Ballast shortages in the works

[iwire]

Just received this in my office from a local trade organization.

Northeast Electrical Distributors Reports
a National Ballast Component Shortage

June 23, 2010

Please be advised that there is a nation-wide shortage of Electronic Ballasts due to a world-wide electronic component shortage including capacitors and integrated circuits. Up until now this shortage has affected mostly standard T5 output ballasts. However it has quickly spread to High Output T5 and T8 ballasts as well. Regardless of ballast factor or starting features (programmed rapid start, instant start, etc) these ballasts are now all experiencing the same shortage. We have been told that it will spread further into HID and compact fluorescent ballasts as well as LED drivers and lighting control products.

Be advised that this shortage is not limited to smaller vendors. All major vendors such as Acuity Brands, Sylvania, Cooper, Daybrite, and Lightolier are experiencing the same shortages. We have been warned that the ballast shortage is going to intensify over the next two months which is often times the busiest months of the year for our lighting fixture sales. This will cause significant delays in fixture delivery dates and will surely disrupt project scheduling and deadlines. We have already seen delays in some delivery dates as much as four weeks. As a result, we must anticipate continued delays and plan accordingly and we recommend that you pass this information on to your general contractors and clients.
It is critical that projects be released as early as possible. Fixtures can always be released with a "do not ship before" date so that orders can still be sent to the factories ahead of time for proper planning. Jobs that have quick occupancy and fast turn over deadlines will be the most difficult to complete. Using alternate packages or taking fixtures from your distributors inventory of stocked fixtures can help combat some of those quick deadlines. Still, there may be times when your distributor will not be able to provide specific fixtures on time and delays will be inevitable.

Thank you to Northeast Electrical Distributors for reporting this problem to the MECA Office so we can keep our members up-to-date with the most current information. If you have any questions or concerns about this issue please contact Northeast Electrical Distributors or your local distributor directly. Thank you.

 

[ceb58]

Sounds like a good reason to jack the price up.

 

[jaylectricity]

Sounds like a good reason to jack the price up.

Or at least buy the most common stuff now before the price goes up and bid the jobs at regular price later when nobody else can get the material.

 

[macmikeman]

Manipulation of the marketplace. On purpose. Planned. Nuff said.

 

[iwire]

Manipulation of the marketplace. On purpose. Planned. Nuff said.

Who knows? It is certainly possible.

I know none of us really 'knows'.

It is not the ballast makers, do a little web searching.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLNE64N01X20100524

 

[mikeames]

If you follow the markets the semis (Semi Conductor companies) all have high demand. This is interesting because it fits what I have read.

 

[jumper]

Thanks for the heads up Bob. I had stock guy triple inventory today. I use ballasts by the case.