Questions, Curiosities Re: the Business-end of Open-Pandora

[emcee]

Well, the workday should be about over in Texas (at least for those in the office), and judging from lack of updates, I guessing there's no news, or good news from the board manufacture.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, the workday should be about over in Texas (at least for those in the office), and judging from lack of updates, I guessing there's no news, or good news from the board manufacture.

There are news, just haven't had time to post them yet.


It's nighttime here in Germany, I had some food and the hours between 8pm and 11:30pm are reserved for my girlfriend

 

[DaMummy]

is it 11:31 there yet?

 

[EvilDragon]

is it 11:31 there yet?

Yeah, it's 1:15am here, but I also had to reply to eMails, browse the boards, etc.


I'll post the news before I go to bed, promised

 

[SNESFAN]

I have a feeling I'm going to be punching a wall before I go to bed

 

[benji_stein]

I have a feeling I'm going to be punching a wall before I go to bed

I have that feelling, too. History with this project has shown us that slow news is bad news.

 

[benji_stein]

Yes, it certainly is their fault. However, except for the one week pause where they told us it takes a while to get the new materials, they got a new prototype and test run with each new week.


Getting prototypes within 3 days and testing them immediately is what I call fast.


While it shouldn't have happened in the first place, they were really working on fixing it.

That's like saying "the surgeon left a towel in my chest after heart surgery a year ago. He only found out about it now, but he's scheduled me to have it removed in a couple of days." Sure, it's great that they're fixing it fast, but it really should have been tested originally, or at the very least caught somewhere in the past ... year was it? year and a half? ... we had the nubs sitting around, doing nothing.

We don't need a tracking number, as we have a forwarder who handles the shipping for us who has nothing to do with the company, so yeah, we know they are there.


They DID make 1k cases a day. But that excludes shipping and any setup, etc.


We're not they're only customer. They sometimes have leadtimes up to 1,5 months. The cases had been done within a few days, but painting takes way longer.

I call foul. How many times did they promise us they'd send us a sample "in a few days" only to find out when it should almost have *arrived* that they hadn't even finished the mould changes yet? We saw painted samples on April 20, which were quickly approved. The cases were only ready on May 9, and that's me being generous. Because that sample should have been sooner, and doesn't even take into account shipping. Either way, thats's roughly 20 days(!) to build and paint a measly 1000 cases. How quickly you forget. And I still maintain that if they hadn't taken so long with the moulds/samples, you would have seen the nub issues and board delays FAR sooner.

I want to second that I'm pretty happy right now with the main companies involved apart from the board company.


However I'm not jumping the gun yet, I'm prepared to see what they have to say tomorrow.


The case company have much improved, the new batch we have clearly shows they have listened to our issues and solved them. I was very pleased.


The nub company have done all they can to solve the issues and I'm happy that the new nubs will be solid.

/me blinks.


Wasn't it you, Craig, who said you wanted the moulds out of China as soon as possible and you had found a promising new case manufacturer (somewhere in the north, I forget where, ATM; don't feel like searching - Scotland, I think?).


The case company took how long to produce this latest set?


Let's think:


Early June - next set ordered


07/8 - supposedly painting


9/29 - finally ship


And you're pleased??

Ok, that does sound bad. I was working under the belief that every delay from the boards has been because you guys have told them to hold back as you're still waiting on other parts and didn't want bare electronics just hanging about filling up space. From that, combined with your reporting that they asserted they'd have all the boards (minus nubs) done today, made it seem like the board company was the only one actually on top of their responsibilities. For the reality to be so different from the picture previously painted is a bit of a shock. Let's hope it isn't a problem and those pictures were merely of a respective sample.

I'm with WizardStan, here. That's the impression I got, as well, from those same explanations. Sure, none of the companies are great, and they've all had their royal screw-ups, and never do anything as fast as they say they will. But to say that they're the only ones not doing things properly is a load of crock.


I'm sick and tired here (literally - I've got a nasty cold), so I apologize if I've come across as a bit harsh. But I'm also sick and tired of waiting around for a Pandora, with the continual excuses and delays, along with not only blaming every one else you've dealt with, but *changing your mind* about who's been successful or a let down. I think you're a great bunch of guys, and I still wish all the best for this project. But seriously. It's not always everybody else's fault. I know you've been through a lot, and many of the issues were out of your control, but I can't help but think of that one motivational poster.

 

[levi]

I agree that the nub company and the case company have dropped the ball in the past, but I've some sympathy for the board company. Mass production processes like the pandora PCB can't be stopped and started, and storage takes up valuable space. If your customer has previously delayed multiple times and isn't now jumping up and down, why not get on with something else you've already been paid for, and can ship out immediately? They're especially in a tricky situation since they're acting as customers for the nubs. They have ramped up production now it's becoming clear that the nub issue looks to have been solved, though they've not hit their originally claimed numbers yet. I still remember that they needed to buy a new machine just to reach the rates they were originally claiming, and I also remember that before we all knew the original nubs weren't up to scratch, they claimed to be ready to ship 'hundreds' of units. They've made their fair share of boo-boos in the past, but ultimately they haven't delayed the project yet so there's little point getting too excited about it IMO.