Supply Chain Woes – Connector Shortages Effect Lead Time of Vibration Motor

COVID has played havoc with production schedules and in some cases have caused production lines to shut down due to lack of a part(s) on the bill of material.     While Vybronics has not experienced any supply chain issues with our raw material vendors needed to manufacture our vibrations motors, some of our clients request custom connectors to be attached to the wire leads of the motor.  At press time, the lead time for many of these connectors now exceed  7 months.  These include certain connectors made by Hirose, JST, SMK and Molex.    MOQ’s have also increased dramatically.   ACES Connector company has maintained excellent lead times, and customer should consider using them.  They offer many models based on proven Molex  designs.  

It should be noted that Vybronics does not do any cable assembly in-house.  All assembly is done by 3rd party vendors.  Cables are then shipped to us and married to the end of our vibration motors.   These vendors have certain minimums they require to assemble these cables.  When we quote an MOQ , it is the MOQ  established by the connector assembly vendor NOT the manufacturer of the connector.   If we quote you an MOQ, and you are able to source the smaller quantity that you require,  the vendor may still decline to produce the cables.    Clients should consider warehousing cable assemblies to mitigate the risk of supply chain issues.  We do this for various clients now.   Please inquire with us if you wish to explore this option.