MirkoBoeddecker
This notice is no longer entirely up to date. We have since received several deliveries and only two sizes are still missing.
Unfortunately, we are currently facing a completely inadequate and unacceptable supply situation with MCC.
Customers who have been waiting for certain sizes for several weeks or even months are quite rightly asking whether the paper will ever be available again.
The situation is unfortunately so unsatisfactory because the company responsible for the finishing process is facing capacity issues.
Our sales of MCP and MCC, as well as other papers that we have finished there, have risen steadily over the last two years and have now reached a level where our finisher is clearly ‘overloaded’.
Coated MCC on master rolls has been ‘in storage’ at the converter since May, but to date nothing has been processed, as they are so busy with other orders (some of which, unfortunately, are also from us) that everything has been getting pushed back since June.
Unfortunately, there is little we can do in the short term in such a situation, particularly as the situation is similar with other potential finishers, or because, regrettably, the required quality cannot be achieved there.
Finishing is currently the bottleneck everywhere. Everyone has coating capacity, but in the labour-intensive assembly sector, everyone has cut back in anticipation of further falling sales. As the analogue photography market has picked up momentum again since mid-2010, bottlenecks are now occurring everywhere. I have been told, for example, that Fuji has discontinued black-and-white film because otherwise they would not have been able to keep up with the assembly of colour films.
In the medium term, we have a plan to ensure this doesn’t happen to us again: we are establishing our own packaging capacities and will spread the orders in future.
The construction phase here at Fotowerke has been underway since June. Today, for example, the staircase for the packaging hall was erected.
The interior fit-out and the air conditioning/ventilation systems are still to be installed.
The crane runway for the large rolls is already in place inside.
From November, the machine can undergo trial runs and, with a bit of luck, we’ll be up and running in December.
We currently expect the 30x40 and 24x30 MCC formats, at least in part, to be delivered this week to fulfil the outstanding backorders, with the other formats following in the coming days and weeks.
Casting will resume immediately after the summer break in the foundry (hopefully without streaks this time, so that we can offer roll goods again).
With a bit of luck, all formats will be consistently available by the time our own packaging facility comes on stream.
From then on at the latest, no further problems are to be expected on this front.
Best regards,
Mirko
Stairwell construction:
