MD's Update - March 2022

The first 3-months of the year have been like no other. Pandemic, supply-chain impacts, overseas conflicts and now devastating floods on the East Coast of Australia. As I pen this note from Rydalmere, it’s the first day in the last 16 where it hasn’t been raining. Apparently, we’ve had more than 600mm of rain in Sydney since it started. This period has been horrific, flooding devastation of homes, families displaced and sadly lives have been lost.

At Somfy we have just kept going. Managing the challenges, each day at a time. The Somfy team have and continue to be amazing. So too all our loyal customers… thank you. Thank you for your support, thank you for your patience. Especially regarding SUPPLY!

Product supply is the hottest topic within Somfy Group. It is our No. 1 priority to get back on track and to replenish our supply chain pipelines. Most of the adverse impacts have been directly caused by semi-conductor shortages.

We are currently airfreighting all the ‘problem SKUs’, mostly from France. At this point the conflict in Ukraine is not impacting our airfreight shipments, but I know it is impacting other carriers & freight-forwarders, so things could get tighter here as well.

We are about to implement a new module into our SAGE 300 ERP which will improve visibility of back-orders and improve stock-allocation. This is being tested now. We are very aware that having an answer of ‘when’, is crucial. Having ‘no answer’ and ‘no-visibility’ on supply questions is incredibly disheartening for all of us and at odds with the spirit of Somfy as a Customer Centric Organisation.

Based on what we know, supply is coming back. The number of ‘problem SKUs’ will shrink. Sales back-orders will also shrink. We are confident of this.

Personally, I’m looking forward to getting out into the field more and more in the coming weeks and months, now the COVID pandemic and its impacts are easing across much of Australia. 

Stay strong through these tough times. If you need to chat, call any of our team. We are all in this together.

Stephen Eggleton

Managing Director

Somfy Oceania