You won’t see it on the news, and it is nowhere near as bad as a few years ago but lead times in our industry are definitely increasing because the supply chain is tightening. It is bad news, but we are trying to get the word out. As we are helping customers with projects that need label printers, barcode scanners, or mobile computers, we are trying to work ahead.
Also, we are not talking months and months of lead time like a few years ago, but certainly weeks of waiting. It started with the touch computer devices like Zebra’s TC20, TC50 and TC70 series of devices. Now it is spreading to the MC devices, label printers, and RFID devices.
Labels seem unaffected this time around. Most of that crisis was due to a labor strike in the major plant that produces the liner material used in label production. Same story for thermal ribbons and ink, there seems to be plenty of inventory available with those products.
So, if you have an automation project that you are planning for 2024, let’s get started early on determining the right product for your application, and get hardware ordered sooner than later.
If you are looking for the kind of trusted partner that will help mitigate increasing lead times, the EMP Tech Group is for you.