Every year during the Chinese New Year celebrations, keeping the electronic manufacturers’ supply chain alive is a challenge, but ICAPE Group could rely on ICAPE-TRAX, its new PCB factory located in South Africa to ensure a smooth running of its operations.

It’s a fact, most of the biggest and best PCB factories are located in Asia. After more than two decades, ICAPE Group built a strong network of factories and control processes to supply its customers with the very best standards of quality on the market, and an optimised logistic chain to deliver more than 32 million PCB and technical parts around the world, each month. But in this perfect plan, there is a more challenging period, with the Chinese new year celebrations. The key for a smooth running of operations is good preparation, and it is recommended to anticipate orders to prevent disruptions in the supply chain.

This year, ICAPE Group offered a new option for its customers, and this worked out very well. In 2021, they acquired Trax, their first PCB Factory in South Africa. Behind this operation, there is a smart strategy that offers two advantages. The first one is to develop its activities on the African continent, which is a promising sector, and the second one is to offer an additional production plant option to its customers, to prevent any shortage or difficulties that could be faced in Asia.

The recent period during the Chinese new year celebration was handled with better efficiency, as customers from Europe and the USA benefit from ICAPE Group’s plant. Thomas Chea, EVP Asia Pacific and Africa of ICAPE Group, explains: “Every year we face the same situation with the «CNY» break in China. We are used to managing it but with the addition of Trax in our organisation, it was a real upgrade for our customers. We have been able to meet their requests with a shorter lead time compared to the previous years, while ensuring the same level of control and quality thank to Trax, which benefits from ICAPE Group’s long experience and processes.”

This was a full-scale test successfully passed by ICAPE Group’s PCB production plan this year, and the company is confident about what this solution could bring to its customers in the near future: “Theoretically, the project was interesting and we were able to live it for the first time this year with excellent results. It’s very satisfying and we can now plan for next year with the highest level of confidence, to supply our customers without any disruption”, concluded Chea.