Distributors will be keen to see aeroplanes arriving with parts from their suppliers, some of which may already be in short supply.
"Most of the deliveries from our distribution logistics centres in the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy to our customers are by ground transport," commented Matthias Hutter, vice president, product asset management for Arrow EMEA. "The closure of the airports does cut off global deliveries to our logistics centres from our suppliers."
Simon Rush, divisional sales and marketing information manager, Acal Technology agrees. "We have made consistent investments in our logistics and processing systems, which has enabled us to manage the situation" said Rush. "There could be product shortages as a result of the airport closures. We will use our processes to manage any panic buying situations."
Arrow and Acal have been keeping close to customers with constant updates. Hutter added that he has been coordinating with Arrow's suppliers on an individual basis depending on which parts of the global supply chain have been affected. "We are confident that our strategic actions will ensure business continuity and minimise disruptions to the supply chain."
RS Components says it has been able to meet the "vast majority" of customer deliveries across Europe.
Through what it desxcribes as its unparallelled local stock availability from seven distribution centres in Europe, order execution for shipment the same day has continued as normal.
"We are in a very strong position compared to other global distribution businesses thanks to our dynamic supply chain," said Anne Bruggink, general manager, supply chain at RS Components.
Premier Farnell used social media and Web 2.0 to keep customers updated with the latest information.
Neil Harrison, president, Farnell Europe commented, "We are well equipped top continue business as normal in times of adversity and welcome the news that the disruption is showing signs of improvement. We will continue to communicate frequently until the the situation returns completely to normal."
He said that next day deliveries had been achieved in most countries.
Mark Burr-Lonnon, vice president Europe and Asia for Mouser Electronics which ships product from its texas base into Europe acknowledged that the flying ban had affected the company. "FedEx has been trucking where possible to limit the issues, and with FedEx's Charles de Gaulle hub open we will see a return to speedier shipments and start to catch up."
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