Coronavirus Update

Like the majority of hardware suppliers in the UK, Mila imports a large proportion of our stock from China. As you would expect then, our teams based both here and in China have been working extremely hard over the last couple of weeks to minimise the potential impact of the current Coronavirus outbreak on our supply chain.

Most of our suppliers were already closed for the Chinese New Year holiday anyway so, as we do every year, we had boosted our stock levels before Christmas to take that into account. In fact, we now hold 14 weeks’ worth of stock in our warehouse, so customers can be reassured that there is no imminent risk of outages.

I have also just had news from China that a number of our key suppliers, who are located away from the most affected provinces, have been granted permits to reopen after the government enforced an extension to the holiday shutdown, so they will be up and running again shortly. I understand there may be some short delays while migrant workers who are affected by transport restrictions return to work, but we are keeping a very close eye on that.

We can’t afford to be complacent obviously, and we are in daily contact with all our suppliers in China to ensure that we have plans in place to adapt to any changes which might still occur, but the current information we have is all fairly positive.

As always, our priority is to ensure continuity of supply to customers at all times. We have therefore put in place strict measures to ringfence the products and quantities which customers regularly buy, and we are monitoring order lines and buying patterns to avoid any unnecessary shortages.

Our team will be providing updates on a regular basis as we learn more. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any concerns or check back here for more information.

Ken