Birthplace of a Pandora Board and a power loss (2010-09-16)


So, uh, any news on the cases? They were originally meant to be ready in time to go out on a flight last Tuesday, but that got knocked back due to the power outage. Have they finished the painting yet, or has 'a few days' outage delayed things by over a week?
 
Craig was having problems flashing them. Ed was send him a new SD card.

That was the latest Pandora batch, not the cases ;)


We had a hard time getting a flight last week, as there were Chinese holidays and naturally all companies wanted to export from China as much as possible.


We could've get a transport flight, but for twice the price - which didn't make much sense, as we won't need those cases before the boards with the new nubs are finished.


Finally, we have a flight this Wednesday... this time, our forwarder confirmed everything (not the company ;) ), so it's for real this time.


Those 4000 cases should arrive sometime early next week I guess :)
 
We had a hard time getting a flight last week, as there were Chinese holidays and naturally all companies wanted to export from China as much as possible.
I've lost count ED, is that the third time or the fourth that Chinese holidays delay something? :p Well, no worries I suppose, the cases aren't the bottleneck.


This Wednesday eh? Sounds good, keep us updated.
 
We could've get a transport flight, but for twice the price - which didn't make much sense, as we won't need those cases before the boards with the new nubs are finished.


Finally, we have a flight this Wednesday... this time, our forwarder confirmed everything (not the company ;) ), so it's for real this time.


Those 4000 cases should arrive sometime early next week I guess :)
Great news! Like you say, you didn't need those cases yet since you're still waiting for nubs and boards, but I'm glad that it's something I can tick off my mental checklist of 'things that are likely to screw up before I get my Pandora' ;)
 
Finally, we have a flight this Wednesday... this time, our forwarder confirmed everything (not the company ;) ), so it's for real this time.

Wonderful. When does the flight land?

Those 4000 cases should arrive sometime early next week I guess :)

Could you clarify this, please? The last I'd heard, you were planning on shipping 2000 by air, and 2000 sea (up from the split of 1000/3000 several *months* ago). Has this now changed to be all 4000 by air, at once? Thanks.
 
No, all 4000 will be shipped by slug express.


Slug express, just when you thought it wasn't the bottleneck no more.
 
Wonderful. When does the flight land?

Well... China is ahead of us in time, so the flight should also land on Wednesday.


We have no idea how long custom will take to inspect those boxes though.

Could you clarify this, please? The last I'd heard, you were planning on shipping 2000 by air, and 2000 sea (up from the split of 1000/3000 several *months* ago). Has this now changed to be all 4000 by air, at once? Thanks.

Oh right... now that you mention it, I have no idea.


Might be Craig, Michael and Fatih decided to ship them all at once via air... haven't asked them.


But it's at least 2000 via air AFAIK :)

Fingers crossed for news on the latest prototype nubs then. I've got plenty of faith in you guys, but not much in your contractors, as such.

Thanks a lot :)


Well, I have a bit more faith in the nub production now. They messed up A LOT by not testing them - but the latest development (and how fast they test and order new revisions) has brought some confidence back.


I never lost faith in the Chinese factory - they need a lot of time until they ship, but they will eventually do it. I knew this reading other stories about production in China.


I'd love to have more faith in the board production though. So far, they never shipped as many boards as they promised us before.


Well, this time, we got a deadline for the first batch (October 18th), something we never got from them before. Hopefully, they will stick to their promise. This slow speed is not acceptable.


In worst case I guess we have to take legal action... but that's something we don't want to do. We just want them to produce and test reliable boards. Can't be that hard, eh?


I have no ideas how many boards without nubs are finished so far... I sure hope at least 1000 - 1500.
 
I'm pretty sure once things are running and the companies figure out the best way to speed up the production cycles things will be going a bit smoother.


Still some time till I'll get my Pandora (2nd Batch) but I'll just stick around on the forums and follow the progression of the whole production.


I can rest peacefully though knowing things are moving, even if it's going a tad bit slow.
 
I'm pretty sure once things are running and the companies figure out the best way to speed up the production cycles things will be going a bit smoother.

I think so, too. After all, they don't make any money from NOT producing anything, so I can't think of any reason they don't want to speed up.


Also, they're risking of being sued by us - that's a common thing you can do if a company gives you deadlines and doesn't even produce half of it and need too long. In the common electronic devices world, a few months delays could kill a device (thank god the Pandora is not a common device ;) )


While we rather work together to achieve something instead of sueing asses off, it's something they theoretically have to fear... so yeah, there really is NO real reason why they shouldn't speed up unless from their point of view :)
 
Oh right... now that you mention it, I have no idea.


Might be Craig, Michael and Fatih decided to ship them all at once via air... haven't asked them.


But it's at least 2000 via air AFAIK :)

Perhaps one of them would like to confirm?

Thanks a lot :)


Well, I have a bit more faith in the nub production now. They messed up A LOT by not testing them - but the latest development (and how fast they test and order new revisions) has brought some confidence back.

That's a pretty big understatement. I think the fact that they didn't test them borders on gross negligence, not to mention the whole ordeal with having to pay twice, and only getting one set of nubs.

I never lost faith in the Chinese factory - they need a lot of time until they ship, but they will eventually do it. I knew this reading other stories about production in China.

What a coincidence. I never lost faith either - then I never had any faith in them to start, and they've never managed to disappoint.

I'd love to have more faith in the board production though. So far, they never shipped as many boards as they promised us before.


Well, this time, we got a deadline for the first batch (October 18th), something we never got from them before. Hopefully, they will stick to their promise. This slow speed is not acceptable.


In worst case I guess we have to take legal action... but that's something we don't want to do. We just want them to produce and test reliable boards. Can't be that hard, eh?


I have no ideas how many boards without nubs are finished so far... I sure hope at least 1000 - 1500.

Except ... if the nubs aren't ready in time, it may be physically impossible for them to do this. Say they need another revision or two (or five) along with testing - if all the nubs only arrive on the 14th, I doubt they'll be able to put them on all the boards. Same thing if they arrive after the 18th.
 
Except ... if the nubs aren't ready in time, it may be physically impossible for them to do this. Say they need another revision or two (or five) along with testing - if all the nubs only arrive on the 14th, I doubt they'll be able to put them on all the boards. Same thing if they arrive after the 18th.

Sure. But I'm way more confident if there are 3000 boards finished on October 18th even if the nubs aren't there than there are only 1000 boards finished by then.


In worst case we can get the boards and solder the nubs on ourselves.


Still, the boards need to be finished until then. Putting the nubs on is not taking that much time.
 
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