Global Memory Shortages

With reports of DRAM and other memory being in short supply globally, it’s important that OEMs and supply chain managers take steps to protect their product lines and continue to meet customer demand.

A global supply shortage creates these key challenges:

• Excessive lead times for component availability – some in excess of 20 weeks. For manufacturers, this means an inability to fill customer orders as quickly as may be necessary.
• Increases in the cost of components as demand exceeds supply. For manufacturers, this results in a loss of margin or – at worst – the need to raise prices of their products.
• Vendors pushing out the dates for confirmed orders as component manufacturers give 11th-hour warning of shortages. For equipment manufacturers, this can result in severely disappointing customers with little advance notice.