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Post by Rob Albritton on Aug 27, 2016 16:55:15 GMT -5
A locked thread with guidelines for upcoming releases is an interesting idea. Let me chat with Hans and Rob Kluz. We need to balance your wants and needs for information and budgeting along with our obligations to our dealers to keep them better informed than their customers.
In the mean time, I can give you some guidance on our older products:
The following tooling has been retired, and we will NOT be producing any more of the following:
F59PHi , SD70, SD75, GP7, GP9, Bombrdier Bi-Level commuter cars, Amtrak Pacific Bi-level cars.
We still have stock on all of those products (although not all road names) but once they are gone, that's it!
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Post by markm on Aug 27, 2016 17:12:24 GMT -5
Rob,
Thanks. No real surprise except maybe the GP9 (#62000).
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Post by gerd on Aug 27, 2016 19:01:37 GMT -5
So why retired? Worn out? Can't be
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Post by mgatdog on Aug 27, 2016 19:50:57 GMT -5
A locked thread with guidelines for upcoming releases is an interesting idea. Let me chat with Hans and Rob Kluz. We need to balance your wants and needs for information and budgeting along with our obligations to our dealers to keep them better informed than their customers. In the mean time, I can give you some guidance on our older products: The following tooling has been retired, and we will NOT be producing any more of the following: F59PHi , SD70, SD75, GP7, GP9, Bombrdier Bi-Level commuter cars, Amtrak Pacific Bi-level cars. We still have stock on all of those products (although not all road names) but once they are gone, that's it! Sad to hear I was holding out for some GP 7 and 9's to have added B&O , Chessie plus few other eastern road names in there line up .AZL sure had plenty of western road names not many eastern road names. Hold your responds . I hear it coming you can Do a repaint. Well not every one can paint. One thing we did get was a GP 30 in Chessie. |
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Post by mgatdog on Aug 27, 2016 19:59:46 GMT -5
Well, I don't mean to rub salt into your collective wounds, but fellas it's so easy - happiness is modelling a railroad called CSX  But to get back to your idea, Mark - I too think it would be great to have a "tentative product announcement" thread which would be "closed" and hence wouldn't bounce off in all kinds of directions (like this one has too, in a way, I guess). And getting back to that topic - are a few more GP38-2s still in the pipeline somewhere down the road? The G&W was a great idea, and some dealers seem to have sold out of several road numbers and even a few railroads. But then given the constant flow of awesome new models I would be the first to understand if the GP38-2s got pushed back. cheerZ Adrian "Happiness is modeling a railroad called CSX" then your layout will have a bunch of abanded lines turned into rail trails. Lol |
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Post by Curn on Aug 28, 2016 0:55:58 GMT -5
Looks like they are retiring all the engines with photo etched brass shell sides that fit the Faulhaber motors. I bet the GP30 is also on its way out too. Good, they can focus on making new products.
I like the way Atlas handles their shipping schedule. Maybe what we all want is something similar? It will cut down on people asking "When will the EVOs ship?" in threads about other products, which is part of the reason announcements are spread all over the place on this forum.
Matt
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Post by Hans Riddervold (AZL) on Aug 28, 2016 10:38:41 GMT -5
It is a long story why we are retiring some of our products. It has nothing to do with the fit of Faulhaber motors. We regret that the GP7 and GP9 are gone, but we had too many mold issues. The GP30 is a current offering and healthy. We will be releasing RDC-1s in a couple of months, but the RDC-2 body mold is history as well.
As Rob pointed out, we have a healthy inventory of most of our retired products.
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Post by markm on Aug 28, 2016 19:20:36 GMT -5
As Adrian pointed out, this thread is an excellent example how some ready good information from AZL can get buried in a public thread.
I personally like a quarterly release status because:
1. you are only committing to reporting 4 times per year
2. it's just enough information to meet the scheduling and budgeting needs of the customer
3. it typically gives you 60-90 days wiggle room which is really important when you do off-shore contract manufacturing.
It will be interesting to see what you folks decide.
Rob(A): You've actually brought up another good sticky/locked thread: Retired products.
Adrian: Be careful what you say. I've worked with people who would be asking: "Why can't we repaint all those CSX units we can't sell to UP units we can?" NOT a practice I'm suggesting AZL follow!
Mark
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Post by Rob Albritton on Aug 28, 2016 21:00:05 GMT -5
As Adrian pointed out, this thread is an excellent example how some ready good information from AZL can get buried in a public thread. I personally like a quarterly release status because: 1. you are only committing to reporting 4 times per year 2. it's just enough information to meet the scheduling and budgeting needs of the customer 3. it typically gives you 60-90 days wiggle room which is really important when you do off-shore contract manufacturing. It will be interesting to see what you folks decide. Rob(A): You've actually brought up another good sticky/locked thread: Retired products. Adrian: Be careful what you say. I've worked with people who would be asking: "Why can't we repaint all those CSX units we can't sell to UP units we can?" NOT a practice I'm suggesting AZL follow! Mark Hi Mark, All good suggestions, although we have had product delivery dates shift by as much as 24 months in the past (yes, 2 full years) so the rule of thumb is that the further out the date, the more it is subject to change. It's also why we stopped announcing products so early in the development process. We usually now only announce something after we have 1st plastic shots, or even later. Oh, and we do NOT do re-paints. *BUT* at some point we MIGHT re-release some older SD70 units that have been sold out for more than 5 years - how? We have a supply of units that did not pass quality control for mechanical reasons. It is possible we would have new mechanisms made, and the previously produced (flawless) shells put on top. This would not require bringing the tooling out of retirement as we already have the parts. This is NOT a done deal, just a thought. Best, -Rob(A) AZL |
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Post by markm on Aug 28, 2016 22:24:34 GMT -5
Rob,
I've had to announce a 2 year delivery slip myself, to a hobby shop known as DARPA. I think in general most people prefer getting the best schedule available, even if it is a slip.
Mark
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