hi_there
Well-Known Member
Someone on Reddit pointed out that this is likely due to them trying to stay within Paypal term and conditions for accepting pre-orders. They have said next month, for over 18 months now, I don't expect that to change.
The Grasshopper Shipping Poll
- Thread starter paytonpenn
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Someone on Reddit pointed out that this is likely due to them trying to stay within Paypal term and conditions for accepting pre-orders. They have said next month, for over 18 months now, I don't expect that to change.
fft
Well-Known Member
The good news is they can afford to make these kinds of investments in their processes...if GHL was on the brink of financial collapse and not telling us they wouldn't be buying new equipment of this scale.
I'd also speculate that the decision to buy a pick-and-place machine was more about cutting lead times. With PCB assembly outsourced to China, they probably have to assemble in big batch sizes (for them) to get any kind of decent pricing. Onshore manufacturing is probably at least 2x-3x the cost so not an option. All of the components on the board go through the assembly shop so if there's a defect in a single lot of components they might not find out about it until months after the defects were made, and then they'd need to scrap a lot of already-assembled boards and then do a long-lead re-order which could again take months. Or, possibly, solder joints on the PCB are failing in the field as they are temp cycled by heating the GH. By buying their own machine, they can assemble in smaller batch sizes, respond to component defects faster, and possibly reducing the amount of working capital tied up in assembled PCBs that sometimes need to be scrapped.
For them to be doing all of this, they must have been having serious problems with their PCB vendor. It *might* also hint at why they haven't shipped the units they promised even when they had lots of GH bodies in stock.
fft
Well-Known Member
I also doubt the PCB issue is the only issue they've been having. I think its more about process control...could be by the time they diagnosed a PCB related error they had made thousands or months-worth of PCBs that they had to either rework themselves or scrap. We know from an update 6+ months ago that they had to manually rework some of the initial boards themselves. They probably figured that after that and a bunch of subsequent problems that they were better off doing it themselves.
I agree with the speculation that heaters are probably the primary bottleneck, but when they suddenly catch a PCB defect and learn that they have to scrap or rework ~2000 PCBs in their inventory that they previously thought were good (and suddenly have to re-order from China on a rush job), then all of a sudden its the PCBs slowing things down. At least they can predict their production rates with the heaters...
It allows them to make rapid revisions to the PCB's for future grasshoppers. It may be a bottleneck if they keep revising the boards before ordering the next batch from China. I'm betting that machine was a necessity to allow them to continue to revise the design without waiting for a new shipment of boards from China
fft
Well-Known Member
Just having the pick and place machine to assemble the boards won't let them make revisions that much faster. What they call the "raw pcb" (the green circuit board without components on it) would need to be redesigned with new wire/hole patterns and made again probably in China and that's still a long lead process. It's just the process of soldering the components onto the raw board that they are bringing in house. Still, cutting out that extra offshore step probably does help a little...
Mr Mellish
Well-Known Member
Exactly. The chip shooter seems like an expensive choice that is unlikely to increase throughput (but if it somehow improves quality, I'm glad to wait for my pre-order). I once worked for a manufacturer of a portable medical device. We opted to buy the (very expensive) pick and place equipment when our suppliers could not match our volumes. PCB and chip availability still had far more impact on output than did how many boards we had or could pop out. It seems unlikely that GHL is approaching volumes that would cause a contract manufacturer to sweat (unless, perhaps, the tolerances are insane). GHL is likely to be as surprised about the learning curve for stuffing boards as they've been about a variety of things so far.
zymos
Well-Known Member
Glad to have some more confirmation that my reaction to that news wasn't out of line.
Hard to see how it could have an immediate effect on quality, unless whoever they'd contracted with was just extremely shoddy. Wonder how quick GHL will be able to place, flow and test one board? Those are all jobs that they didn't have to devote time to before, and now someone on site has to deal with them.
But as someone who has been waiting 5 weeks since I confirmed my address, I'm biased towards them spending money to stock up on parts and hiring another pair of hands to do assembly....
Hard to see how it could have an immediate effect on quality, unless whoever they'd contracted with was just extremely shoddy. Wonder how quick GHL will be able to place, flow and test one board? Those are all jobs that they didn't have to devote time to before, and now someone on site has to deal with them.
But as someone who has been waiting 5 weeks since I confirmed my address, I'm biased towards them spending money to stock up on parts and hiring another pair of hands to do assembly....
I thought I waited unusually long; 33 days between confirmation and shipping!
All 3 of my units (two Ti's and a SS) work fantastic so far.
Yea, I'm sending an email for another update on the Purple Ti situation tomorrow afternoon if I don't hear from them tonight. I last heard from Caroline on 12/28. I figure if they were working between Christmas and New Years, they're back in the office by today, the 5th, at the absolute latest and not taking an extended leave. I'm really expecting a shipping confirmation email tonight, as I assume the anodized parts came in yesterday.
virtualpurple
Well-Known Member
I ordered in February 2015. Have been given many ship dates. Was most recently told that I would get an email likely by the end of December for shipping confirmation and that my unit would ship in early January. Needless to say...still waiting.
I'm aware; I was the first to post that info publicly. I'm just saying that if the parts had shipped last week and were delayed by the holidays (influx of overnight shipments, 2 day shipments, etc), it's likely that they would have arrived yesterday.
fft
Well-Known Member
They must have some sort of issue where they are waiting for some part to come in before they ship new units. Maybe it was a pcb snafu, maybe the heaters, maybe something else. But both SS and Ti shipments have been stopped cold for 2-3 weeks after a flurry of shipments in early December.
Here's hoping that whatever they are waiting for comes in soon and shipments resume quickly from there.
Here's hoping that whatever they are waiting for comes in soon and shipments resume quickly from there.
Shit Snacks
Milaana. Lana. LANA. LANAAAA! (TM2/TP80/BAK/FW9)
Seriously congrats!
crazferret
Well-Known Member
I still have a 'January 2016' Estimated Ship Date. I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but man that would be a sweet way to celebrate my birthday at the end of the month.
zymos
Well-Known Member
Yeppers, that's me. Confirmed address 12/1/15. Emailed them over two weeks ago and told they were expecting parts anyday now, and I should receive mine "shortly after the holidays"
So, in other words, the same old bullshit we've grown to expect from GHL....