Question 3M Cast vinyl shortage?!?!

[CSOCSO]

Can't even order it from fellers anymore. They told me 3M ran out of something and can't produce cast vinyl no more. I was able to get some from grimco for now.

 

[Boudica]

Yup. Our local supplier has been out for a couple of weeks. I guess someone in Portland bought up their entire supply. It's the new toilet paper.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Our 3M supplier told us that ~90% of the base product for vinyl comes from northern Italy, which was one of the worst affected places in the world for Covid so that could be a factor.

 

[Snydo]

The deep freeze in Texas may have something to do with it.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Don't send your cold weather down here and we won't shut down our chemical plants... deal?

 

[ikarasu]

Something to do with the plasticizer used in vinyls. Our rep told us there was a 2 month wait for any new 180 wrap material and their current stock is all they had, so buy up what we need... We do a ton of wraps in may, so we ended up buying 8 bundles of 180. They still had 80-90 bundles left... So we're not hoarding!

But yes .. there's a shortage everywhere. We get custom material made from 3m for specific jobs. Usually it's a 3 week wait... We were told it's now a month wait because they re tooled all their machines to make 180. That was 2 months ago and now our eta is mid May...

It's like our covid lockdowns. Every two weeks they just bump it up another two weeks...

 

[Dasdesignguy]

Word on the street that I heard was that there is some sort of global adhesive shortage.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

So your saying my vinyl is made from alfredo?
But in all seriousness this sounds like it was misspoken. I can't imagine a behemoth like 3m utilizing a first world country for mass production of base materials, but I've been wrong plenty of times. I wonder if it's true, why it's coming from there?

Haha! Yeah, I really can't verify anything... only parroting what was mentioned to us about 6 months ago and telling us to prepare for potential shortages.

 

[signheremd]

Here is what one of my sales reps told me Tuesday:
"Just wanted to let you know that 3M is going to be having production issues for the next 8-12 weeks on their cast premium print film/laminates. So we are expecting all cast vinyl (all brands) to be harder to come by in the coming months, as all these 3M users will most likely be buying new materials. Just wanted to bring to your attention, as I was told that nothing from 3M will be normal the next few weeks!"

We just went through the "new" annual Oracal shortage. Expect we all need to plan a little to keep business moving. Adapt and overcome...

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Here is what one of my sales reps told me Tuesday:
"Just wanted to let you know that 3M is going to be having production issues for the next 8-12 weeks on their cast premium print film/laminates. So we are expecting all cast vinyl (all brands) to be harder to come by in the coming months, as all these 3M users will most likely be buying new materials. Just wanted to bring to your attention, as I was told that nothing from 3M will be normal the next few weeks!"

We just went through the "new" annual Oracal shortage. Expect we all need to plan a little to keep business moving. Adapt and overcome...

Don't believe this will affect all brands, the others appear to be better prepared.

 

[letterman7]

Just talked to my Grimco rep. She said that it just affects the 180 series. Interesting....

 

[AllStarNow]

That's what I was thinking. Must be similar material to what coro is made from...

The coro shortage is because the plant in Sulphur, La was shut down and damaged because of the hurricane, and then shut down again for the freeze.

 

[CSOCSO]

Just talked to my Grimco rep. She said that it just affects the 180 series. Interesting....

Fellers said cant get no cast vinyl. no 170 or 175 either.

 

[Shirthead]

Can't even order it from fellers anymore. They told me 3M ran out of something and can't produce cast vinyl no more. I was able to get some from grimco for now.

We found some of the IJ180CV3-10 at Gregory, Inc.

 

[FireSprint.com]

There's all kinds of problems. We heard it was a material used in the liners. Plant in Texas is behind.

Supply chains are just crazy right now.

 

[Mike Paul]

Fellers guy told me one of the 3M manufacturing plants burnt down. IDK if that's true...

My Rep told me 3M and Oracal can't get enough material / resin to manufacture vinyls do to Covid 19 restrictions & lock downs, shipping issues too.
I don't purchase Avery anymore but I'm sure they're having issues too if that's the case.

I needed to buy a roll of 751 Light Green to match a 12 in. painted stripe on a box truck a couple weeks ago, called almost every supplier in the country and nobody had it. Ended getting it directly from Oracal but a 40in. x 10yd. roll was only available so cut it down to fit the plotter.

 

[White Haus]

Crazy. Yet another reason I'm glad we just switched to Avery 1105. 2 bundles in and this stuff is amazing. (Cuts/weeds a little weird compared to 3M though)

I honestly can't believe I kept using IJ180cv3 for all these years, always hated it. Never going back!!

 

[Vinyl slayer]

It's probably all right here, which has since been impounded...

That's what I've been saying! ...not on here, but at work.

 

[Mike Paul]

That was a mess but whatever the bottlenecking was it happened before that...

 

[tulsagraphics]

Last week a Fellers rep said he spoke with his rep at 3M. Their main plant in Kansas caught fire, so 3M had to move (some?) production to their (2) smaller plants. I wasn't able to find any news articles related to "said" fire, but that's what Fellers told me. Hmmm...