Tecbridge Circuits

Christmas Newsletter 2020-2021

		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 current circumstances allow. We join with friends and customers to hope for relief and a growing light at the end of this dark tunnel from which we can emerge next 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 Friday 18th December for next day delivery Monday 21st December unless you tell us not to do so. We will re-commence shipping on Monday 4th January for next day delivery on Tuesday 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.

Chinese New Year Holidays 2021

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 Ox. The Ox represents physical, mental and emotional strength and stamina. Those born in the Year of the Ox are independent to a fault and revered for their high moral character.

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

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

Chinese New Year Timeline (last rev 07 December '20)

The public holiday is between Thurday 11th and Wednesday 17th February inclusive, however factories will be closed between 06th February and 22nd February inclusive. Orders which have not been shipped from the factory before 2nd February 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
Fairfield	Friday 22nd January (11 working days service)
Fairfield	Monday 24th 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 4th January and 16th 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 - and Brexit

Shipments arriving in UK from China via the major courier services (Fedex, UPS, TNT) are all suffering exceptional delays due to the shortage of hold space in passenger aircraft. This is typically adding 2-5 days to transit times. We are using DHL for smaller urgent consignment, however their costs are too great for most large orders.

We have not been advised of any additional problems associated with leaving the EU, however it is conceivable UK Customs and Excise may become overloaded at the turn of the year as they deal with new procedures for goods moving in and out of the EU. We have no way to predict what if any affect this may have on our imports from our factories in China.

Henry Gibson

Director
Tecbridge Ltd