Falling in love

[woodyspedden]

OK, just spoke to RRS again. The engineer spoke to the owner of the machine shop and "it's on the long, long list" of items to get through. Apparently, a back-order of 200 Nikon D700 plates is in the way, so I blame Nikon users. :ROTFL:

Anyway, he said to keep calling (and I will). He was hopeful that "a couple of weeks" would be the time frame, but those of us who have waited for RRS stuff in the past know how this can go.

Dale

WOW!

I know RRS is a small shop but this reeks of very poor planning.
Also there can't be that many requests for MF L plates that they would be unable to do a short run. Sounds like the backlog of D700 plates is not going to be relieved any time soon so doing the short run of MF plates should not terribly affect it.

Woody

 

[Dale Allyn]

Woody,

I get the impression that the relatively fewer requests for the MF L plates doesn't help our cause. Maybe we need more people to submit orders for the L plate.

Actually, they've been very nice about it, and they are aware that some of us really want/need the L-plate. I can go with Kirk if need be, but I prefer to stay with the RRS if possible. And Kirks model doesn't accommodate the hand-strap without work or by using Jack's technique. I like that the RRS plate has the two detent pins as well.

Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll get the run done soon.

 

[woodyspedden]

I hear you Dale and would like to help more but I already bought my RRS L bracket for the Hassy H3DII-39 and love it as I have loved all RRS brackets for the past 8 bodies I owned.

My only point is that a capable machine shop, given appropriate direction, could easily turn out 10-15 L brackets in no more than two days if that long. That would eliminate the backlog and have a lot of enthusiastic and happy customers.

On the other hand, a backlog of 700 brackets for the D700 is not going to go away anytime soon so why not stick the MF L brackets into the middle of that production run and acknowledge the realities. Then tomorrow go back to producing the D700 brackets. This imposes a day or two delay on 20 or so customers who are waiting for that plate. The approach they have taken is to impose a very substantial delay on ALL MF users who have to wait for the entire backlog of D700 brackets to be fulfilled before seeing the first of the MF brackets. Doesn't sound like a sound marketing approach to me but JMHO. YMMV

Woody

 

[Jack]

Well, there is first the machining, then the pin insertion, then the polishing, then the cleaning, then the anodizing, and finally the silk-screening or however they attach their logo, etc. I suspect it is the domino effect of getting all of that through the mill when your primary machinist has been off-duty for a month...

However, I agree -- a REAL business would have another machine shop online to pick up the slack so the current situation would never happen to begin with.

 

[Dale Allyn]

Woody and Jack, I agree. I'm not a fan of "just in time" inventory management in most cases anyway. It may work for the accountant (in a narrow view), but it is rarely good for customer service. An occasional back-order is one thing, but most of us have experienced stock shortages with RRS that have caused us to fill our needs elsewhere. That's where the accountant's narrow view is flawed (when it comes to "j.i.t. inventories).

Cheers.

 

[PeterA]

Get real you guys!! - the cost of borrow ( debt) for all companies has gone through the roof. I want RRS to manage thei working capital - most of which is invetory so that they actually SURVIVE what is going on in the real world. What comaies are paying their banks for working capital needs bears no relation to oficaly quoted interest rates..

 

[Dale Allyn]

Not to be argumentative, Peter, but (as I'm sure you know) there is an appropriate balance that is needed. Maybe RRS has achieved that, but it's likely that many may disagree. I love RRS – the products and the folks working there – and like you, I want them to survive too. But as a business owner who also stocks inventory I wouldn't survive another year if I asked my customers to wait for product. The best things going for RRS is that they have fine products and because they work within a niche field there is little competition.

It is what it is with RRS and others like them. I wasn't beating them up (or didn't intend to be), just stating that being too conservative can be also be detrimental to business.

 

[PeterA]

Dale - I agree that customer service is teh number one driver of companis liek this. I was just putting that maybe small companies ned a bit of elbow room these days. i love their stuff.

 

[Dale Allyn]

Peter, I'm pretty sure we largely agree here. Our conversation meandered off-topic and went a little "academic". I love their stuff too. And as a small business owner, I understand your point.

Cheers

 

[woodyspedden]

Peter and Dale

I think the issue here is "balance." If they could resolve their Nikon D700 backlog in, say, a week then asking the MF folks to wait a week is not a problem. If it takes a month or more, then in my opinion asking them to wait until all of the D700 orders are filled is not.

I would have the machine shop set up so that half their capacity is allocated to the D700 and the other half to the MF stuff. Since the MF amounts to about 20 pieces IIRC, it won't be long until the D700 gets the full capacity again. JMHO

Oh, and by the way, I too love RRS. I have owned L brackets for every camera I bought in the last six or seven years and also own the full pano set. No one does it better in terms of quality, useful products. I want them to survive but to do so they must satisfy customer demand in a better way.

Woody

 

[Guy Mancuso]

HUGE RRS fan. That is all i will buy for any camera is RRS stuff

 

[Dale Allyn]

It sounds like we all love RRS as much as Guy loves his new 150mm (the topic of this thread ).

As I understand it, RRS has two machine shops where their work is done. I agree with Woody that there is an ideal balance to be sought, which looks to have been difficult for the fine folks at RRS to achieve at times. We're all still fans for sure, just a bit anxious to get their fine gear. Like Woody, one could wonder if it's time to find a third machine shop (as well as covering the other steps as Jack pointed out), or even consider stepping up to an in-house process at some point for at least part of the work. (I know a guy who has two CNC machines at his home!) We don't have the luxury of seeing their process from the inside, nor the benefit of feeling their pain as a small business. I"m just anxious to get my RRS stuff that I can order more!

 

[Terry]

OK, just spoke to RRS again. The engineer spoke to the owner of the machine shop and "it's on the long, long list" of items to get through. Apparently, a back-order of 200 Nikon D700 plates is in the way, so I blame Nikon users. :ROTFL:

Anyway, he said to keep calling (and I will). He was hopeful that "a couple of weeks" would be the time frame, but those of us who have waited for RRS stuff in the past know how this can go.

Dale

Sorry guys, I will plead guilty to having the base plate and L bracket for my D700 on order. I think part of the slowdown might have been caused by a redesign of the D700 L bracket as there were a lot of design complaints when the first pictures were revealed.

Terry

Terry

 

[Dale Allyn]

Aha!! Then if we could get Terry and the rest of the fine D700 owners to cancel their L-plate orders, just for a while, we can get this little Mamiya/Phase plate out of the way.

K?

 

[Dale Allyn]

Follow-up on RRS L bracket for Mamiya 645 AFD/AFDII (and I assume the Phase/Mamiya body as well) availability:

Just spoke to one of the guys at RRS and he understands that the Mamiya 645 L plates are nearing completion. He said that there are 25 expected to arrive late Friday (8/29/08) though asked that I emphasize expected and should arrive, etc. so that if something unexpected occurs that no one would be misled or disappointed. Monday is a holiday in the U.S. so existing orders would be expected to go out on Tuesday if all goes well.

FYI: There are seven plates currently on back-order to previous orders (as of the time of my call), leaving 18 pieces for new orders.

The part number should be BM645-L, but please do your own diligence to confirm. The website and current catalogue both list this number at this time.

Note: the website does not currently have a photo of this plate (that I can see), but the printed catalogue shows it to have a slot for a hand-strap and two detent pins for anti-twist.

Hope this is of help to others,

Dale

 

[carbonmetrictree]

Are there any physical locations in Southern California that have RRS on hand? Quick release plates are one of the few items I really need to physically handle to decide on a purchase, my life depends on that piece of metal!