pandemic imperative: they were easy to clean.

They also utilized the opportunity to undertake a comprehensive supplier review. “The best suppliers aren’t necessarily the cheapest, but the ones who are there when you need them,” he said.

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