How Lehigh is
Navigating the Chip Shortage
M.Kraft 9/12/2022
I recently read an article about Teslas’s strategy for dealing with the
chip shortage which has been brought on by the pandemic. Shutdowns aside
the other factor was a shift to manufacturer ICs needed for working
remotely in products such as laptops, tablets, cameras. Re-bound of
markets in late 2020 only exacerbated the problem with high demand
across the board with a lot of media attention on the auto industry.
What struck me about the Tesla article is that Lehigh had chose a
similar path to address the situation. We chose to immediately begin
re-designing E-Flex in February of 2021. This involved re-writing
software for alternative chips that were available and acquisitioning
the material while it was available.
E-Flex relay panels and room controllers both went thru re-design. This
meant not only a re-work of the firmware for these products but the
printed circuit boards as well. We also created an additional design
within E-Flex product line for DMX only which interfaces well to all our
architectural controls to provide breathing room for full-featured
standalone E-Flex relay panels.
Interfaces such as our I/O boards and DMX to 0-10V also went thru
re-design. We didn’t short change on re-designing these products to keep
up production, we stepped back to look at improvements to them as well.
Lehigh has invested the time and additional cost to be able to continue
providing product. We continue to navigate the on-going supply issues
and rise in costs.
Thankfully we are a made in America company and do not rely on off-shore
resources to build our final product.
The universe will eventually correct course, in the meantime we’re all on the same roller coaster ride.