As a small manufacturer (much smaller than Elecraft), I can second
much of what you say, but I think most of their problems have to do
with the product being new, and the order volume probably being higher
than projected. That ripples down through the supply chain.
The subcontractor issues are totally different at this stage of
production than with an ongoing product. Portions of the K2 and some
of its options are pre-assembled, and they rely on subcontractors for
PCBs, SMT assembly, enclosures, etc., so Elecraft has some experience
with this methodology on a smaller scale.
FWIW, I would look at the launch of the Orion... a radio almost
entirely built in-house by people with lots of manufacturing expertise
and experience... and it was delayed over 1 year from introduction ;-)
73,
Larry N8LP
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "lesesq" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> For what it's worth, here's my take on the K3 delays.
>
> Elecraft is a company that sells kits, not finished products.
> Virtually all the labor to build the product is supplied by the
> customer, not Elecraft. This was their business model, and it was
> hugely successful, because they offered well designed products,
> excellent instructions, and great support.
>
> With the K3, Elecraft changed its business model from a supplier of
> kits to a supplier of a finished product (either entirely finished by
> Elecraft or 90% finished by Elecraft with the rest done by the
> customer). This change in business model required that Elecraft
> not the customer - supply all or nearly all the labor the get the
> product built.
>
> There were two ways to go: hire people inside or go outside. It
> appears that Elecraft chose to remain small and go outside, hiring
> contractors. Once Elecraft did that, it lost control over the timing
> and results.
>
> Further, Elecraft, as a kit company, didn't have experience dealing
> with contractors supplying labor, which in my experience require
> constant monitoring to avoid surprises and problems. As with all
> humans, it is common for contractors to not acknowledge problems, but
> rather to hope things will work out somehow. From the updates posted
> by Elecraft it appears that most of the problems have arisen with
> custom parts (such as toroids) from contractors, and with assembly
> mistakes by outside board stuffers.
>
> Compounding the problem, Elecraft is a very small company (in
> quantity of business) relative to other companies that do business
> with the contractors. So, when a contractor's scheduling is tight
> and a choice has to be made, Elecraft drops to the bottom of the list
> and the bigger customer gets priority. Also, it sounds like Elecraft
> didn't second source its suppliers to allow for a parachute if the
> prime supplier didn't come through.
>
> It's not easy to get a finished product in stable production that's
> an entirely different animal from acquiring parts for a kit and
> letting the customer supply all the labor to produce the finished
> product and Elecraft is learning as it goes. As Shakespeare put
> it, "Many a slip `twixt the cup and lip." Elecraft greatly
> underestimated the difficulty of this process, and because of its
> inexperience didn't accurately predict the time required.
>
> Elecraft built up a lot of goodwill with its kit business and it's
> riding that to keep things in check with the K3 delays. That's not
> an inexhaustible supply, however.
>
> I'm hopeful this situation will have a happy outcome though
> obviously very belated for all concerned, especially since I'm on
> the K3 wait list myself. And Elecraft has probably learned a lot
> from this experience so that future product releases will be handled
> very differently.
>
> Les WB6MND
>
>
>
> --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Toby Deinhardt <dj7mgq@> wrote:
> >
> > > I reckon 99.9% would have thought much more highly of Elecraft
> > > for a sincere statement like that than the multiple
> > > irregular postings advising of further delays.
> >
> > Overly optimistic maybe, unsincere no.
> >
> > I can understand the frustation and I feel it too; I had hoped to
> > christen my K3 first in the IARU Region 1 FD SSB, then after delays
> in
> > the WAE SSB, still later in the WAG & CQWW DX/SSB contests both
> from 4O.
> > But I also understand that it is very, very difficult to put a time
> line
> > on this kind of stuff. I have this problem at work with software
> > development all the time.
> >
> > Nevertheless, I feel that Elecraft should take their time, get it
> right
> > and not cut any corners for the sake of speed.
> >
> > vy 73 de toby
> >
>
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