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Few quick things

Discussion in 'News & Announcements' started by Harry, Aug 9, 2013.

  1. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey All, as there has been a request for some more info, and Braydon came on today to the shoutbox I thought I would post what he had said there.

    - Today they are shipping out another 20 printers.
    - RoBo3D hired 5 more workers to help assemble the ~420 printers waiting to be assembled and shipped to you.
    - They are currently setting up a complete assembly space to get these printers assembled and in your hands ASAP! Braydon said that the space is looking great and working efficiently!
    - With the current setup and staff, printers will start to be shipped every day and at the end of the day, they will be taking a shipment of printers to the post office, or loading a DHL pickup for international orders/backers.
    - RoBo3D hired a social media guy to post information on the twitter and facebook accounts regarding the industry and information. Braydon and the team will continue to use the facebook and twitter to post updates as well!
    - Braydon is going to try to start posting one picture a day on Facebook/Twitter around the office.
    - A dropcam will be setup in the assembly area so people can watch the assembly process of the RoBo!
    - Braydon will be traveling to China to take a look at the process and then make an executive decision for RoBo on how they want to proceed with the 1000 units planned.
    - Sample printers were shipped to RoBo HQ that were produced in China, and they were "pretty good". Braydon says, "I was impressed". So that is good!


    Lastly, there is now an official RoBo3D Support twitter! Follow @RoBo3DSupport on twitter!

    I'd love to get any more information if you guys have anything else you want to know, and hope this keeps you all informed!
    - Harry
     
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  2. JasonSolves

    JasonSolves New Member

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    So, Does this mean that it is possible, unless you are in the top 500 printers, my printer might be assembled in China?
     
  3. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    My question to him was this. From his answer they won't be assembling the KS orders in china, and he's just exploring the possibility to move production there for later

    e:

    1. robo3dprinter:
      we will maintain production in the US
    2. [​IMG] 4:29 PM - robo3dprinter:
      we actually are talking to a assembly house close to us that are interested in producing our next model for u s
    3. [​IMG] 4:29 PM - robo3dprinter:
      us*
     
  4. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey Jason, I believe so, but I am not 100% sure. I think it is a possibility they are looking at. I'll get more info on tbis for you.
     
  5. keraynopoylos

    keraynopoylos New Member

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    Hi again Harry,

    any answer regarding my qestion from yesterday?

    To refresh your memory it was:

    "Did the 20 units get shipped last Friday as robo3dprinter said? And if yes, have the recipients been sent the email with the tracking number by now?"
     
  6. Deadwood

    Deadwood Active Member

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    Just to clarify what I am thinking, I counted up the amount of kickstarter orders and I came up with 1017 people who have pledged enough to aquire a kit or fully assembled printer so assuming that with the shipment of 420 printer cases to and orders already shipped I am thinking about 500 ish orders are currently being sorted. This leaves around 500 ish kickstarter orders still to sort out before they move onto the post kickstarter orders (this is me as I missed the kickstarter period) so is there anyway of finding out how many post kickstarter orders there are and when the next large batch of cases arrives so I can gauge when my own printer may arrive, this is assuming I have counted the orders correctly and I am not jumping to the wrong conclusion. I am not having a moan by the way and I understand that the boys at Robo 3d are extremely busy and under pressure but I am like an excited kid waiting for christmas 4 months too early
     
  7. keraynopoylos

    keraynopoylos New Member

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    Harry, you're very often available and offer to try and find an answer to a question. I can't say the same for the Robo3D team, that is nowhere to be found, or they just ignore most of the questions(and all of mine, like Coby yesterday on the shoutbox).

    Unfortunately, after offering to chase up the question, you never get back with one. It's now two days since I first asked my last one. Then asked you on the shoutbox again. Then yesterday I posted it here too... And I do try to keep them simple. I don't ask hard ones like "when should my unit be shipping"(more than 100% late by now btw). I just asked "Did the 20 units the team said were supposed to ship 5 days ago actually ship and did the recipients get an email informing them of the fact". It is really a yes/no question, and since a member of the Robo3D team said "I'm shipping 20 units now" last week, it should actually be a very easy "yes".

    You said that you may not be able to find someone as it was Sunday. Well, Monday passed too... And I posted in here again to remind you....

    I don't moan because my printer is (very) late. But don't you guys see that the way you treat us(well, treat me, as I'm talking for myself) is insulting? Why should I have to keep chasing who is online, in a futile attempt to get an answer?
     
  8. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey Keraynopoylos, sorry about that. I have not received more information on that subject from them yet. I was unable to talk to them Sunday, and yesterday never had a chance to as I was out working all day. I am back earlier today so will try right now to get you info on that.
     
  9. keraynopoylos

    keraynopoylos New Member

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    Thank you Harry.
     
  10. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey Keraynopoylos, I've been relayed that those 20 printers shipped and if you weren't notified and was expecting one wait till Friday. If you don't get a notification then shoot me a PM.
     
  11. David Mortlock

    David Mortlock Active Member

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    I thought they said they would be shipping every day. Is that now changed to weekly shipping?

    Do we know how many units are getting finished per day/week.
     
  12. Leon Grossman

    Leon Grossman Active Member

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    It's pretty obvious that the team has no clue how to run a social media fueled business in a social media age. They hired a social media guy who makes posts to Facebook to get excitement about a printer they can't deliver yet he is either not authorized or not capable to do the job most needed of him, which is to be the inside man doing what Harry has been doing on a volunteer basis.

    It is absolutely unacceptable that @Kerayanopoylos has been waiting this long for a simple question to when the printer will ship after having a "Your printer ships soon" email over a month ago. The least the team could have done was sent a, "we were too ambitious, yours will go out as soon as we have more parts." email.

    It's absolutely unacceptable that nobody has any clue on the shipment timelines. Seriously, they've had the cases for 11 (9 working) days and they've shipped 20 units. I thought these things took 45 minutes to assemble once the pre-assembly is done. Pre-assembly that we've been assured was done (except, of course for the Facebook post showing the new guy soldering on power supplies, seeming to indicate that as false). So, pre-assembly done. One person, 45 minutes to assemble, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I count 96 printers should have been out the door.

    But wait, you say, nobody believes that 45 minutes anyway. OK. Two people working, 3x assembly time, they should have still been able to ship 64 printers.

    @Harry, you're doing as well as you can but this isn't your job.

    I'm tired of being lied to. Lies so far (off the top of my head):

    1. The cases are on the way in April (or was it march?). The cases arrived long enough later that there was no way they were on the way when first announced.
    2. Pre-assembly is done, so all we have to do is slap cases on them, test and ship.
    3. Printers will all be shipped by the end of August or, at the latest, September. The 20 printers, supposedly, shipped since the latest batch are at a pace of *3 printers per day*. That is a ridiculously slow pace.
    4. The remaining cases are on a boat (update July 3rd). Actually, 400 some-odd cases were on a boat. The rest are maybe in China but maybe not as it is now ambiguous as to where the heck these printers will be shipped from.
    5. We're going to ship the last 1000 that weren't on the boat directly from China. Wait, no we aren't, maybe we will.

    I know that some of this can be attributed to over-optimism but some of it just seems like making stuff up. If there was something as simple as a 'this is what we think, but we aren't sure" on a regular basis we would be a whole lot happier than being lied to.

    @Robo fix this. At this point, I'm almost ready to build my own printer.

    Edit: Fixed spelling error
     
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  13. Alexander

    Alexander New Member

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    I agree with Leon and I'm just baffled at how a company can fail so badly at keeping their customers informed.

    Is it incompetence, are they ashamed or are they actually trying to anger their customers?
     
  14. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Braydon hopped on the shoutbox:
    "15 more going out today! [we] are going to start getting minimum 50 out a week here."

    He'll be going to china at the end of the month to verify moldings are running smoothly. When in china he'll work on the shipment of the next batch of cases.

    Looking for ideas on how to improve communication and what ways would be best for us to get information
    Interviewing more potential technicians to build more printers.

    Ordered Borosilicate glass for ABS models. Going to lift the heat bed up off the build platform and put boro on top of it now. All printers in the next wave will include this.

    Total shipments to date:

    Air Freight Cases

    Total number of cases received: 100
    Total number of printers shipped: 90

    Boat Frieght Cases

    Total number of cases received: 420
    Total number of printer shipped: 35

    Shipped:
    20 on 8/9
    15 on 8/14

    KS Progress:

    115/1017
    (92 March)

    Estimated timeline, based on 50/week. Naturally if they can increase production to 100/week these numbers will halve.

    Note: If china takes on production these numbers will drop sharply. We will know if this is happening after Braydons trip to china.

    16-Aug 160
    23-Aug 210
    30-Aug 260 (160 April (cumulative 252))

    >Braydon returns from china

    6-Sep 310
    13-Sep 360
    20-Sep 410
    27-Sep 460
    4-Oct 510
    11-Oct 560
    18-Oct 610
    25-Oct 660 (395 May (cum. 647))
    1-Nov 710
    8-Nov 760
    15-Nov 810
    22-Nov 860
    29-Nov 910 (220 June (cum. 867))
    6-Dec 960
    13-Dec 1010
    20-Dec 1060 (150 July (cum. 1017))
     
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  15. wrdutcher

    wrdutcher New Member

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    Add me to the list. As far as I concerned, if it was not for Harry we would know nothing. What concerns me the most is the secrecy, as if they are trying to hide something. Perhaps they are just way over their head and afraid to admit it.
    I ordered my printer in the beginning of July with an estimated September ship date. I am just not sure what year.
    While I have not been waiting as long as many of you kickstarters, it worries me to think that they have not yet got a handle on the manufacturing aspects of the business. Another thing that concerns me is the fact that they charged my credit card when the order was placed, knowing very well that the actual shipping was likely months away. Did they not get enough cash to generate inventory from the kickstarter, or are they still cash strapped using money from future orders to fulfill previous ones. Most businesses wait to charge until the item is ready to ship.

    Like Leon, I have not only considered building my own printer, but in the last two weeks I've designed it, and am now in the process of ordering the parts to build it. I still would like a Robo for my office, but when I get my Lab printer working my need for an office printer may quickly diminish. Who knows, I may even expand my embedded controls business to include a 3d printer kickstarter of my own.

    Edit: Looks like I should have hit refresh to see Mike's entry before typing the above. But from the numbers it looks like I will be waiting along time.
     
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  16. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey All, I do the best that I can to get you info as fast as possible, when you guys want it/ask for it. I'll keep trying and am here for any questions you guys need answered, I can try to get answered for you.
     
  17. David Mortlock

    David Mortlock Active Member

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    Many thanks for your help Harry, it is much appreciated

    I see that Robo3D were on the shoutbox and were very forthcoming about things. This type of communications helps them a lot and I hope they can keep it up.

    I do not really want to know too much about artificial ears. I won't be printing any of those in the foreseeable future.

    Kidneys are a possibility though :)
     
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  18. wrdutcher

    wrdutcher New Member

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    Thanks Harry,
    I'm sure everyone appreciates the time and resources you put into helping us with our questions and problems. I just hope that Robo shows their appreciation to you as well.

    It was nice to get a more informative update today on Shoutbox. Including the opportunity to talk directly with the Robo team. The only problem with Shoutbox is the content is here today and gone tomorrow and often missed by many.
    Mike's entry above was the only reason I seen it. For the benefit of everyone especially those who are not on the site, it would be better for them to post updates here where everyone can read them. Getting the information right from the horses mouth is always better then getting it second hand. Then maybe scheduling a Shoutbox chat, so all would have the opportunity to follow along and ask questions.

    Just my thinking on the subject.
     
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  19. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Hey Wrdutcher, I will ask to get something typed up for me to post on the forums.
     
  20. keraynopoylos

    keraynopoylos New Member

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    If Braydon claims all the March units have shipped, why is it that I have not received any email(or message on Kickstarter) to confirm(along with the tracking no)?
     

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