Supply – Van Ninja marketing assistant Mark Robson with some of the company ’ s stock .
PICTURES : TOM BANKS
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It ’ s never been more challenging to run a vehicle fleet – but Van Ninja can help
Van Ninja marketing assistant Mark Robson on how the firm ’ s growing fleet of vehicles is keeping Tees businesses moving
ost people are probably aware of the shortage of new vehicles for sale . Stock is low , and lead times for orders are high . You might have noticed the shortage of cars , but it ’ s the same when it comes to vans .
How did we get here ? And what can you do , as a customer , to acquire a new van and keep your business moving ?
Things were going well Van registrations remained strong throughout the 2010s at around 360,000 per year . Stock levels were high , and lead times for factory orders were about three months .
But there were concerns about semiconductor production . As van technology improved , vans required more microchips to run their new features .
Production capability at the time was expected to be sufficient until around 2025 , and new factories were planned to be built by this date .
Supply issues At the end of 2019 , the strict lockdown ordered by the UK government to prevent the spread of coronavirus led to the closure of factories and suppliers .
Among the industries that shut down were the semiconductor factories that supplied the microchips for every device from phones and TVs to cars and vans .
When production finally resumed , it did so slowly . Companies had to rethink how they worked in order to protect people , and for many companies , this meant reduced production . Suppliers were months behind on their orders and faced a huge backlog – with new orders coming in fast .
Demand for parts spiked , putting
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