Well, I just had a phone call from Greece - and according to them, it will be late January when the moulds are finished for prototyping.
That's some sad news, but I'm trying to get them to speed things up a bit.
This means I won't go to Greece in December to finish the prototypes with the case...
What has happened?
Well, according to their quotation, it'll take 12 weeks to create the mould, and they started early October. So with christmas and new year, the date would be middle of January, so they're producing the moulds according to their timeframe.
I remembered it takes 2 months though (2 months...TM?) so I thought they should be ready in December.
Well, and I let them know my timeframe in October and asked a few times whether that can be kept - but I never really received an answer (until this morning), so I assumed the timeframe would be kept.
I really had hoped for no communication issues this time (and it all worked fine with the keymat), but it seems it's always the case that takes a bit longer.
Will that delay anything?
Yes and no. It will delay the prototypes within the case, but I'll offer everyone who will get one to send the PCBs once they're tested and the cases later when they're finished.
Once the moulds are finished, there's no real leadtime in the production of the cases, they can be produced anytime. So they'll still be ready before all the parts for the mass production arrive.
The only problem is that I don't know how many units we'll produce in the first run without doing the preordering first... so I have to think about that. Maybe I'll do a non-paid preorder so I know how many parts we need to order and then the first payment will be done once the prototype including the case is finished and then the next, final one once the units are ready to be shipped.
I'll think about it, and will let you know.
Sorry about the sad news after all the good ones we had during the last few days, but things like that also happen in real life, especially when you got a tight timeframe.
The good thing is that this most likely doesn't change the planned mass production start - only the prototypes.
That's some sad news, but I'm trying to get them to speed things up a bit.
This means I won't go to Greece in December to finish the prototypes with the case...
What has happened?
Well, according to their quotation, it'll take 12 weeks to create the mould, and they started early October. So with christmas and new year, the date would be middle of January, so they're producing the moulds according to their timeframe.
I remembered it takes 2 months though (2 months...TM?) so I thought they should be ready in December.
Well, and I let them know my timeframe in October and asked a few times whether that can be kept - but I never really received an answer (until this morning), so I assumed the timeframe would be kept.
I really had hoped for no communication issues this time (and it all worked fine with the keymat), but it seems it's always the case that takes a bit longer.
Will that delay anything?
Yes and no. It will delay the prototypes within the case, but I'll offer everyone who will get one to send the PCBs once they're tested and the cases later when they're finished.
Once the moulds are finished, there's no real leadtime in the production of the cases, they can be produced anytime. So they'll still be ready before all the parts for the mass production arrive.
The only problem is that I don't know how many units we'll produce in the first run without doing the preordering first... so I have to think about that. Maybe I'll do a non-paid preorder so I know how many parts we need to order and then the first payment will be done once the prototype including the case is finished and then the next, final one once the units are ready to be shipped.
I'll think about it, and will let you know.
Sorry about the sad news after all the good ones we had during the last few days, but things like that also happen in real life, especially when you got a tight timeframe.
The good thing is that this most likely doesn't change the planned mass production start - only the prototypes.
