To all backers,
If you have ever been to a Chinese electronics factory, as I have been to many for my profession, there’s dozens or sometimes hundreds of workers on the production floor kicking out product like nobody’s business! So here’s what is most likely the situation… There’s certainly no shortage of labor in Shanghai, so while parts, housings, whatever may be in shortage (25% of the problem), the truth of the matter is they are still staffed most likely by a dozen people in the entire company, still in the startup mentality of operating and I can almost guarantee 2 things. 1, they are assembling units by hand with maybe 5 people at most for now which is why things are going incredibly slow. 2. I can promise you that there isn’t a staff of paid workers/assemblers sitting around drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for parts to arrive “any day now.” to ramp up production. Machinery needs to be learned, and people hired which I credit another 25% of the slow production and workers need to be trained in both assembly, and others to learn testing and QC which is another 25% of the debacle. Then there’s packaging, and if that’s not enough, using forwarders to export their product which is a whole other ball of wax that’s done mainstream in China as they use the forwarding companies to handle all of their logistics. The forwarder will pickup the product in boxes of 10-12 units, store them in a warehouse, then sort shipping destinations from a spreadsheet, open the boxes to label, sit for another week, and finally in a couriers car or funny looking truck with a handful of boxes on the way to China post with tracking numbers reported from the forwarder with how much they’ve completed for Pimax along with managing shipments from the several others companies that use the same forwarder. (the final 25% of the debacle) Now, granted this is my speculation, but be assured an educated one from a lot of experience. Their claims of ramping up entails all of the above mentioned and while they have good intentions, this is most likely the truth of the delays. The Chinese are masters of deception when it comes to actual shipping times and lead-times of production with incredible skill of second nature to somewhat restore faith in just one sentence when asked. This is 100% fact of doing business there. Hopefully I’ve managed to paint a decent picture for all of you to understand how it works there and lets hope they’ll get their crap together before long. As most of you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as I think most of us will be waiting much longer still. I’m backer # in the 200’s and believe me that I’m not holding my breath for a November shipment of my 5K+ unless there’s some miracle pulled off by Pimax in the next week. I know they are trying, but it’s usually mismanagement in these situations that cause these incredible delays there that will never be mentioned or be accountable for. #SumTingWong
