Ok. I admit I’m not watching maybe as closely as I should, given my investment. But, where’s the magnet?
It’s going to end up being over a year late
Got it. Thanks! Time goes fast. Is it just one year? I totally understand the production delays, especially these days. Thanks for the link to the update!
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We got a note from the designer / factory that recent tests may have succeeded, but we won’t know for sure until we get some more samples, hopefully soon.
Even if they’ve figured out the technical hurdles, we still have the port and trucking slowdowns to contend with. There have been apparently massive delays in manufactured stuff getting into the US and getting around the US on wheels.
We’ll cross that bridge / harbor / highway when we get to it, but I’m just saying, these are weird times and we’re all probably in for even more waiting than we’d like.
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At some point the consumer has to be a consumer. It’s been well over a year and it’s constant delays. I get it. Shit happens. How about some updates to the the people that put down money? Every month there should be an update on what’s happening.
I don’t mean to cause too much of a stir. But I work in a similar industry though, granted, with a company that has a much less limited funding base where quality is job ONE. So, WITH the allocated funds, what is the limitation? Is it really tech? Or, just can’t pay for the talent to figure it out very quickly? Transparency is key. It actually enhances forgiveness (but don’t expect a miracle in that regard). What’s really the deal? Is it in trouble (sounds like it). How can that be fixed?
We’ve written lots of updates to the people who put down money. They’re all very similar. Factory tries to make a thing, gets a less than perfect result for obscure technical reasons, tries again. We’ve provided many, many details and photographs documenting this.
The only thing responsible for delays between these very same-sounding updates is our desire to report something different and substantial. Meaning, we assume that nobody really wants another update with the same exact reportage — I know I don’t. So the thought it is, well, if we give it a couple more weeks, they may solve whatever widget-level technical challenge they’re working on and send us a photo of something that looks like a finished product.
We have been ultra-transparent. If you haven’t seen our last update, I’ll post a link to that here since we included a few notes specifically to address any concerns someone may have about money and where it has or hasn’t gone. Here’s that link:
In short, this isn’t a money issue. The cash is all there waiting to place an order. Not only that, but our instructional business runs itself and doesn’t depend on Kickstarter money. This is purely the factory’s job to figure out how to mold the plastic parts. They make their money on the back end once they can receive our order and start churning out units.
One more thing I’ll mention. We’re a small business, obviously, so we can’t throw money or weight around to get things done faster. On a whim I called a few factories here in the US just to see if maybe some kind of local expertise would be able to make the Magnet faster. We’re probably too far down the road with the current factory to really switch, but whatever, I felt like knowing. Anyway, great conversation with one that was local to us here in New York, really helpful. Then the guy asks how many we want to make, and I said oh, you know, 3-4000 or so. His response? We can’t make anything for less than twenty times that number of units. This is not some kind of giant factory with an impossible waiting list. In fact they had capacity and were happy to take the call. Just not the job. So that was a useful perspective.
Finally, on time frame. What’s going on in the world right now is grinding everything to a halt, even for larger businesses. I was speaking to a contact at a large music industry manufacturer a few days ago and I asked if they have been affected by pandemic and supply chain issues. Here’s what he had to say:
“There’s rolling power outages at factories, there’s COVID shutdowns at factories and at ports; there’s a shortage of containers, a shortage of trailers and shortages of drivers. There’s shortages at the ports. Not to mention raw material shortages and price increase. On and on and on…. We are planning ahead 9 months, and up to 12 months with some product. I joke around that I can develop a product but by the time it’s released I’ve forgotten all about it!”
So yes, everything is taking a crazy long amount of time right now, for multiple reasons. Our little project might take a long time to make in any year, just because the Magnet is apparently a tricky product to manufacture technically, and also beacuse we’re not making enough of them to really motivate large manufacturers to work on it night and day.
The best approach currently is to let the factory continue to address whatever remaining technical issues related to the plastic molding process. We got a photo last week of one part that looked good and are waiting to hear back if they were able to uncover any issues with that test run. If they can send any more good photos we’ll send another technical update shortly.
I think you’ve handled it very professionally. Not much more can be said, all the updates are in the link at the top of the thread. People would complain if you sent monthly updates because of “spam” lol; it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
It’s very bad for everyone in every industry right now because of COVID, especially because of the new variant. NYC is a mess. I don’t think the situation is going to be changing any time soon.
When it gets here, it gets here. I’m fine with the wait.
Doing the best we can on this! Which is tough when there’s not much you really can do but wait around. We’ll get there.
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I know you are crankin’! Don’t mean to disparage. And I know design cycles are long with this level of budgeting with this level of high expectation on quality. Thank you for pushing this along! I suspect I speak for everyone that a successful outcome is not something we’re concerned about. I guess I just want to start using ASAP. And, if there’s anything I can do to help, I’m there.
I think this is going to be so easy to use and once available you will see unbelievable response from the users that there is a MASSIVE sales window. So, I guess, good to just wait 'til it’s “done right.”
Well, that’s one thought. “Get it out there ASAP” is another. Depends on how confident you are that the answer is close.
Appreciate the feed back!