EDITOR’S COMMENT
WHEN ASKED WHAT Prime Ministers
most feared, Harold Wilson is apocryphally
said to have answered “Events, dear boy.
Events.”
This sentiment does not just extend
to Prime Ministers, of course. Events do
have a nasty habit of ruining carefullycrafted
plans or punishing unwarrented
optimism.
2019 has thus far proved a case in
point.No sooner has one uncertainty
been removed than we are assailed by
others. Undoubtedly the most serious
of those so far has been the Coronavirus
outbreak.
In the last few weeks, the e ect of this
virus has been felt not just in China, but
across the globe. And while its health
implications are clearly the most serious
factor, its economic and industrial
impacts cannot be ignored.
On February 13, for instance, JCB
announced it was cutting production and
working hoursin the UK due to a shortage
of components from China due to the
outbreak. This came about because 25%
of JCB’s suppliers in China are closed
because of the disease.
Sadly, this is far from being an isoltated
example. Nissan also warned that it might
shut one of its factories as it can’t get
parts from China. T Fiat Chrysler said the
impact of the coronavirus epidemic could
halt production at one of its European car
plants within four weeks.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest
mobile phone showcase, Mobile World
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NEW
NEU
Congress (MWC), has been cancelled over
coronavirus concerns, organisers have
con rmed.
These disruptions are a direct (some
might say inevitable) consequence of
extended global supply chains that it
could be argued are over-reliant on China.
This is a strategy that could be coming
back to haunt global manufacturers.
In the short term, of course, there is
little that can be done to mitigate these
problems. What will be interesting,
however, is to see whether in the longer
term, this crisis a ects thinking on
component sourcing .
Paul Fanning, Editor
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