The world is three years into a global pandemic. We’ve seen stunning examples of professional dedication, international cooperation, and medical advancement over the last several years. But we’ve also had to adapt to levels of economic turmoil and international instability that would have seemed unthinkable in late 2019. Today we live in a social and economic landscape that appears to be forever changed, and to which manufacturers are still adapting.

Priorclave autoclaves are precision, high-pressure instruments, mission critical to the labs that use them. We build and test them to stringent international standards. Our devices rely on very specific materials and components made under known and verified conditions in facilities. 

Building your autoclave takes weeks of advance planning and the cooperation of all of our suppliers and highly qualified staff. Because of the high spec we require and the expertise of the crew that builds our autoclaves, we have fewer alternative options than other manufacturers when things go wrong—as they inevitably do, even to the best of us, especially as we all continue to cope with the impact of the pandemic.

At Priorclave, we do everything we can to keep our staff healthy, our parts in-stock, and our production on schedule. Still, component shortages coupled with the temporary (and in some cases permanent) loss of more than 25% of our key workers due to both the pandemic and geopolitical factors have created serious challenges. These have been compounded by regulatory changes that have affected manufacturing throughout our industry. We’re taking urgent strides to increase production, and making headway. But this progress is still gaining speed.

On behalf of Priorclave Ltd., we deeply regret the inconvenience and difficulties you have experienced. We are doing everything in our power to deliver your autoclave to you as soon as we possibly can.

Protecting Health and Welfare while Maintain Production

More than 95% of our staff are fully vaccinated. We continue with strict Covid measures to try to avoid isolation, absenteeism, and illness. Still, Covid contributes to continued uncertainty around possible staffing and can make it difficult to predict manufacturing dates as accurately as we did pre-Covid.

External inspectors certify nearly every element of your Priorclave. We don’t control their timetables, their companies’ policies about site visits, or other Covid impacts.

Supply chain issues, too, have affected everyone. For many companies, their component parts and other commodities necessary to their manufacturing process are fungible and can be swapped with many alternative options. When we can do that, we do. 

But often Priorclave autoclaves need more specialized components. So, we keep our stock more than 25% above where we might have before Covid, even in a time of rising costs. But sometimes, we can’t complete manufacture until we have one last component in place. And sometimes that stamped or UL-tested component we’re waiting for doesn’t have a workable duplicate.

Our factory is in London, which has been hard hit by Covid variants. With effort and luck, most of our workforce has stayed healthy and working during this time—and so has our core mission of supporting education, research, and innovation worldwide. For more than 30 years, we’ve made sure labs have the best possible equipment and support for their work. 

We never want to fall short—but we have. We apologize for our production delay and we hope to be able to reliably forecast delivery soon. Please reach out with questions or problems in the meantime—we will all adapt to this new world together.