Well, I don't know about Brother themselves.. but the ports for importing are a mess. I am not sure, but I wonder if that is the issue you are dealing with. I work in materials at production facility and the ports are truly reeking havoc on our production.
Before Christmas this all started...factories in China had shipped the parts on the ocean on time. But once the vessels hit the west coast ports it all came to a screeching halt. The longshoremen who unload the vessels were refusing to work overtime (or at least that is the story we were told). We have shipped so much product in air freight its ridiculous... the air freight routes were even getting delayed in January from everyone doing the same thing. A local Honda assembly plant had to lower their production due to this as well.
We were told that the Longshoremen union reached an agreement and the contracts were to be signed in April. Personally I have parts in container that has been at the port for 3 months...everything is piling up and there are not enough chasis available for the truckers to get things moving any quicker.
We are now hearing that while the longshoreman have come to an agreement now the teamsters (truckers) are going to strike.