Nubs: 100% Success! (2010 - 11 - 21)


It's way worse for us though - the delays surely were NOT our intentions... but I can understand every single one that is pissed off.
For what it's worth, I'm not pissed off ED. At least, not at you guys. I'm just sad that this wonderful project keeps seeing so many setbacks.


Hhmmm, we're all really in this together aren't we :) Well, let's not give up hope just yet. If those Texans kept their word, we can still do this.
 
We are NOT changing to a new company midway of batch 1!

Of course your're considering it, you said so right here:

The company in Taiwan is still working on setting everything up properly, and I might already assembly my units there (still thinking about that), even if the boards are being produced in Texas currently.


That should speed things up a bit :)

Even if you really meant the board company, I still would strongly caution at changing something like this still in batch one. There will be additional unforseen delays, because of shipping (will the assembler send things to customers, or to you, to repackage and forward along with adapters/batteries/cables?), and because they have to iron out initial production/quality control issues. And, of course, they'll need to send some samples back to you guys to verify everything's OK. Think of the time this will add.


You say you'll fly out there to oversee the initial production, but I have to voice some skepticism. You said that for the cases, it didn't happen. You said it for the boards, it didn't happen, either. What's different, here? The cost to fly out two people (plus your time) is not insignificant.

We're looking for alternatives to make production more stable and while the current company is (hopefully) producing the boards, the new one is working on setting up a board production line, as this takes months.


The new company also has a professional assembly line. They would offer us a complete package (production, testing, assembly).


They also offered us to help with the assembly of the remaining units, as it will take a while to assemble them.


If about 100 - 200 units per day are assembled, assembling 3000 units takes a month. They've got 280 employees, so they could assemble 3000 units WAY faster.

You've repeatedly told us that once all the cases are prepared in the UK -- easy to do, since there's lots of spare time with no boards to put in, you've said this will be done several times -- once these are all prepared, you can complete assembly of ~200 Pandoras a day. That's a week do do each batch of 1000, which will be fine, because there's more than a week between each set of 1000 boards being shipped from Texas. Where's the time saved? Later batches, sure, but I just don't understand the benefit here. Not to mention Craig's "We'll never build/assemble in China" <that's where the cases are made> "Sure, it was the right choice" <They take too long> "Lesson learned, we won't do that again, and at least we can still say 'Made in UK', since that's where we're assembling" ... <Now we're going to assemble there, too??>

I'm more concerned about the current board company being able to produce the rest of the boards quickly than I am with cases I know that can ship within 5 days...


How can cases that can ship within 5 days delay any production when we still don't have the boards?

Really? You're going to ask that, now? I'll list a few ways:


They're not actually ready (read: the case company lied ... again).


They still need some work (painted, whatever ... see above).


It's holiday season, so it's harder to get our stuff out, since everyone else is more important (Moon Festival, anyone?)


Because by the time it's time to ship, it will be Chinese new year (Again for the third time.)


Because you found some problem with the current 1000, and the mould needs to be changed, shoulder buttons were sticky, whatever.


Your truck breaks down (can't get them from the airport).


Volcano


Somali Pirates (... Bueller?)


Or, of course, just because the case company is super-slow and everything else they've ever promised took longer than expected? I bet that 5 days doesn't include the travel time. You said the same thing about the boards, while we were waiting for the cases to be built. And look what happened, now.

We've got the cases for the next 2000 units ready to be assembled in UK - and it will take at least 3 weeks to get the boards for them, I assume.

If that's the truly case, then you have virtually no hope of sending any significant number of Pandoras off to arrive before Christmas. That's rather unfortunate, for all involved.


Edit: Added the below, since I hadn't seen it when I started.

I know. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to simply switch to another company. A board this complex needs a lot of setting up, testing, etc.


We started working with a second company a while ago and they'll probably be ready January / February to also start production.


It's a race against the time, but no one can help us here.

Same thing for the QA of the assembly. LCD cables are finicky, don't-cha-know. As commented above.

It's unfortunate that both companies in US seem to be worse than Chinese companies... and we decided to work with US companies as we expected them to do better work.

Which was the other one, the nub company? You were just touting how wonderful they were a couple of weeks ago. And the Case company dragged their heels for months on end ... twice... and you wanted (perhaps still) to switch away from them. I think none of them have been any good.

Well, if the Pandora is going to kill me, then I'm ready for this. Until then, I'll try to support all you guys and keep going.

You should change your name to Energizer Dragon. :) Seriously, though, you do need more rest.

It wasn't really a rant. I can fully understand you.


I can understand everyone that is sad, etc. because of all the delays.


It's way worse for us though - the delays surely were NOT our intentions... but I can understand every single one that is pissed off.

And I (hopefully most of us) recognize that none of this was your desire. But there's been some severe mismanagement of some of these goings-on, and it's not entirely all the fault of the other suppliers. (Nor is it all OPT's fault.) But there's clearly some pretty poor miscommunication around - I'm still pretty confused how your wires got crossed and the remaining cases are still in China - did Fatih just not see any of the multiple posts/blog entries/comments about them having been shipped? Did looking for a new assembly company in Taiwan honestly not come up until now? I find that flabbergasting.
 
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Yes but can any of us say that we'd have done any better? It's easy to sit here and criticise, claim things are obvious and how we'd have done it right from the beginning, but it's all bollocks. There may have been naivety at some point, and deals went wrong etc, but that's because these are a bunch of guys that have never done anything like this before. At least they're still going and haven't abandoned the project.


What's the point of dragging things up and throwing them into his face? The guy is working his tits off to get this through and this kind of thing isn't helping anyone.
 
WOW, I'm seeing a lot of the same fears and frustrations I saw a year ago, when we all realized that the Pandora would not ship for the holidays. It is really very sad that so many things have gone wrong, and that so many who supported the team and this project have reached there boiling points.


The team can ONLY go forward(No other options for them really), for many others, they will drop the project, and go on to other things. My personal unit lost it's left nub recently, so if things go bad, I can't even get my early unit repaired at this point. I also still have some extra units on preorder, so I'm really hoping the board company can come thru and deliver.


So Ed, please hang in there, and try not to have a heart attack before all these problems can be worked out. This is a wonderous device, and I wish that so many others can have the chance to experiance the greatness of the Pandora. You and all the other team members have really made a device for this community, and if you guys had built it 5 years ago things may have been differant, but currently everywhere in the world there is hardships, and very poor business practices. I am still very willing to put $1000 of my own money behind this project(pending a solid business plan?), so that it can be expanded and move forward. I very much still believe that this device can have a great future, but these long term hiccups really need to be put to bed.


At this point, with the amount of funds that have been wasted, and burned up with failed units, someone from the team should really fly to texas and and set up shop at the company. The team can't really waste anymore time and money, than what has already been wasted. Hopefully some really hard descisions can be made ASAP, and hopefully everyone can feel confident in those choices. Good Luck to us ALL! We are going to need it! ;)


Chris
 
For what it's worth, I'm not pissed off ED. At least, not at you guys. I'm just sad that this wonderful project keeps seeing so many setbacks.


Hhmmm, we're all really in this together aren't we :) Well, let's not give up hope just yet. If those Texans kept their word, we can still do this.

Yep :) And I won't give up even they DON'T keep their word :)

Of course your're considering it, you said so right here:

No. That was ASSEMBLY, not the POPULATION.


Meaning: Putting the boards in the cases.


At the moment, that is completely done in UK with 8 employees.


The company has 280 employees and could there build units WAY faster.


To ensure everything is working fine, Fatih and me would be there for the first units to be assembled and check everything out.


This is JUST the case if A LOT of boards will be finished at the same time :)

Even if you really meant the board company, I still would strongly caution at changing something like this still in batch one. There will be additional unforseen delays, because of shipping (will the assembler send things to customers, or to you, to repackage and forward along with adapters/batteries/cables?), and because they have to iron out initial production/quality control issues. And, of course, they'll need to send some samples back to you guys to verify everything's OK. Think of the time this will add.

The way we are setting this up is a way it doesn't delay things.


The new company is setting everything up, we don't know yet when they will be ready (also depends on some parts), but it might be they could start January / February.


If the old company didn't manage to deliver all 3000 boards until then, it might be the new company might deliver the first boards BEFORE the old one has delivered the rest of their boards.


We DON'T STOP the current company, move things over and continue producing there, that would be insane!

You say you'll fly out there to oversee the initial production, but I have to voice some skepticism. You said that for the cases, it didn't happen. You said it for the boards, it didn't happen, either. What's different, here? The cost to fly out two people (plus your time) is not insignificant.

I never said I did that... where have I done that?


Michael and Craig have visited the company in Texas before production started.

You've repeatedly told us that once all the cases are prepared in the UK -- easy to do, since there's lots of spare time with no boards to put in, you've said this will be done several times -- once these are all prepared, you can complete assembly of ~200 Pandoras a day. That's a week do do each batch of 1000, which will be fine, because there's more than a week between each set of 1000 boards being shipped from Texas.

We didn't get all LCD cables from the company in Texas yet (all done by the same company that does the boards).


The current cases incl. LCD cables are prepared in UK, yes.


And we can't prepare more until we receive the last 1000 LCD cables.

They're not actually ready (read: the case company lied ... again).


They still need some work (painted, whatever ... see above).

Our forwarder (the guy that handles shipping and picks up the stuff) has seen them when he picked up the 2000.


They do exist.


They were completed and packaged up when he got there.

It's holiday season, so it's harder to get our stuff out

The next holidays in China are February. Chinese new year.
 
I didn't quit yet, so won't quit any more. BUT I'd be terribly annoyed if I won't get the pandora I ordered 2pm MET day 1 at ED's shop before christmas. Yeah, I talk to you ED, for all the frustration, you owe me a free kick in ya ass. :p
 
I would also like to point out, that even though the board company isn't building as fast as they could/should, the boards that have been produced so far have been top notch quality, right? I haven't heard of any real problems associated in that area. Please correct me if I'm wrong!


The boards have not had quality control issues like the nubs, and cases, lcd ribbons, ect. There are hundreds of parts and components on these boards, and they have all failed in areas that aren't board related. So even if they have been slow, at least they have delivered a qualtity product, which is more than I can say for the other vendors associated with this project. So that is a very good thing IMO!


Chris
 
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I would also like to point out, that even though the board company isn't building as fast as they could/should, the boards that have been produced so far have been top notch quality, right? I haven't heard of any real problems associated in that area. Please correct me if I'm wrong!


The boards have not had quality control issues like the nubs, and cases, lcd ribbons, ect. There are hundreds of parts and components on these boards, and they have all failed in areas that aren't board related. So even if they have been slow, at least they have delivered a qualtity product, which is more than I can say for the other vendors associated with this project. So that is a very good thing IMO!

Yes, the boards are all working fine :)


None failed yet, that's why I'd be VERY happy if they really finish things as planned now :)


Nubs fixed, cases getting better... only VERY few of the later LCD cables failed. And even there we got a new company that is specialized in producing LCD cables for mobile phones now. We described exactly where our cables failed and they created new ones and made sure that won't happen (we will get technical details within the next week).


We're fixing up everything, yes. Sadly, it takes time, but that's not something where we can do a lot.


We WILL continue to work on everything as long as you all continue to support us, that's for sure :)

I didn't quit yet, so won't quit any more. BUT I'd be terribly annoyed if I won't get the pandora I ordered 2pm MET day 1 at ED's shop before christmas. Yeah, I talk to you ED, for all the frustration, you owe me a free kick in ya ass. :p

You're welcome to visit me in Ingolstadt and kick my ass :D


And, yeah, EVERYONE is welcome to visit me in Ingolstadt, as I mentioned multiple times already (and no, that's no lie! A few customers already visited me and we either had some nice coffee or dinner and a very nice conversation) :)
 
Yea I was gutted that I couldn't make it over to Ingolstadt when I was in Grassau back in June (I think it was June), maybe next time!
 
Yep :) And I won't give up even they DON'T keep their word :)


No. That was ASSEMBLY, not the POPULATION.


Meaning: Putting the boards in the cases.

Well, you have to admit that the quote was very unclear, and was in the context of discussing the cases, and whether they needed to be shipped anywhere.

At the moment, that is completely done in UK with 8 employees.


The company has 280 employees and could there build units WAY faster.


To ensure everything is working fine, Fatih and me would be there for the first units to be assembled and check everything out.


This is JUST the case if A LOT of boards will be finished at the same time :)

Are there any significant chances of that? I thought the board company pretty much told us they wouldn't be?

The way we are setting this up is a way it doesn't delay things.


The new company is setting everything up, we don't know yet when they will be ready (also depends on some parts), but it might be they could start January / February.


If the old company didn't manage to deliver all 3000 boards until then, it might be the new company might deliver the first boards BEFORE the old one has delivered the rest of their boards.


We DON'T STOP the current company, move things over and continue producing there, that would be insane!

Sorry; I meant the other way. Certainly, go ahead and try getting another set of boards ready from the second company. But I wouldn't switch the assembler (you guys) at this stage of the game, for fear of having too many boards held up somewhere. My comments about sample and QA issues are in the assembly with someone you don't know well.

I never said I did that... where have I done that?


Michael and Craig have visited the company in Texas before production started.

Not you as in ED, but you as in OPT. I can search to find where you said Fatih would go to China to discuss the cases, and when someone (more recently) said they would go out to Texas to do an inspection - now a community member, instead. Interestingly, community members offered to check up on the cases, during trips to China, but that never happened. Before production is one thing, but the more important one is to oversee the initial production, and to make things are being done as promised, especially when many delays have been introduced by them.

We didn't get all LCD cables from the company in Texas yet (all done by the same company that does the boards).


The current cases incl. LCD cables are prepared in UK, yes.


And we can't prepare more until we receive the last 1000 LCD cables.

You also can't prepare more until you receive the last 1000 cases...


What's the holdup on the cables?

Our forwarder (the guy that handles shipping and picks up the stuff) has seen them when he picked up the 2000.


They do exist.


They were completed and packaged up when he got there.

I hate to say it, but pics or it doesn't exist. If he didn't look inside the box, it could have been anything inside, they only needed to tell us that it was ours. Kind of like how they kept saying everything was done ... and then it suddenly wasn't. You don't trust the board manufacturer when they say they've done 2000 (?) of them, and only shown us pictures of ~200 - what has the case company done differently recently to make you trust them otherwise?

The next holidays in China are February. Chinese new year.

No, I'm pretty sure they'll have lots of shipments out around Christmas. Where do you think many of the devices shipped to the US (or Europe) for the upcoming holidays are made? They might not get time off, but that doesn't mean the planes won't be full.
 
Are there any significant chances of that? I thought the board company pretty much told us they wouldn't be?

That wasn't known back then.


And still: If the new company is faster than the old one, they are needed there.

Sorry; I meant the other way. Certainly, go ahead and try getting another set of boards ready from the second company. But I wouldn't switch the assembler (you guys) at this stage of the game, for fear of having too many boards held up somewhere. My comments about sample and QA issues are in the assembly with someone you don't know well.

We won't really switch them, as Fatih and me will be there to instruct and help.

Not you as in ED, but you as in OPT. I can search to find where you said Fatih would go to China to discuss the cases, and when someone (more recently) said they would go out to Texas to do an inspection - now a community member, instead. Interestingly, community members offered to check up on the cases, during trips to China, but that never happened. Before production is one thing, but the more important one is to oversee the initial production, and to make things are being done as promised, especially when many delays have been introduced by them.

Well, I know Fatih visited them in China once when he was on a trip there.


And you can't just take any random community member and let them visit the company... they won't let them in.

You also can't prepare more until you receive the last 1000 cases...


What's the holdup on the cables?

They are being populated in Texas, at the board company, as mentioned.


500 are finished, they told us.

I hate to say it, but pics or it doesn't exist. If he didn't look inside the box, it could have been anything inside, they only needed to tell us that it was ours. Kind of like how they kept saying everything was done ... and then it suddenly wasn't. You don't trust the board manufacturer when they say they've done 2000 (?) of them, and only shown us pictures of ~200 - what has the case company done differently recently to make you trust them otherwise?

Simply: They produced all the cases at once. And they had all the boxes packed up and ready in one space.


Packing up empty boxes so that the forwarder thinks they are full of cases is ridiculous.

No, I'm pretty sure they'll have lots of shipments out around Christmas. Where do you think many of the devices shipped to the US (or Europe) for the upcoming holidays are made? They might not get time off, but that doesn't mean the planes won't be full.

But then again the last 1000 boards will be held up as well.


After we got 2000 boards from the company in Texas, we can ship the cases from China and they will be in UK way before receiving the last 1000 boards.


We can also ship them after they shipped the remaining LCD cables, as it takes me three days to solder them as well and ship them to UK afterwards.


This will also take longer than the cases need for to be shipped over.


But as long as that hasn't happened, there's no need having them there. We're rather prepared to have them ready for a production in Taiwan in case they are faster than the company in Texas with production.
 
You're welcome to visit me in Ingolstadt and kick my ass :D


And, yeah, EVERYONE is welcome to visit me in Ingolstadt, as I mentioned multiple times already (and no, that's no lie! A few customers already visited me and we either had some nice coffee or dinner and a very nice conversation) :)

Nah, Ingolstadt is too far south. Maybe we'll see us on gamescon. As one of the few german computer-game-programming-students it's pretty likely I'll be there next time :D Get ready to get your ass kicked :p
 
Shoulders with ED - you're doing fine work. How you keep the patience to stay on the backs of the suppliers and answer every question the community throws up whilst remaining so polite, I do not know.
 
ED - Sorry, I've been getting a little frustrated of late. I'm with you to the end.


A bit shocked the cases were not shipped but only because you said they were. I do need your ass kicked for this.


Still, you are forgiven. :p Don't let my comments get you down.


Have a joke to cheer you up:


Rick Ashley asked my daughter if he could borrow her Disney Pixar collection. She said, "You can have Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Cars but I'm never going to give you Up!"
 
Shoulders with ED - you're doing fine work. How you keep the patience to stay on the backs of the suppliers and answer every question the community throws up whilst remaining so polite, I do not know.

Well, I'm one of those guys who think that life works best if you get along with people and if people try to help out each other (similar to the whole OpenSource idea, basically).


To that's what I'm trying to do: Be helpful and try to create amazing things together with the community.


Trying to work with other people only works if you try to understand them as well. So I can fully understand why someone gets pissed off from all the waiting and delays, and therefore, there's no reason to NOT stay calm.

ED - Sorry, I've been getting a little frustrated of late. I'm with you to the end.


A bit shocked the cases were not shipped but only because you said they were. I do need your ass kicked for this.

No need to be sorry. It's perfectly fine and understandable that things are frustrating.


We're trying all we can, but we, too, are only human beings. We cannot do magical work, all we can do is hope for the best and try to solve issues as good as we can.

Have a joke to cheer you up:


Rick Ashley asked my daughter if he could borrow her Disney Pixar collection. She said, "You can have Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Cars but I'm never going to give you Up!"

;) Kids are always fun :D
 
Well, I'm one of those guys who think that life works best if you get along with people and if people try to help out each other (similar to the whole OpenSource idea, basically).

In fact, at the end, this is main reason i decide to be part in this project... even already knowing all the problems behind and ahead...


I'm also with you, ED... it's always a pleasure to read your calm and polite replies... Keep it this way and OP forums will remain a nice place to stay.


Regards.
 
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Well, I'm one of those guys who think that life works best if you get along with people and if people try to help out each other (similar to the whole OpenSource idea, basically).
In fact, at the end, this is main reason i decide to be part in this project... even already knowing all the problems behind and ahead...
+1, this is the only reason I've not canceled is the fact this is an open handheld with a community willing to help each other. This is why I use Linux also, well, one of the reasons. I like to watch these kind of projects mature and think 'how the heck did a small group of people accomplish something like this that the larger companies just can't seem to do or even understand?'


It's an exciting ride!
 
In defense of the team, I do not believe it was ever said that the cases had been shipped. Everything I've read said they would follow by ship. Some assumed they were waiting to be delivered. Some assumed they were waiting to be shipped. I brought it up because it seemed like some people were assuming all the cases were in the U.K. I didn't know about the plant in Taiwan, so waiting to ship the cases didn't make sense.


Anyway, the main reason I preordered was because I wanted a Linux gaming handheld. I do not plan to cancel. I'm hoping to get a gamepad for Christmas to aid in development if it takes a while to get my unit. And after I receive it, I plan to use it with TV out.
 
In defense of the team, I do not believe it was ever said that the cases had been shipped. Everything I've read said they would follow by ship. Some assumed they were waiting to be delivered. Some assumed they were waiting to be shipped. I brought it up because it seemed like some people were assuming all the cases were in the U.K. I didn't know about the plant in Taiwan, so waiting to ship the cases didn't make sense.

I THINK I mentioned they are on the way, as I really thought they had been :)
 
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