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Christmas Newsletter 2021-2022

XmasTree  

We would like to thank all our customers most sincerely for their continued loyalty, encouragement and support during this most difficult period.

From all of us at Tecbridge Circuits we wish you all as pleasant and restful Christmas break as circumstances allow.

We join with friends and customers in hoping for relief from the dark days of recent years and brighter days ahead in the new year

   
         

Christmas and New Year Opening

Our supply factories will operate normally through Christmas week without a break but will close briefly at new year between 31st December and 2nd January. Courier and customs services from our factories in China will be disrupted owing to Christmas and New Year holidays in Western Europe.

It is a great idea to order PCB's just before Christmas so they are being manufactured whilst you enjoy the Christmas festivities. It is also a good idea to avoid the rush just before the start of the Chinese New Year holiday.

We will ship orders for next day delivery up to and including Tuesday 21st December for next day delivery Wednesday 22nd December unless you tell us not to do so. We will re-commence shipping on Tuesday 4th January for next day delivery on Wednesday 5th January.

Our Sales and Technical Support functions will operate a partial service on all non-public holiday days throughout the Christmas and New Year period by email only.

Chinese New Year Holidays 2022

Much of the World's PCB manufacture is carried out in China and delivery timescales are likely to become extended for both European and Offshore factories alike both before and after the CNY.

According to the Chinese zodiac, this is the year of the Tiger. Tiger is one of the most auspicious Chinese symbols and is honoured in China as the ultimate protector of home and health. Tiger energy is believed to guard against the the three main things that can bring devastation to any home: fire, thieves, and ghosts.

Our hard-working colleagues at our offshore facilities will be taking a well earned break.

Factories have not yet formally published their intended closure dates and the following is based on previous years practices.

Chinese New Year TimelineChinese New Year Timeline (last rev 7 December '22)

The public holiday is between Monday 31st January and Monday 7th February February inclusive, however factories will close between 26th January and 11th February inclusive. Orders which have not been shipped from the factory before 24th January are likely to be delayed by about 21 calendar days. Please allow extra time in the period running up to the Chinese New Year and also to allow extra time when the factories re-open. Both periods are likely to be exceptionally busy and it is not unknown for delays in cold-starting the factories after the shut down.

Exact dates of factory closure are unlikely to be announced until close to the official holiday. The entire PCB industry is badly stressed at this time of year due to the major reduction in global manufacturing capacity.

Key Dates

Factory Last safe order date for 1-2 layer boards for delivery before Chinese New year
All Monday 10th January (11 working days service)
All Thursday 13th January (8 working days service)

Please allow longer times for multilayer PCB's and large orders > 1 sq meter.

At Tecbridge Circuits some of our staff will be taking vacation coincident with our factories shutdown resulting in a skeleton service between 24th January and 05th February. We will continue to monitor emails and respond to urgent requests.

Shipments in transit but not held in areas affected by the Chinese New Year holiday will be delivered as normal.

Disruption to International Courier Services

Shipments arriving in UK from China via the major courier services (Fedex, UPS, TNT, DHL) continue to be unpredictable in meeting delivery time targets. In the early part of 2021 we experienced delays of several days where consignments did not move from their originating depot for several days. Fortunately the situation has improved somewhat and delays when they occur are adding 1-4 days to transit times. We constantly monitor delivery performance of carriers and try to use the best carrier depending on most recent performance and the urgency of the consignment..

 

Henry Gibson

Director
Tecbridge Ltd

December 2021