I respectfully disagree. Amateur radio has made several people very, very
wealthy over the decades and the market today is larger than it's ever been,
globally.
Workflow management, arranging JITs with vendors and having them stock the
parts on their shelves, developing a flex force for assembly (all part timers:
when there's no work, they do other things), maintaining inventory of semi
finished goods that can be completed, tested and shipped within 5 days and so
forth is all S.O.P. for a good Ops guy. This is what they're paid to manage.
A good one with connections can also arrange financing for all of that so most
materials are handled at no cost until they're shipped. And yes, this works
for small companies as well as large ones. I've had CIPs (consigned inventory
programs) at companies from huge to miniscule; this means all my raw material
inventory was consigned at no cost until used and shipped and then they're paid
for. The suppliers *will* work with professionals on such programs, but not
with amateurs who haven't done it before.
Military/aerospace is quite different since even "COTS" stuff really isn't.
Everything is manufactured to contract and doesn't start until the contract is
received. In most cases, if hardware ships sooner than 180 days ARO, the user
wouldn't know what to do with it yet because they're still waiting for other
parts, or software, or debugging, or something. Different animal.
To me ham gear is no different than an automobile or a dishwasher. When I need
one, I'll buy it and I expect delivery immediately or I'll simply go somewhere
else.
WB2WIK/6
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Fatchett W0MU [mailto:w0mu@w0mu.com]
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 10:20 AM
To: 'Bob Maser'; Steve Katz; 'Kelly Johnson'; 'mrlogs'
Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
This is amateur radio with a limited marketplace. Not Xerox.
What is interesting is that those companies are also providing some of the
best leading edge products in the hobby.
Yes the world if filled with I have to have it now people. If they want to
sacrifice performance, quality and other things so they can have today so be
it.
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob Maser
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 10:41 AM
To: Mike Fatchett W0MU; 'Steve Katz'; 'Kelly Johnson'; 'mrlogs'
Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
If Steppir, FlexRadio and Elecraft had shorter leadtimes when they
introduced their products they would have sold more equipment. Having to
wait for 6 months or more is a turn-off for most. As I recall, Elecraft
also allowed you to cut in front of others by allowing them to use your
money while you were waiting.
Most, if not all of these companies are run by engineers and engineers have
no concept of practices like Just In Time(JIT)manufacturing, line flow
balancing, queue elimination, and vendor relationships. They also never
stop designing the product and this causes delays and increases costs
because of material that has to be scrapped. When I worked at Xerox in the
70's they went to a block cut-in mode when making changes. Any improvement
to the design was shelved until the next cut-in block and it took an act of
congress to violate this rule. It is usually easy to spot a company that is
run by engineers. There is unfinished product lying all over the place
waiting for parts to arrive from vendors. Work in Process investment is
usually ignored until someone points out that costs of manufacturing have
gone through the roof.
Excuse my ramblings,
Bob W6TR
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Fatchett W0MU" <w0mu@w0mu.com>
To: "'Steve Katz'" <stevek@jmr.com>; "'Kelly Johnson'"
<n6kj.kelly@gmail.com>; "'mrlogs'" <mrlogs@verizon.net>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
> Tell that to SteppIR and Elecraft. You will wait months for many of their
> products as the demand is far greater than their ability at this time to
> supply.
>
> Do you really expect a small firm to have one or two of everything they
> offer built and ready for shipping at all times?
>
> I would rather wait for a superior product than settle for less because it
> was available.
>
> Tashjian should do a better job at communicating a realistic deliver time.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve Katz
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 9:23 AM
> To: Kelly Johnson; mrlogs
> Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
>
> "Months" is not a reasonable delivery cycle for a product. This obviously
> implies the product is built one by one, to order, and there is a long
> queue
> preceding each.
>
> That's unfortunate, because it is a good product but I certainly wouldn't
> wait "months" for one. When buying anything I always ask not for what I
> want, but for what the vendor has. "What do you have that you could ship
> tomorrow?"
>
> I guess I'm used to that being in the industry I'm in, where 24 hours lead
> time is unacceptably long and multimillion dollar contracts are won and
> lost
> based on who can ship in 12 hours instead.
>
> -WB2WIK/6
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Kelly Johnson
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 8:13 AM
> To: mrlogs
> Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
>
>
> You certainly didn't get that from me. As I said, mine came on time and
> took less than 6 months from the time I first talked to Karl about my
> tower
> plans until the time it arrived at my door. Where did you get the 1 to 2
> year idea?
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 4:34 PM, mrlogs <mrlogs@verizon.net> wrote:
>> OK..So basically..I'll get the tower, etc..Might take a year, year and
>> a half, 2 years..but I'll get it "eventually".Guess that's OK
>> then.....I'll just forget about the order for now...and maybe next
>> Spring, Summer.......who knows?..
>>
>> 73'.. Tom N3ZC
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Johnson"
>> <n6kj.kelly@gmail.com>
>> To: "mrlogs" <mrlogs@verizon.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:41 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tashjian Tower Orders
>>
>>
>>> I did and I had no issues. I bought a brand new LM-354HD Tashjian
>>> Tower 2.5 years ago. I live only about 2 hours away from Tashjian,
>>> so they kindly delivered the base fixture a few weeks early, then
>>> delivered the tower right on schedule the day of the installation.
>>> K7LXC made a special trip down to the Bay Area from Washington, so
>>> any delay from Tashjian would have been a disaster. Fortunately,
>>> they delivered and I couldn't be happier with the tower. It is
>>> extremely heavy duty, overkill for my case actually.
>>>
>>> I must admit, though, that I started talking to Tashjian about my
>>> tower plans almost 6 months early, right before getting my permit.
>>> Tashjian sent the full tower specs and drawings with dry stamps about
>>> 5 months before my install. I used the documents in my permit
>>> application which I received in early January. The tower went up in
>>> April without a hitch.
>>>
>>> I'm a happy Tashjian customer.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 12:04 PM, mrlogs <mrlogs@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> OK..has anyone here actually purchased a new tower from Tashjian
>>>> Tower (not used from somewhere, etc) and if so..how long did it take
>>>> to get it?..I see lots of comments..no one saying they bought one
>>>> new from Tashjian Towers (not TriEx)..The comments I've read here
>>>> implies it's been an exercise in futility?....
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!.. Tom N3ZC
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> TowerTalk mailing list
>>>> TowerTalk@contesting.com
>>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>>>
>>
>>
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