Paul Cramer, vice president of Star Milling, talks about how his family-owned business is coping with the problem
“There’s always going to be supply challenges,” said Paul Cramer, but the current “situation is unique because everything is happening at the same time.”
Cramer knows of what he speaks about the supply chain disruptions roiling the business world. His Star Milling, Co. manufactures feed for farms, fisheries, and poultry. “When you can’t get the basic ingredients to do things, you’re short feed, and when you’re short feed those producers can’t get food to their animals, and when you can’t get food to your animals, their timelines drop off.”
In this 22-minute podcast, Cramer discusses a variety of other issues the disruptions have brought, such as inflationary pressures, inventory control, and maintaining a workforce. And he points out a made-in-California one that has exacerbated the problem—Assembly Bill 5.
“A lot of truckers can’t really run an independent operation anymore. We’re seeing this in our business where we’ve resorted to picking up our own ingredients now, whereas in the past you would rely on independent trucking companies.”
Cramer is vice president and director of operations for his family-owned Star Milling Co. in Perris, California. His Riverside County-based business manufactures pet and animal food which is distributed on the West Coast, Hawaii, and exported to many countries in the Pacific Rim and Mexico.
He is a 4th generation resident of Southern California. He attended the University of Southern California where he earned a degree in Business Administration emphasizing corporate accounting and real estate from the Marshall School of Business in 2004.
A current NFIB member and former chairman of the NFIB California leadership council, Cramer serves on the boards of many organizations, including the Riverside County Farm Bureau, the California Grain and Feed Association, and is on several advisory committees for the American Feed Industry Association
Click the arrow below to listen to this highly informative podcast. You can also find all of NFIB’s prior podcasts at this link.
