On April 16th, two large earthquakes hit the southern Kumamoto region of Japan. And typical of any such large seismic event, Japan has been hit with 100’s of aftershocks throughout the country. Its latest was just a few hours ago. How does this affect Capture Integration and our customers? First and foremost we send our best wishes to all those affected in Japan. Secondly, Sony Sensor manufacturing plants are in this region. As many of our customers know, Phase One’s IQ3 100mp digital back utilizes the 100mp Sony sensor. This product has had an outstanding 4 months of sales and deliveries thus far in 2016. However, regrettably, we need to announce that shipments will be delayed as of this week.
“It is confirmed that all of the employees are fine. The safety is always our top priority. Factory operations have been paused because a part of the building was broken and aftershocks continued. Damages inside the buildings are now under investigation and the status is scanning for materials, consumable supplies and supply chain. We would like to inform you of the timing of restarting production in a few days.” – Sony
This affects all manufacturers who utilize Sony sensors. Over 40% of today’s digital sensors are supplied from these Sony plants in southern Japan. There have been numerous reports from the DSLR and smartphone markets discussing the ramifications of this delay in manufacturing.
Due to a fantastic product release in January, the IQ3 100mp is currently 2-3 months in back order status today without the news of the earthquake and subsequent pause in manufacturing. With this news, it is our estimation that we will not be shipping any “new” orders of the IQ3 100mp for the next 4-5 months. To be clear, a 60 day pause with a 60 day back order creates 4 months before we can deliver a new order of any 100mp digital back today.
With the amount of misinformation on the internet these days, it was our commitment to full disclosure and to our client relationships that we regrettably announce this sensor status.
Importantly, your business must go on. Capture Integration is still the largest reseller of refurbished and pre-owned digital backs in the world. If you have a need, then reach out to us and lets think “outside of the box” to fulfill that need until production ramps up again. Speak to your account managers and lets work together on this. Its these times in business that relationships and strong partners matter the most.