DE EN Contact | About us | Terms of Business | Imprint | Privacy & Cookies | Help | Newsletter Registration | Login
 
HalbleiterOptoelektronikBauteileSunonMEAN WELLPowerSuppliesKomponentenProductNewsHerstellerBestellhinweiseKundenportalShop
General News
Product News
Case Studies
Trade Exhibitions and Events
News Archive
Newsletter Archive

06.03.2020 • Coronavirus and its effects on the supply situation

The continuing spread of the coronavirus affects the supply chain at various points. Below, we would like to give you a brief overview of the situation as it currently stands.


Productions sites in affected countries
In China, the situation eased appreciably at the end of February and more and more factories are returning to normal production. Most of them are already operating at above 50% production capacity and aim to be back at full capacity by the end of March. However, with around 100 million migrant workers returning to their jobs, there is also the risk of a renewed rise in infection rates.
By contrast, in Europe, new bottlenecks are currently emerging. Production facilities in Italy are particularly affected.

Logistics interruptions
In addition to the production sites, the logistics network has been seriously affected, with delays occurring in the transport of containers and other shipments. At present, there is also a shortage of personnel at cargo handling and loading points. At the end of the chain, there are simply too few goods being loaded onto the ships. The lack of personnel and storage capacity in the seaports, in turn, is causing an increase in blank sailings (departures cancelled by shipowners). The goods then remain in port and are then "rolled over” onto one of the next ships. This situation should ease significantly by the end of March. Air freight may present a solution, but about 50% of air freight is handled as cargo in the holds of scheduled flights. As a result of the current cancellation of scheduled flights to and from China, freight capacities are also being lost, which places further burdens on the delivery situation.

At Schukat
Early on, before Chinese New Year and since the beginning of January in particular, we at Schukat have increased the scope of our scheduling and inventories considerably. With a few exceptions, we are therefore currently still able to offer good availability.
Many of our customers plan their requirements with us for the medium to long term. If supply bottlenecks appear for larger forward orders or blanket orders, we contact our customers immediately and arrange suitable measures with them. At present, generally speaking, delivery times are increasing slightly. For our focus lines Sunon and MEAN WELL, we currently expect an additional lead time of 8 and 10 weeks respectively for delivery of new orders.

If you have larger needs that you can already forecast, please contact your customer adviser now. We assume that delays will continue until the third quarter of 2020.

Anticipated further development of Covid-19
Experts believe that the current wave of infections will ease around May, but also that the coronavirus will not disappear and will reappear next winter.
The business world will therefore have to quickly address how travel, trade fairs and large events can function in the near future. Doing completely without personal contact will be very difficult. Appropriate measures and procedures will also have to be developed to give the supply chain a degree of basic durability globally.




© Schukat electronic 2024