Navigating Summer Manufacturing Slowdowns - How to Keep Your Supply Chain Moving

When the sun is out and inboxes are filling with “Out of Office” replies, summer means well-deserved holidays for most people in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and all other countries in Europe, and for those in North America. But if you’re in engineering, purchasing, or supply chain, it likely means something else too: manufacturing slowdowns.

When key suppliers shut down for weeks, your timelines don’t just pause; they pile up. Orders get stuck in limbo, project schedules shift, and September becomes a game of catch-up.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right approach and well-prepared suppliers, you can navigate this period smoothly and even keep production moving. 

The Challenge: The Annual Bottleneck

Each summer, entire manufacturing operations across the Western world, especially in Europe, hit pause.

• Quoting slows

• Communication breaks down

• Production gets delayed
  

Even simple questions can take weeks to get answered. When everyone finally comes back, suppliers are overloaded with a huge backlog. Lead times stretch, and urgent jobs become delayed before they even begin. 

Here’s how to keep your supply chain moving while others are on break.

1. Plan and Communicate

Don’t wait until your supplier’s OoO (Out-of-Office) message hits; plan ahead.

• Forecast your needs: Look ahead into your projects for Q3 of the year, and even into Q4. What parts will you need? Can you order them before the summer holidays? We’d suggest, at least, checking with your suppliers if they could handle the workload. If they confirm they can handle it, ask them how. 
  

• Check vacation schedules: Proactively communicate with your current suppliers to align production timelines. This simple step alone can help everyone avoid frustration. Prevent them from delivering parts to you the day before you leave for summer holidays. This will save parts from lying in the warehouse, potentially rusting before you can even pass the parts onto internal quality control.

2. Diversify Your Supplier Base

Relying on a single supplier or a single geographic region for critical components is always a risk. The summer slowdown, Christmas holidays, or Chinese New Year are perfect examples of why. By diversifying your manufacturing partners across different regions with different holiday schedules, you build resilience into your supply chain. When one partner is on holiday, another is fully operational.

This is the perfect time to vet and test potential new suppliers who can fill the gaps.

The Rototip Solution: Non-Stop Production

At Rototip, we built our model to solve these exact challenges. While much of Europe prepares for a break, our Non-Stop Production Power ensures your projects keep moving forward

.

Here’s how we turn the summer slowdown into your competitive advantage:

• Always operational: Our wide network of manufacturing locations, especially in Turkiye, Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, and the Netherlands, operates year-round without the long summer shutdowns. While others halt the production, we keep going.
  

• Parts ready when you’re back: Place your order before you leave, and let us handle the manufacturing while you're away. Imagine returning to the office to find your critical components finished and ready to ship while others are still waiting on their orders in the backlog.
  

Why Now’s the Perfect Time to Try Rototip:

• Fast, risk-free quoting: Our renewed Rototip web app makes quoting faster and easier than ever. Upload your CAD files, get pricing and lead times within hours, and test us without any obligation.
  

• Just want to compare? Certainly!: Looking to benchmark prices or explore new suppliers? That’s exactly what our quoting system is for. It's free, quick, and commitment-free. 
  

Don’t Let Summer Slow You Down

Summer slowdowns don't have to dictate your project timelines. With proactive planning and the right manufacturing partner, you can maintain momentum and start the third quarter with one step ahead.

Let’s keep things moving this summer.

👉 Upload your files for a quick test quote

📧 Or send your RFQ to rfq@rototip.com