Plan B pride
2008-12-06 by (i think you can figure that out)
I just posted tthe following comment on Muff Wiggler. It stems form a rather pointed remark made sighting the best part of the new box we're using is it wil allow for easy transport form and to when modules have to be returned several times to fix a problem. I feel it's pertainent here as well only because this is the first place most go to get info on Plan B goods. My response follows: I'l let that one slide (saved yourself with the love thing at the end!), but really...this is a supremely unfair remark you're making which is potentially hazardous to the reputation I personally spend my life trying to uphold. You must remember something...in the Spring of 2008 I hired six people, some of which had no previous experience with electronics. We went from about 28 modules every two weeks to our current average of 50 modules A WEEK in four months time. There was a slight learning curve. While some of the defects which got out there were bullshit and should not have been shipped, some where ridiculously silly (slightly loose nuts on jacks, knobs which weren't perfectly aligned with the markers). I mean...pull the f'ing knob off and put it on right. Understand we are human and therefore privy to all the behavioral miswires the species enjoys and these things will escape from time to time that possibly shouldn't have. 50 units a week...sometimes this will happen. As far as the other issues, some were what I call serious and I've put MANY QA steps in our system - some coming a quite an expense - to make them go away. QA stamps, separately boxed modules, and now a dedicated QA inspector in our assembly process. Deopfer doesn't put his products in boxes when they ship them, we do. I'm not going to go into all the corrective actions we've undertaken...anyone is free to join the Plan B blog (yahoo) to get that breakdown, they've been listed, but what bothers me personally is while I've seen a bunch of gripes, I've not seen many people speak about the corrective actions which have removed these problems. WhIie I completely encourage peaole to use blogs for these types of things, making points about them BEFORE EVEN CONTACTING US ABOUT IT I see a a bit cowardly and completely counterproductive to the problem at hand - getting the issue solved. It does wonders for ruining reputations, granted..so if this is your intent you're on the right track. Ive had public complaints about our rework methodology although we incorporate standards used by NASA. When I was the QA Manager at Western Digital for their US PCBA manufacturing division I wrote the companywide workmanship standards for printed through hole PCBAs which were approved by both ATT and IBM Boca Raton before it went into circ. These are the two companies that introduced zero defect acceptance policies in commercial electronics. If it was good enough for them, I feel it's good enough for Plan B. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was a guy who wrote me about his M13 response, got my reply which listed the technical reasons behind this (again...it's the VACTROLS), posted his complaint to the net, but at no time did he amend his comments with the reason why this was happening. This left me the rather daunting task of trying to hunt all these down and commenting myself. What ever. There was another guy who didn't like the way my M10 worked and cut components out when he returned them to make a point it was us, not him. Weird solution as I really don't care if someone doesn't share my vision so to speak, this is to be expected with the wide range of applications musicians have, but to damage something to make a point is strange. OK, he did it...fine (but creepy) but he went on the net and complained about it as if he had received them in this state which he hadn't. What I'm trying to get to here, and admittedly I'm trying to find the magic words to make people understand what it's like to be on this side of the desk, is that we did realize there was a few problems...but we did something about them and they all but went away. Yes, there will still be defect escapes from time to time, again...we are as human as you are, but they are no longer trends, they are exceptions. So yeah, I read these blogs. and yeah it effects my pride when a point is made of something we've successfully addressed. Please (try to) understand our side of the issues here. If my diatribe here went well with you feel free to take that into consideration when ripping us a new butt on blogs. respectfully submitted, - P