Hi Guys
With the current turmoil in the economy and recent e-mails I have received from customers concerned about their orders I am posting another update on order status, delivery times and my business situation. I am also sending individual e-mails to all customers with pending orders a status of their order.
Cast and photo-etched parts are all in stock to complete all orders, with extra parts to fill new orders.
Deadline to complete all current orders March 1, 2012.
Current order status and shipping.
76 orders shipped since the middle of November 2011. Containing 493 parts or sets.
51 orders currently being processed. Containing 478 parts or sets. Parts or sets made ready to ship 264.
6 orders placed and awaiting payment. Containing 41 parts or sets.
The above numbers relate to the last three months of business with several orders placed more than three months ago. Most of these orders that are past due over three months were held up due the bronze cast parts, I placed a order with my bronze caster around April/May 2011 for a new stock of parts which normally took 6 to 8 weeks to deliver, in July I tried contacting him to no avail. In September I found out the he had been in hospital for around 3 months and past away. I was able to recover my molds, found a new caster and had the parts made, which I picked in early January this year. I now have enough bronze parts to fill orders plus extras.
These bronze parts are for the TT11 MG AA Mounts, TT03 Tow Rope Sets, TT18 and Pan12 SD Antennas, plus wing nuts for the TT03, TT28 and Pan15 Periscopes, TT37 Cupolas, Gent007 and 008 Stab Antennas, plus a few other items. All these parts are now in the process of production or completed.
The past three months have been a rough ride, which included a cash flow problem in November were it looked like I might have to cease business, however many loyal customers came to my aid and I am finally catching up on my backlog of work, by the end of this month I should be able to fill orders, even large ones in less than four weeks.
In addition to this post I am posting two other subjects, one on what is involved in the production of my parts which may be of interest to some of you. The other post will show my workshop and machinery I use in the production of parts.
If you have taken the time to read this post and the other two, I hope you will have a understanding of what it takes to produce over 250 basic sets of accessories for this great hobby and will continue to support me so I can continue to serve you as a customer.
Now a little insight into the possible move to a smaller workshop, my main reason for this is to reduce my over heads as current income does no justify the large workshop I have. I would much rather stay were I am as everything is accessible for production. Moving to a smaller shop will restrict access to machines, with less workbenches and slow down production. I have about five weeks to make this decision as my current lease expires on March 31st. My workshop is 1755 square feet of which a third is storage area in a adjacent building. The smaller shop I am looking at is 825 square feet, with careful organization and building higher stowage shelving I can make it work, but it will mean much of my machinery will have to be stowed and pulled out to work with. This will slow down production and ultimately delay deliveries. For a better understanding of this see the post on my workshop.
Your support and possible orders over the next four weeks will help me decide which way to go.
Regards
Mike