[Elecraft] Shipping status ...ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

[Stewart Baker]

Eric,
Thank you for such a "Spot On" email.

73
Stewart G3RXQ
On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:53:23 -0800, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote:
> Hi Julian,
>
> I apologize for the delays getting you (and everyone else) your K3. We
> are absolutely working as hard as possible to get K3s out the door
> quickly. Every time I see a complaint here (and elsewhere) about
> delivery delays, status accuracy etc., I take every posting very
> personally (especially those criticizing our veracity) and agonize over
> how we can improve things further.
>
> To be totally, and brutally, honest, we were absolutely amazed at the
> amount of orders we received at introduction of the K3. (We're not a
> venture capital financed company that can staff up and spend millions of
> dollars before shipping our first K3.) We certainly underestimated the
> ongoing response and have been playing catch up as we have added staff
> and vendors to meet the demand. This has strained not only our own
> staff, but that of our vendors too. They are doing a great job
> responding, but we are continually looking for additional resources. My
> day starts out -very- early with a review of what new issues and
> problems have to be addressed to keep production rolling and how we can
> improve our run rate. The term 'fire drill' is now permanently engraved
> on the back of my head ;-) Fire drills encompass everything from vendors
> not delivering parts and assembled PCBs on schedule, wrong or faulty
> parts received, key employees out sick, test and alignment taking longer
> than expected, pcb assembly errors at a vendor (requiring rework here),
> customers who personally want to talk with me etc. etc. All of this is a
> normal part of any product ramp up (I've been there before..), and it is
> getting better and more predictable daily. But it takes a lot of effort
> to make sure we increase our output -and- maintain our admittedly high
> quality standards.
>
> As we go forward our shipping estimates will continue to both increase
> in volume and get more accurate. I'm trying to be as honest and as
> conservative as possible with my current shipping estimates, and so are
> Lisa and her crew. But we're human too and will make mistakes or be over
> optimistic from time to time. It is very hard to accurately estimate
> delivery out past a 3-4 week window and I'm sure Lisa and crew have been
> pressured into guessing on some estimates. I'm actually trying to get to
> the point where we will regularly exceed our posted estimates. If my
> 'fire drill' threshold is not exceeded this month I think we'll be there
> soon! :-)
>
> Our new order rate is strong (and increasing!) and we have had very few
> cancellations (I can count them on one hand), which has given us the
> confidence to spend even more on staffing, inventory and other
> resources. As K3s have gotten out into the field people are showing
> their rig to their friends and we're getting a lot of referral orders.
> We've now been able to increase our daily production rate ahead of the
> order rate, so my confidence is increasing that we're on the right track
> to keep everyone happy.
>
> As always, we will refund any deposits (and still keep an order active)
> and/or cancel anyone's order without delay should they feel the need to
> do so.
>
> Lastly, please stop arguing with each other here about what should or
> should not be said about K3 deliveries. We want the feedback. But also,
> please tone down the rhetoric and personal criticisms - we are human
> here too and we lose sleep over these postings.
>
> We're doing our best to make the K3 a superb rig and to get it out to
> you as quickly as possible. As always, please feel free to email me
> directly if you feel we have done or said anything you take issue with )
> or just want to vent! :-)
>
> 73, Eric   WA6HHQ
> ------
>
> G4ILO wrote:
>> Jim-170 wrote:
>>
>>> Please give the fine staff at Elecraft a break. They are providing a great
>>> service to our Amateur Community......
>>>
>>>
>> And there was me thinking they were advertising products for sale and
>> entering into contracts with people who placed orders for them! How silly of
>> me!
>>
>> -----
>> Julian, G4ILO K2 s/n: 392  K3 s/n: ???
>> G4ILO's Shack: www.g4ilo.com
>> Zerobeat Ham Forums: www.zerobeat.net/smf
>>
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