Staying One Step Ahead of Supply Chain Disruption in Automation

Medical Device Industry’s Most Pressing Challenges and How To Solve Them (A four-part series from Mikron COO, Rolf Rihs) Part 1: Supply Chain

The COVID-19 pandemic and war in Europe have significantly disrupted global supply chains.?When it comes to building the assembly systems for medical devices, a widespread shortage in electronic components due to missing electronic chips has threatened productivity and can negatively impact critical timelines. ?Without servo driver and their cables, for example, assembly systems cannot be built, and production commitments cannot be kept.

Leading automation solution provider Mikron has developed strategies to ensure they can source required parts. Mikron COO Rolf Rihs explains: “We have to plan and forecast our material purchases from the market.??Previously, we planned maybe half a year ahead, but we have now extended that substantially. ?Early anticipation and increasing our stocks of standard components have helped us to avoid major difficulties.”?As Mikron builds automation solutions from standard platforms and station designs, the standardization provides a stabilizing factor during supply chain challenges.

One of the other impacts from a disrupted supply chains has been inflationary pressures, with some components costing up to ten times more than before. For Mikron, it has taken great efforts and flexibility from across the workforce, from general managers to supply chain staff, to secure the right suppliers and leverage our larger global buy and supply chain.

Mikron has?employed a diverse fabrication network – using local nimble partners, foreign partners with more attractive costs as well as in-house manufacturing for critical and more time-sensitive needs.?Being able to pivot quickly inside this vast network was critical to maintaining fabrication timelines during the various slow-downs and shut-downs of the Pandemic. ?“We relied more on our in-house manufacturing capacity for metal parts, and that has helped us very much,” Rihs adds.

The good news is that global electronic chip production is beginning to recover, and shipping capacity is returning to normal. “I am an optimist,” says Rihs. “I believe that by mid next year, the situation will not be perfect, but it will be better.”

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Read the complete 4-part article here:

Four of the medical device industry’s most pressing challenges and how to solve them - Medical Device Network (medicaldevice-network.com)

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