Des nouvelles de Andy SINDEN
Autant dire que c'est pas prêt d'arriver !!!
Hi Everyone
Last month was a pretty good solid month of deliveries, started from #1500 on Tuesday 27th April and got to #4000 by Friday 28th May. On average been hitting about a 500 number range every week. The start of this month (june) has been a bit slow with the recoils due to some staffing issues but should be back up to the same speed as May at least this week. With our parcel collection due early this week we should hit #5000 for non-recoil and #4500 for recoil. We have now managed to dispatch 50% of all lightgun orders.
However despite hitting a 500 range per week, the target for the factory has always been a 1000 range per week to hit our timeline targets. It has been complex to ramp this up with the factory. Our contract is on a price per unit basis (for assembly). If the factory hire a load more staff then essentially that costs them significant additional money. However it is not good business for me to pay more money without a solid guarantee of delivery performance.
So instead the factory have been constantly giving me reasons to be optimistic insisting we can hit the 1000 target a week for example relaxing of Covid restrictions, more staff coming back to work, better supply of components, key team members switching from part time to full time, new staff etc. However they just haven't been able to hit the performance required with our current agreement.
I'm pleased to say that we have finally negotiated a change in contract for better performance that is enabling more staff to come on to the project. Getting extra staff has been patchy so far, you will hear all around the world about the impact of Covid and the unemployement it has created however manufacturing worldwide (when they are not struggling for components) is at record levels. So it's actually quite hard to get new staff that have the right kind of experience. So they have actually had quite a few staff that weren't competent or unreliable and come in one week and not the next. The good news is the factory have another bigger project which ends in 3 weeks. So I have been promised a good number of that team will be retained and moved over to my project, this will finally give the required performance.
I have decided to illustrate the projected timelines in 2 ways: 1) based on the current performance of approximately clearing a 500 number range a week and 2) based on the improvements expected of the factory in 3 weeks time and hitting a number range of 1000 per week. Based on the expected performance all orders should be cleared by the end of August however based on current performance all orders would be cleared by October.
![Image](https://nsa40.casimages.com/img/2021/07/06/210706075442504840.png)
I will add a summary of this information to the Indiegogo campaign over the next week and give new backers the opportunity to see what the best and worst case for new orders is.
I can only apologise again how long the orders are taking for everyone. I have spent significant effort and project funds fast tracking components, flying heavy components round the world, switching to more expensive alternative components when required and trying to stay one step ahead of the pandemic.
I'm providing weekly small production updates here:
https://www.sindenlightgun.com/productionupdates/
All the best
Andy