As you know, 2 months ago I changed "real jobs". Over the last 5 weeks or so, I
have been quite busy getting "settled in", going to product training, etc. There
has not been a lot of pressure because I had no immediate boss. However they did
hire me one (bound to happen eventually) and now, ∗his∗ boss wants the 2 of us
to really "actively engage with the customer" as we used to say in 1999
.com-speak.
Looking ahead to my work schedule, the next 6 weeks is pretty booked up.
Therefore, there will be a slowdown (even more so that my usual slow pace) in
shipping. This is ∗not∗ to say the shipping will stop completely. Rather, I will
say that instead of shipping an average of 12 orders/week, I will ship 4 to 6.
I do expect the work load to ease up at the end of May.
Also: I am going to use the month of June ∗primarily∗ for the AudioEngine
development boards. These are "real hardware" boards that we can use to write
firmware (both Verilog and C for the ARM) to get the Cloud Generator ready for
shipment. The board is not necessarily "hard" or "complex", but it is very ∗time
consuming∗ because of the SMT, it is a 6-layer pc board (like the '650 is) and
you have to carefully place certain parts on certain power/ground planes and
then route certain signals a certain way :)
Now, let's talk about 2 things: email and 'shipping order'.
I'm sorry if you think just because you send me an email, you expect an answer
quickly. I ∗read∗ all the emails fairly quickly as a rule. However, if I am at
say Raytheon Aerospace for a 2 day meeting, then 2 days may pass before I can
read or reply. Why? Because I am not allowed to have a cell phone OR computer on
the property.
Also, as some of you have discovered: if you are emailing me just to 'chew me
out" I tend to ignore those completely.
Sometimes, your email is blocked coming or going. This happen recently with a
customer in the UK. I could see his emails, but his ISP blocked all of my
responses.
If you suspect email is not getting through, try this alternate address:
syntht@... with the understanding I check this email maybe 3 times a
∗week∗.
Lastly, several folks are surprised that I do not "ship in order", meaning order
#344 is shipped, then #345, #346, #347, .........
I have ∗never∗ done this, and for many reasons, including:
a) best use of available time. If say it's looking like all I will have next
weekend is 3 MOTM hours to 'use up', it that 3 hours better served building
∗one∗ assembled MOTM-480 or shipping ∗14∗ MOTM orders for CEMs, blank boards,
etc?
b) cash flow, which is part of (a). If I can ship 6 orders at $200ea in the same
time as 1 $349 order, and sitting over in the Bills holder is $1100 worth of
Mouser/Digikey invoices, what would you do?
c) parts being out of stock. I didn't have mounting rails for like 3 months. I
am just now clearing out mounting rails orders form late last year.
The bet way to "deal with me" to get your stuff is to patiently wait. Believe
me: I am ∗painfully aware∗ of orders that stretch out month after month after
month. Every 2 weeks or so I look at ∗every single order∗ in the backlog. If you
have an order using the new shopping cart, it's assigned an Order Number and I
have a nice Excel spreadsheet with all the details. I can see when you ordered,
what you ordered, and how long you have been waiting.
If anything, I do not want ∗anyone∗ thinking that I have 'singled you out' and
put you at the "bottom of the pile" for being a pain-in-the-rear. It's ∗ME∗ that
is the pain-in-the-rear. But the important message is that it is ∗not by design,
but out of necessity∗. I'm going as fast as I can, in a way that maximizes the #
of orders shipped in any given time frame that I have to balance against my cash
flow situation. Is this any way to "run a business"? Not at all :)
Looking at the backlog: the majority of modules are -
a) VCOs (both kits and assembled)
b) MOTM-510s (kits and assembled)
c) MOTM-440s (mostly assembled)
d) 'leftover' kits that Indiana was ∗supposed∗ to ship by Dec 15th but failed to
do so.
These 4 things (and Frac modules to AH) is what I will focus on between now and
when AudioEngine development starts. If you are owed something not in this list,
chances are it will be ∗July∗ until I can ship.
Paul S.