Jauch’s managing director, Nicholas Ribton, encourages buyers to take advantage of UK-based buffer/pipeline inventory when available
I believe the first six-months of 2022 will be similar to what we have experienced in 2021 as the industry looks for a stable supply chain. At Jauch and in the wider industry, order books are full throughout 2022 as a minimum. If they’re not, customers should not be surprised at real ripples in their components supply.
Additional factory capacity takes time to become volume production, so lead times of over 52-weeks are still a real scenario for 2022. As an example, we have seen many traditional ‘blue chip’ battery cell suppliers favouring global EV OEMs and >52-weeks has become the norm. Thus, we are using our battery pack design team to ensure manufacturing stability by securing robust, lower risk, supply chains for the entire pack—a similar trend is expected well into 2022.
In the UK, the added challenges of fewer HGV drivers, coastal port delays, hold-ups in offloading and the lingering Covid-19 threat to the logistic and supply chain remain real risks. If your vendors can hold UK-based buffer/pipeline inventory of key components (which Jauch does for many customers) I would certainly take advantage of their service. On a more positive note, I think we should expect prices to level in Q3 and Q4 2022 as output catches up with demand.
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