Schneider Electric says supply chain held it back

Schneider Electric is the latest tech biz to blame supply chain constraints for holding back its trading output, despite claiming record revenues of €28.9bn ($32.78bn) in its full year results for 2021 [PDF]. The energy management and industrial automation giant closed off the calendar year with a 7 per cent revenue spike to € …

[Pascal Monett]

"We could have done better if we would have had supply at the level of our demand."

So, what are you going to do about it ?

Might be time to think about having a bit of stock again.

[Roger Greenwood]

Re: "We could have done better if we would have had supply at the level of our demand."

Yes they have closed a few things down in the UK over the years which meant they lost the ability to make quick changes and decisions locally. Great for managing costs but a single logistics system also loses touch.

We know several projects being sourced elsewhere now due to the delivery delays (industrial kit). Might be hard to win all of those users back but luckily for them the problem is also industry wide.

[Ace2]

Avoid them!

Did you know that those new, cheap, low-end APC UPSes don’t have replaceable batteries? They’re meant to be trashed after 2-3 years when the battery wears out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Avoid them!

Models with replaceable batteries are still available - just don't buy those low-end cheap models...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Avoid them!

I had a cheap APC UPS (around £80) several years ago, and the battery was most definitely replaceable (you had to connect the terminal to it as part of the out-of-box set up process).

Then, more recently, I wanted a UPS that could talk to my new NAS and went for APC again. The original model I'd bought didn't have that feature, but the slightly more expensive one I got instead (circa £150) does. And it also definitely has a replaceable battery, which costs about £70 from Schneider (cheaper on Ebuyer).

My only gripe was that even though the UPS has NAS connectivity, the bloody cable isn't supplied with the unit. And it is a bespoke Ethernet/RJ45-to-USB jobbie. The manual says you can order one for free from Schneider - which I did - but you then get an email saying they're out of stock and the lead time is like next year. It actually turned up inside a month, but not before I found a third-party seller which did them for £20 (Schneider ones cost £60 if you need to pay).

Why not put the bloody thing in the box?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perfect example of a "just in case" statement

This kind of statement is directed at financial analysts in case their growth isn't sustainable. 12 months from now, if growth drops, I would expect a "we are resolving our supply chain issues" statement.

The goal is to limit analysts' predictions to ones they can exceed and drive the stock price steadily upward.

[43300]

I've got some Dell (rebadged APC) UPSs on order - three months estimated for delivery. Not very helpful.