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June 26, 2023
Dear Valued Customer,
For decades, Materion has been a leading supplier of high-quality, high-purity beryllium foil products. We have supported this very complex product line by providing beryllium foil at over 100 distinct gauges across multiple beryllium grades, with a variety of form factors, surface finishes, coatings, bonding techniques and various other technical requirements.
This level of complexity has unfortunately been one of the driving factors behind our extended lead times. After an extensive portfolio transformation review, we have optimized our product lines by reducing our offerings in order to sustainably improve the quality, consistency and on-time delivery of the complete portfolio.
All changes are effective immediately. The key points of this update are summarized below, and the full details are available here. Please note:
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We will now carry only a selection of standard gauges which cumulatively cover the majority of our customers’ needs (see table in attachment for a list of gauges offered).
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We have phased out our IF-1® 99.8% purity grade due to inherent yield challenges and throughput disruptions associated with the extreme complexity involved in production. We will increase our supply of IF-5 99.5% purity grade as a high-purity alternative for the industry.
- We are streamlining our upstream manufacturing processes to improve throughput. These process changes include adjustments in tolerancing to better meet process capabilities and may result in a variation to the cosmetic appearance of the material.
- We will continue to offer cut-to-size foil. Bonded window assemblies will be an optional premium offering.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this change and will provide technical support to assist you in transitioning all future product orders to one of the standard offerings. Existing orders based on non-standard gauges, tolerances, or any other discontinued product option or feature (as detailed in the attachment) will be fulfilled but will incur a 35% complexity surcharge. To avoid incurring this charge, we will support modifying existing orders to the closest standard gauge product (or otherwise standardize the product as applicable) at the current P.O. value.
If we cannot find a solution, you may also cancel any existing orders at no charge by July 28, 2023.
These changes will improve our ability to support your business and to meet growing industry demand. We appreciate your understanding and continued patronage. Please reach out to your account manager with any further questions.
Sincerely,
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