Time to read: 4 min

‍Chinese New Year represents the largest annual human migration on the planet. On January 25th 2020, the year of the Pig will have drawn to a close and the year of the Rat will begin. The official holiday this year is January 25th to 30th, and tens of millions of people will travel home from the cities in which they work and live to their family homes to celebrate the New Year. This annual movement of people might be the only visit home some displaced workers make during a twelve-month period. The bad news is that this creates the largest manufacturing and the supply chain disruption. The good news is, it has happened for the last 3,000 years, we’ve seen it before and we’ve got you covered!

Over recent years we’ve been busy developing substantial expertize in China, building a team with diverse industry experience to ensure our customers get the best quality and performance at globally competitive prices. All part of our plan to deliver hardware at the speed of software. In that time, we’ve learned a good deal about what works where and when in China. Our team there is led by Cameron Moore, who himself has been living and working in China for more that 14 years, both in manufacturing and supply chain. Here’s our take on Chinese New Year, and how with Fictiv you can help minimize and plan for any disruption to your manufacturing and supply chain.

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Common Holiday Challenges

So, let’s start with the challenges. Chinese New Year means factory closures for at least the week-long celebrations. Many staff head off early to try and avoid the inevitable travel chaos. Operators can be distracted in the lead up to the holiday, resulting in quality or performance issues. Many factories experience a higher staff turnover during this time, with some workers deciding to stay home rather than return to their jobs. Couriers, shippers and customs are closed throughout the holiday period and experience much higher demand during the build-up, causing tensions, delays and backlogs. Inevitable, infrastructure is strained. Shipping routes are very busy in the lead up and immediately after Chinese New Year. Some challenges continue well after the holiday, thanks to the enormous backlog when everyone returns to work.

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How We’re Overcoming Hurdles

Here’s how we can work together to ensure that we honor this important 3,000-year-old tradition while making sure you get your parts made right and delivered on time.

  • Firstly, on the question of quality and performance, we’ve got your back! We’ve seen this before so we will be stepping up our own inspection processes and factory site visits to ensure we continue to monitor and maintain the highest quality and best performance from our manufacturing partners.
  • Next, planning is essential. Below are our order deadlines for manufacturing in China. You’ll also see dates for those working toward CES and even the pre-Christmas shopping dates. These are for parts that haven’t been ordered. If you have orders places already, we’ve got you, and the celebrations have already been factored in. We’ve made a huge investment in China to ensure we’re taking care of things so our customers can relax.
  • Lastly, if your concerned or the deadlines don’t work, consider getting that part made in the US for this iteration. Or perhaps consider 3D Printing a part if that will get you what you need when you need it.
  • We’re here to help, so whatever your concern, login to the Fictiv platform and upload your part to get started!

We’ve built agility and speed into our platform and delivering parts that are globally competitive at the right quality and at the right time is fundamental to what we do. Agility means being able to deliver from one geography when another is disrupted.

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Important Dates to Remember

Fictiv was designed so innovators, engineers and purchasers have a single platform and a single reliable source of manufactured parts. This Christmas, this CES and the Chinese New Year, we’ll be leveraging the power of that platform to make sure our customers get the parts they need when they need them.

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Overseas Production (CNC)

Before CNY:We have production holidays for Chinese New Year from January 18th through February 2nd. Place an order for a 7-day part before 3pm on January 8th to have machined parts in hand 20-Jan.

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US Production (CNC)

Before CES: We have US production holidays slated for December 24th, 25th, 31st and January 1st. Place an order for a 3-day part before 3pm on December 27th to have machined parts in hand January 3rd if within courier distance (or by December 26th for 3-day machining that requires overnight shipping).

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US Production (3DP)

Before CES: Place an order for a 1-day part (Polyjet or FDM printing processes) before 3pm on January 2nd to have printed parts in hand January 3rd if within courier distance (or by December 30th at 3pm for 1-day printing that requires overnight shipping).