Nov. 26 2021 - MD&A
All but one of the orders received by the Company since fiscal 2019 are from large Chinese manufacturers or automation system providers, and most of them were for the new DM-110 series for China. These orders followed field trials initiated during fiscal 2019 and came from a mixture of sales developed directly by Aurora and in cooperation with our market partners in China, most notably Saratoga Technology International. The Company has delivered a large quantity of DM measurement systems from these past orders to numerous different customers in China for the first time in Fiscal 2020 and 2021.
Take away: Field Trials -> Orders -> Manufacturing?
Covid-19 + In addition, the Company has also been impacted with longer than normal lead times with its international supply chain due to the pandemic. This has hindered the ability to timely train and provide technical expertise to customers to identify and resolve operating issues across the scope of new installations, implement product enhancements as needed, and to introduce the Insight product. Aurora has final payment obligations associated with timely installation and commissioning of these systems, and these challenges may impact customer objectivity in the Company’s efforts to achieve final acceptance. The Company has ascertained that some of these receivables may not be collectible and were provided for in the Fiscal 2021 year.
Take away:
Field Trials -> Orders -> Manufactutring -> Installation -> Commissioning -> Payment?
Despite the pandemic-related travel and supply chain challenges, the performance of the DM products has steadily improved to accommodate the customer application challenges, providing a positive pathway to completing the commissioning processes. In addition, the Company continues product development to provide further functionality in its DM and TCM products for existing customer applications and for future sales.
Take away: Why has this not impacted the bottom line yet? This last quarter perhaps?
Pilot and/or full-scale production of HJT and TOPCon solar cells is already underway at leading solar cell manufacturers. As the Company completes the installation and commissioning of these systems, it continues to expect that the benefits of its DM and TCM technology will be recognized and adopted to strengthen the foundation for continued sales and the introduction of its Insight data science product for solar cell production yield, quality and cost optimization.
Take away: DM still not widely recognized and adopted...
We are continuing the systematic approach to achieve further acceptances and to position the Company for the next buying cycle, which is now anticipated to be in early to mid-2022 due to supply issues associated with power outages in China and raw material shortages within the industry in general.
Take away: Others than the 20 acceptance recently announced, how many more are expected and when? There are over 50M ordered to date. Hence potential for 30 more (or less).
For the six and three months ended 30 September 2021 the Company reported $Nil in sales from the same six and three-month period of the prior year. The Company believes that
continuing to focus on deepening its relationships with its customers and supporting their needs will provide for future opportunities....
Take away: It will be interesting if this has changed in the past quarter.
Thus far iit has been a year (4 consecutive quarters with no revenues).