A schedule! For real! (2011 - 02 - 28)


Am I the only one that realises that this means "another 2 months!". Jeez. This isn't good news. This is


"bad news with style". FFS

Sadly it is. That "2 months" is ever so far away. Well the bright side is it can't take any longer than another year of 2 months right?
 
Well, a few weeks ago the good news was that batch 1 was expected to be completed by the end of March. Now the good news is that maybe half of batch 1 might be finished by April.
ED, could you please do us (long time) waiters a favor ?


Please publish the shipped number of Pandoras from each shop on a (regular) weekly basis !

+1


It is the lack of information at the customer facing end that is causing us (as customers) problems

+2


How about some more details ongoing?
+3
+4, been asking a while, don't expect it to happen, despite it being a) simple and B) a good way to really know what's going on. I have my suspicions as to why this hasn't happened.
 
Also I do not like the idea of trying to fix the broken boards, it could lead to more problems and people returning their Pandora's for fixes n such, this project has had enough problems to last a century.
It makes good sense to try to fix the broken boards, for a number of reasons.

  • Fixing the broken boards means identifying what went wrong. This information can be used to improve the production process. Less failed boards means they increase the capacity of the shipments to OPL.
  • As I understand it, CC don't get paid for boards they don't deliver, so every discard costs them money.
  • I suspect OPL have probably already paid for many of the components used, (eg nubs) so every discard where those parts are not recovered also costs OPL money.
  • If the boards can be fixed to the point where they pass all the quality control checks, that means they will have that many more boards they can include in the next shipment.

Exactly. Not fixing boards would be a BIG issue. I mean, we've got components for about 150 USD on each board!


200 broken boards would be 30.000 USD loss.


And often it's just some part not properly soldered or missing, can happen in mass production.


It wouldn't make any sense to not repair them :)

ED, could you please do us (long time) waiters a favor ?


Please publish the shipped number of Pandoras from each shop on a (regular) weekly basis !

I can do so for my shop, but not for Craigs, as I don't know how many he ships when.


I shipped 10 today and will spend the next hours assembling and testing the next ones that will be going out tomorrow.


I want to have the 60 I still have left finished this week, since I still get about 60 - 70 from Craig from the last batch he got.

If there's been more cancellations, how can I find where I currently stand in the queue? Email in again?

That would be the only option, yes, but Jacquelyne is still very busy.
 
How about some more details ongoing?

Well, what details do you need to know?


We should have shipped about 1900 units so far, 200 PCBs are currently being assembled.


We also currently sort out the boards we have with minor issues that should be fixed pretty fast by CC (stuff like WiFi module not properly soldered or one audio channel missing, otherwise these boards work fine), that might be about 100 boards I think.


Also, AFAIK, the boards which had the broken nubs are also not back from repair yet, this should be another 200 - 300 boards.


So when the last boards in April arrive, we should be near the end of the original batch 1 (as we didn't oversell and a lot of users cancelled on the way), finishing the remaining Batch 1 depending on what issues the boards on the bone pile have.


If they start to work on resurrecting the boards in March as well and things go well, it might be the boards will be fixed until April as well, but we don't know yet when they will start doing that.
 
ED, could you please do us (long time) waiters a favor ?


Please publish the shipped number of Pandoras from each shop on a (regular) weekly basis !

I can do so for my shop, but not for Craigs, as I don't know how many he ships when.


I shipped 10 today and will spend the next hours assembling and testing the next ones that will be going out tomorrow.


I want to have the 60 I still have left finished this week, since I still get about 60 - 70 from Craig from the last batch he got.
ED, I appreciate your answer. I know you are really a nice guy and try to be helpful as good as possible.


Why not put something like that on the Current Status page, for instance every weekend:

  • Weekly Shipping Status


Sat 26. February 2011 : EvilDragon : 60 units shipped


Sun 27. February 2011 : Craigix : 120 units shipped


Sun 6. March 2011 : EvilDragon : 80 units shipped


Sun 6. March 2011 : Craigix : 160 units shipped


Of course a bit better formatted in a table.


I hope it's possible for you to get the numbers from Craigix. It would be kind of strange if not.


I'm sure, with this simple approach, you keep us informed and save probably a lot of time answering posts !


These are the kind of details people are asking for IMHO !
 
I can do so for my shop, but not for Craigs, as I don't know how many he ships when.


I shipped 10 today and will spend the next hours assembling and testing the next ones that will be going out tomorrow.


I want to have the 60 I still have left finished this week, since I still get about 60 - 70 from Craig from the last batch he got.
that means.... I will get mine sometime this week!


just got my iCP shipping confirmation today as well.... what a day!


*deep sigh of relief*


thank you ED!
 
How about some more details ongoing?
Well, what details do you need to know?
Need vs want gets to be a bit fuzzy there.


What I -want- to know is when my Pandora will ship.


What I -need- to know is that production really is ongoing and isn't stalled to nothing (or nearly so) again.


Actual weekly shipped numbers from both shops would be a great start.


Having Craig post at the end of the week what the order confirmation time or queue order number was the last one sent that week would make me thrilled. There is so much confusion around his queue and how far into it he is/isn't in that it ends up being blown into a giant issue with dozens of threads of pre-order people trying to decode what the heck is going on. I know you do not control his business or queue. You are, however, the most verbose member of the OPL team. Like it or not, you have become the public voice for the project and the only one we can really ask for this kind of insight. CraigIX tends toward 4 word answers. You seem to be willing to talk numbers - I appreciate that.


The rest of the following in-message questions are based on curiosity and wouldn't fall into the 'need'.

We should have shipped about 1900 units so far,
That the exact number isn't known is somewhat disturbing.


1900 - (2500 to ED & others) ~ 1650. From what I can tell reading the community pages, we're only up to order @850 in the CraigIX queue. Yes, many people bought more than one unit, but there seems to be a big disconnect in those numbers.

200 PCBs are currently being assembled.
Is that all they will produce this week then? Is there a Texas holiday or something? Yes, 200 beats the heck out of 0.

We also currently sort out the boards we have with minor issues that should be fixed pretty fast by CC (stuff like WiFi module not properly soldered or one audio channel missing, otherwise these boards work fine), that might be about 100 boards I think.


Also, AFAIK, the boards which had the broken nubs are also not back from repair yet, this should be another 200 - 300 boards.
Were these caught before being sent out or are these returns?


Will returns be fixed then sent out as new units or refurbs & repair exchanges?


That is 300-400 error boards - when do you expect to hear back from CC on how many are salvageable?


Will these be mingled back into the 'produced' stack or identified as refurbished?

So when the last boards in April arrive, we should be near the end of the original batch 1 (as we didn't oversell and a lot of users cancelled on the way), finishing the remaining Batch 1 depending on what issues the boards on the bone pile have.


If they start to work on resurrecting the boards in March as well and things go well, it might be the boards will be fixed until April as well, but we don't know yet when they will start doing that.
So - it's currently the end of February. Does the above mean that batch 1 will likely get finished around the end of April? So... 2 Months? Again?
 
Is CircuitCo also a small company, cause now I really dont understand whats taking them so long to put together 4000 or so boards. this is ridiculous. How can a manufacturing company work so slow. How are they still in business? Usually thousands and thousands of these things are produced a day at these companies. I can understand the OPT being slow assembling and shipping the completed units being only a few of you but, not the manufactures responsible for the parts. Something is seriously wrong here.
 
Is not having a pandora making people ill or something like that? Is it so difficult _just to wait_ and NOT to come to ED with questions again and again?I might be a bit paranoid because of that monkey on the other boards, but noone will get a pandora sooner if everyone has some special questions to his queue position.


...or am I just arrogant, since I already have a pandora?
 
Is not having a pandora making people ill or something like that? Is it so difficult _just to wait_ and NOT to come to ED with questions again and again?I might be a bit paranoid because of that monkey on the other boards, but noone will get a pandora sooner if everyone has some special questions to his queue position.


...or am I just arrogant, since I already have a pandora?
This is exactly what I'm asking for, a simple weekly status would prevent a lot of questions ! Why is this so difficult ?


You may not be arrogant, but since you already have a Pandora, I think you're out of scope in this discussion. I hope you understand that.
 
Is CircuitCo also a small company, cause now I really dont understand whats taking them so long to put together 4000 or so boards. this is ridiculous.

No, it's not. The PoP OMAP is actually pretty complex.


I asked the company in Germany (the ones who produce the iControlPad), and they needed about 10 weeks for 1000 units, just because of the PoP.


I also asked multiple companies, but as long as you don't go to some huge company (who won't care producing anything below 10.000 units), it's hard to even find a company that does PoP.


The Pandora board is pretty complex. 8 layers with OMAP PoP, that's a pretty hard thing to produce.


Usually, CC does normal SMT, which is pretty fast (they now got 6 machines for that), but that PoP is not very widely used, so most companies don't have the proper machines for that.


If CC keeps producing 1000 units per month from now on, expectable and reliable, then I'm really feeling reliefed.
 
If CC keeps producing 1000 units per month from now on, expectable and reliable, then I'm really feeling reliefed.
The only problem is: They probably won't (be able to) do this, at least if I look at what you have written previously. :-(


Even if they keep their promise that's less than 1000/month.


And I can't really believe the will. :(
 
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Heck with this noise! Too long to wait even more. Ordered Sept. 09. I am upgrading to Premium! Waiting on Jacquelyn's response on my upgrade inquiry from yesterday. I hope to hear something soon. Besides the OP Team could use the extra money - they deserve it and I am proud to give them the extra money.
 
I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my pre-order. I purchased my batch 1 unit under the assumption I'd have it by now. Now, it seems likely I won't have my unit by the time I leave the country this summer. If that's the case, I'm going to have to draw the line and cancel my order.


Does anyone know how I can figure out what my place in line is, and how I can get refunded?
 
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