When can we expect "full-rate production"?

Some may choose to opt out, or maybe not.

Can you elaborate?  I'm not sure I follow.   The 1/2 per month for pre-buy and the 1/2 per month to full price new installs has always been the case and will NOT adversely affect the delivery month for all those who pre-bought at the major discount.

Month 2 folks will get their units no later than month 2.   Month 6 folks will get their units no later than month 6.

 

To be perfectly clear, no pre-buy unit delivery is being delayed by even one second because of new full-price sales.   There is a in-order-of-purchase queue that 100% of pre-buy folks are in that isn't being altered, period.

 

For those people who bought very early on, if you want to know your position slot, our Sales guys can answer that - you are almost certainly in the first month or two of deliveries.  For those people who have a delivery month on their agreement, that month (or earlier) will absolutely be honored.

 

And yes, we were always selling slots with the intent that half of every unit built per month goes to pre-buy folks and half go to new sales.  The designated delivery month on those agreements and in the order queue takes that into account from the very start.

Guess I need to get on the phone... 

AviJake wrote: MikeK, Can you elaborate?  I'm not sure I follow.   The 1/2 per month for pre-buy and the 1/2 per month to full price new installs has always been the case and will NOT adversely affect the delivery month for all those who pre-bought at the major discount. Month 2 folks will get their units no later than month 2.   Month 6 folks will get their units no later than month 6.

Hi Steve,

Yes, absolutely!  I'm happy to elaborate.  I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, and I could have been clearer in my last message.  The issue is one of expectations and context.

At no time during my written or verbal conversations with Avidyne did anybody tell me that production would be split 50/50 between early buyers and full-price new purchases.  I just found out about it, and it comes as a complete surprise!

Now, this would make very little difference if the product were actually shipping when it was originally promised.  Then, as you say, I would still be getting my radio in "Month <n>" and the fact that Avidyne was also shipping full-price units to new customers would have little impact upon what I was expecting.

But, in the context of the radios shipping over a year late, it's very hard not to see that additional 50% production capacity as an opportunity for Avidyne to make up for some of that extensive delay. I think even if I had known all along that this 50/50 plan existed, I would still be a bit disappointed that Avidyne wasn't changing course and using full capacity to fill the delayed orders first.

Of course, I don't know what promises have been made to others.  Maybe the dealers were all assured that they would have full-price units available to sell and install at the same time as these discounted units started to arrive, and Avidyne is bound to fulfill that promise, too.  

But, to me, all of that is opaque. All I know is that I found out suddenly that some of the additional wait time until delivery is due to this split strategy, and that was pretty upsetting.

Does that help explain why I had the reaction I did?  

The other issue is that we're still swimming in a sea of uncertainty.  As I quoted you above, you wrote that, "Month 2 folks will get their units no later than month 2."  But, you also wrote:

AviJake wrote: We're going to start up slow and watch how the installs go.  If they are going smoothly, then we will just keep increasing the ship rate.  That ramp up may take a few weeks or it could take a few months.

This gets to the core of exactly the question posed in the title of this thread.  I still don't think I know when "Month 2" actually is!  (I'm not in Month 2 by the way; I'm later in the queue but I'm using 2 as the example.)

In one of your replies above, you said we're in Month 1 now.  That's actually great news, because I think a lot of us were looking at our contracts, which say we fall in month <n> of "full-rate production", and looking at your statement that said it might take "a few months" to ramp up, and having a lot of difficulty figuring out just where these numbered months fall on the actual calendar.

Even so, I still don't really understand, though.  Because you've said that you're "start[ing] up slow", does that mean that the "Month 1" orders will actually be spread out over something more than a calendar month?  Or did you plan for fewer deliveries in Month 1, with a ramp?  Or are you thinking that you might be able to exceed your original planned rate?

I don't intend this to sound as if I'm impatient, but the fact is that I'm trying to finish a new panel install and a major rebuild project at an out-of-state shop, and I don't know whether there will be a radio to fill the hole in the panel, or how I'm going to do the integration testing with my new Aspens, my TAS-605, and so on...  With the information available to me, it's basically impossible to plan.

Now, those of us who put in our deposits early got a screamin' deal on the price, for sure, and that is a big win that I don't want to discount in any way.  And I'm thrilled and excited that I will be able to install an IFD-540 and not some confusing box from Olathe, especially given how those guys use their market position to thwart interoperability.  If I play my cards right, there won't be a single "G" product in my panel, actually.  But the constantly-shifting expectations and uncertain dates are really causing a lot of stress, and potentially real problems with schedule and budget.

Okay, so we can expect the following, then?

Month 1: August

Month 2: September

Month 3: October

Month 4: November

Month 5: December

Month 6: January 2015

Do your production months start somewhere mid-month on the calendar or are they pretty close to the calendar month?

Thanks!