BRADENTON, FL—The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) released the September results for its monthly survey on capacity and lead times for soft cover and hard cover books. As demand has skyrocketed and supply chain woes continue to hamper all segments of manufacturing, BMI put together the survey to get a better idea of what manufacturers were facing and what publishers should expect.

This month showed lead times and capacities staying very flat from August to September. According to responses regarding hard cover books, the average manufacturer was running at 91% of their capacity, up from 90%. The average lead time for completed hard cover books went down 1 day to 84 days. For soft cover books, capacity usage went down slightly to 91% and the average lead time dropped one day as well to 61 days, based on 19 responses.