On October 19, 2019, Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on the coast of Japan, killing dozens of people, injuring hundreds, and affecting tens of millions more in the Tokyo region. The resulting flooding severely damaged businesses and manufacturing plants, including Panasonic’s laminate East Plant in Koriyama. The main products affected by this disaster are the Megtron 6 Products, Megtron 6K and Megtron 6N, which the company won’t resume making for at least 90 days while recovery efforts proceed.
Once the current stock of these products is depleted, they will not be available until the Koriyama East Plant resumes operations. The manufacturing of other Megtron products is being moved to other plants. The company moved production of Megtron 7/7N to the Koriyama West Plant on November 1, 2019. Megtron 6K 1027 is not available, but Megtron 6G, the only Megtron 6 product available in the coming weeks, will be moved to the plant in Taiwan.
Other disruptions to the supply chain caused by Hagibis include a halt on QTA and air freight shipments, though FELIOS materials are not affected. These shortages will doubtless have a short-term effect on manufacturing worldwide, but there are other options for customers who rely on these products. The I-Tera MT40 OR IT-968 can replace Megtron 6 and the Tachyon-100G can replace Megtron 7 products.
NPI Services is monitoring the situation and doing everything to minimize delays and disruptions for its customers. At this time, all material requirements from Panasonic can only be fulfilled through their US distributor, Matrix USA. While there were no short-term recovery plans in place for the Koriyama East Plant, the clean-up operations are currently underway, and it has been reported that the plant could resume operations in two months.
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