NT-AL001

It's now a well-known problem: the long and ever increasing lead times for industrial electronics. Every brand is in the same boat. Some modules even have a lead time of 22 weeks. A critical problem during downtime. How do you solve it? We'll explain in this blog.

Allen Bradley, Danfoss, Lenze, Schneider, Siemens: All brands of industrial electronics suffer from long lead times. Some series can be found in abundance; others are very difficult to get right now. This makes anticipating shortages and long lead times extremely difficult, but it's more important than ever.

An example: 

Your main machine's drive has failed. You don't have a replacement part in the warehouse. Despite our extensive stock, we and other suppliers don't have this specific drive with the correct version number in stock either. This means that the drive has to be ordered from the supplier, but the lead time is six weeks. Your production line can't continue during those six weeks. Some operations can be done manually, but most can't. 

Six weeks of production downtime… Of course you want to avoid that!

Well stocked

It can take days, sometimes weeks before the cause of a malfunction is found, replacement electronics are on site, and the installation is operational again. 

Our advice is to keep the essential parts of your production line in stock and to ensure that they are tested annually - when not in use. Pay close attention to the correct serial and version numbers. Our field service engineers visit companies every week without stock and companies that have one or two modules in stock but not the right version. 

If a machine has to comply with certain guidelines or certifications, a different version of a module can cause (dangerous) problems. 

Understanding essential electronics

In order to know which modules are essential for your production line, you need insight into the control cabinets. Which modules, series and version numbers do you have? Which electronics are essential and what is their availability? Our field service engineers make a list for you during an inventory and risk analysis. 

You can be proactive based on this knowledge and either stock modules yourself or have us keep them in stock for you. As soon as a part becomes defective, you can replace it immediately and production can continue. If the product isn't available, switching to another product is inevitable. Here too, the field service engineers can carry out configurations, both in advance, on site or remotely.

This way, you're a step ahead of the long lead times and you avoid unnecessarily long downtime. Problem solved!

Read more about inventories & evaluation