GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County leaders made a move to get ahead of supply chain woes. This comes after EMS wanted to make upgrades in 2023 but ran into supply delays.
Commissioners approved nearly $600,000 to refurbish several ambulance vehicles.
To understand how - it's important to know an ambulance is broken into two parts.
The chassis is the base, where the driver sits. The ambulance box is where patient care takes place.
Commissioners agreed to refurbish ambulance boxes on five new chassis.
"We are kind of working with both pieces and trying to mix and match based on supply chain and our current needs," Guilford County EMS spokesperson Scott Muthersbaugh said.
He said EMS is doing its best to maneuver inflation and its effect on supply and demand. To do that, EMS is fixing up what it already has.
"There's been supply chain issues over the past few years and we've all experienced that," Muthersbaugh recalled. "We're seeing the supply chain for the chassis loosen up. Now we're seeing it more with the box manufacturers."
He said some costs of new ambulance parts went up nearly 60%.
"That's why considering these remounts kind of makes more of a difference. Because those are things that we already own, and we are continuing to get more life out of them," Muthersbaugh said.
Local supply chain expert Amit Malhan said refurbishing instead of buying new is a smart move since the ambulance market is in high demand.
"It's not more of slowing down it's more of an increase. Before the pandemic, there were about 6,000 orders. In 2021, it jumped to 8,500 and the ambulance market is supposed to grow at 10% compounded annual growth rate in 2030," Malhan said.
Malhan is a Supply Chain Associate Professor at North Carolina A&T. He said production capacity is limited and a microchip shortage is just one of many factors that led to delays.
"The time was 90 to 120 days in order to deliver and now it has gone to 24 months to three years. That shows that there is an imbalance or a difficulty in updating chassis and other components," Malhan recalled.
Guilford County EMS said it will have nine updated vehicles. Five will have refurbished boxes and four are set to get new boxes in about a year.