China screw-ups

After going ahead and shelling out yet more cash to mold metal pieces to be attached to the motors, so as to make Mr Tang's job simpler (he already messed up 70 motors and we still don't have a good, clean and professional outcome), now the company that welds the metallic bits to the motors used such a pressure and temperature that they melted the motors and the metal bit together and the two are damaged and looking real bad - the 10 test motors probably got damaged in the process, but it's useless to even test them because the amount of molten metal on the bottom will create problems for the mold.

Today Jason learned for the first time that Mr Tang has already consumed 70 of our rare motors (maybe 75). He said from now on he will manage this himself, which is really good news because he is the only person in China who has consistently solved problems and never lied.

In the meantime, we already waited 24 hours for the assembly house to OK our new remote control design, and now they're saying it has a problem, but won't say what, and we're again waiting.



Folks, getting things done in China is a herculean effort, prepare to battle against dozens of people and suppliers like a randori Akido death match. They will screw EVERYTHING up from all directions, and unless you are a professional in all areas or can become one, and unless you're willing to teach them step by step and put up with extreme levels of incompetence, lack of care and professionalism and flat out lies, your best bet is to speak with a more erudite counterpart in the West, and yes it will cost you 5 times as much, but your job will be simplified by 1/50th.

We absolutely don't have the funds to get any of this done in the west, so, we put up with everything, and in the end it's us having to give the bad news and post about delays when thousands of you are waiting for the product... just because a company here can't even be relied on to weld two metal pieces together cleanly just like you'd do for a battery pack.

We're sending 6 more motors to Jason, because we've only got 6 sample metal pieces left to test with. If all goes well he'll have them welded in a couple of days and then we can go to Mr Tang's factory again to test the overmold. If that succeeds we're done, if not we'll change rubber supplier. If things do not go well the motors will suffer further delays but as we said previously, the product is not being held up by the motors.

Right now:

- the company bank account must be created and payment processing obtained (waiting for government and papers)

- the remote control design must be approved (waiting for PCBA house), then we need to make test boards in Korea, test the ground plane and circuitry to recharge the li-poly cell, then make another plastic prototype to ensure everything fits and is final, then start with the plastic mold which should take 30 days.

These are the big things that need to happen, they are not challenges really, but it's a process that takes time since we're nobody's largest client and we're probably last on everyone's list...

Comments

By lance_lake at 2010-05-20 06:34:24 Reply

Do you have an updated price for the unit with and without the motor?

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-05-20 06:35:23 Reply

No we won't until the very end.

By akw123 at 2010-05-20 10:15:50 Reply

In a way the problems with the motor molding was one of the issues that I grouped as a quality issue in my last post. Most quality experts measure quality with at least two nines. 1 out of 70 does not even come close. To me this was a bad decision to announce a "new" feature without having a successful manufacturing process to back this feature up. The "good-boy" feature is consuming resources such as time and especially money that could be put to solve some of the other issues. Of course in today's "push-button" culture why invest some time in rewarding your prize possession when you can simple push a button instead? When the answer is we have to find a use for the motors we just purchased. I would be surprised if in review you allow this post to actual post.

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-05-20 12:23:55 Reply

Operant conditioning is a well established field and it requires both positive and negative stimulation.



Motors were purchased with a goal in mind and that goal will be achieved despite adversities.

By akw123 at 2010-05-21 13:49:01 Reply

I understand the principal behind positive reinforcement. There may be other ways to provide this reinforcement without the motors.



Basically we have a Dl2000 without the "good-boy" feature for X number of dollars. DL2000 with "good-boy" feature X+Y dollars. Official offering this combination is irrelevant; The value for X is where you are today without "good-boy" and Y is the additional cost with.

Will the motors really make that much difference? And at what additional cost? (That's Y in the above statement). Is this cost benefit justified? not by you but your potential customers.



I may be wrong but I believe your potential customer based was based upon the DL2000 without the "good-boy" feature.

Just my opinion.

By dreamloverlabs at 2010-05-21 20:01:54 Reply

By the same logic there are other ways to deliver aversive stimuli without the current pulse. ;)

The value of the good boy feature will be understood soon.

Stimulation is a chastity enhancer.