Too high demand for FAS products?

There's a lot more to being a CEO and running a company than what you read on forums. Your first responsibility is to your current employees as they rely on you to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads. Short-sighted staffing decisions are rarely wise in the long run.
I would work for a man who thinks like this. In the end, he has the company, and we don't. Looks like he knows what he's doing. We're on his forum after all.
 
The way this forum is? Letting that information go public would be a mess. There would be guys grabbing a calculators doing some calculations looking at the waiting list spreadsheets and acting like the have it all figured out. I could just imagine guys going it has been 8 days so you guys have shipped x amount of units so we should be here on the spreadsheet. Next People will want to know how many people call out cik per day or take vacation because that will mess with how many people are working the shipping label machine. Then they will want to know how many of each other unit are shipping per day. See where I am going with this? People on the internet can suck

Yes, yes... people on the web can suck I just don't see the problem with a company saying we are shipping out (on average) X units a day? at least we could have some kind of idea as to when it will arrive besides SOON, after that who cares... If someone wants to be a mathematician and go through all that gobbledy goop then let them. It still won't change the fact that they are still getting shipped out.
 
Yeah, back when Boogie didn't have distributors it was a six month wait (after posting a cash deposit!) for my first new Boogie, but it was a wonderful company to work with. FAS is like Boogie was then, and I personally hope they have tremendous success that lets them stay that way!
Yep. I had to wait for my first Boogie to be built - after I had sent payment!
 
Waiting for my AxeFX purchase invitation was a few months of when-will-it-be-my-turn anticipation. Sure, I wished I could just have it immediately. But while I was waiting for my AxeFX, a friend of mine was waiting for a kidney. I was glad he got his toy before I got mine. :)

At this point, I've had my AxeFX for almost 2 years. Every time I plug in, I remind myself it was worth the brief wait. Best gear purchase I have ever made.
 
Staffing up only makes sense if you expect consistent increased demand. Yes, we could hire 10 more people and crank out a few hundred a day. Then in a couple months the waitlist is finished and orders are, say, 10 per day. Now you have to lay off those 10 people which sucks for them and sucks for you since your unemployment insurance then goes up.

There's a lot more to being a CEO and running a company than what you read on forums. Your first responsibility is to your current employees as they rely on you to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads. Short-sighted staffing decisions are rarely wise in the long run.

I like the way you think, but I have a feeling demand for the AX8 isn't going to peter out for some time.
 
I like the way you think, but I have a feeling demand for the AX8 isn't going to peter out for some time.

Agreed that it will likely be a while, but the demand for any new popular product will eventually peter out, and I suspect Cliff only wants to bring people on if they can be sustained for the indefinite future.
 
Slow calculated growth is always the best. When you grow too fast the first thing that happens is the layers between the real talent and the product get diluted and the product and service takes the hit.
 
love all the armchair CEOs weighing in on how to run FAS

Not how to run FAS... But rather, how to address real business issues with real solutions that work with real business both large and small. You might be surprised at the business acumen here (might be disappointed as hell too).

Cliff makes all decisions so he'll run FAS exactly as he sees fit. But some of us have real world experience with some of the challenges of growth in a business. Even if it's a growing product in a large company or a small successful company experiencing serious growth.

It's all good.. I have good working solution for myself until my invitation arrives. I just hate seeing a struggle when it's not really needed. But I do think that with every new product that Cliff offers... he's gonna grow... and there are many ways to manage that growth. (both good and bad.)
 
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Yeah, but that's a few months of pay that some hard working but out of work persons could gladly earn with the understanding that it's a non-permanent arrangement. We do staff augmentation for large roll outs... whether it be phone support / disaster recovery personnel / etc... they get contracted knowing it's a limited engagement... I see where you are coming from, but there are plenty of companies that can staff your temporary needs. (I'm sure it's scary to do the first time too... eeek. Contracts too... ugh... ) Something to think about for some unskilled labor like assembly, packing shipping.. You know, the jobs that people can learn in a day and repeat over and over. But actually "hiring" temp staff....that's a no-no. Best to contract that stuff out with a man power supplier so that it's just another assignment to their people

Quality is much more difficult to control with contract work, with a short term demand spike. If production needed to ramp up to a permanent higher level, temp or contract work makes more sense.
 
Not how to run FAS... But rather, how to address real business issues with real solutions that work with real business both large and small. You might be surprised at the business acumen here (might be disappointed as hell too).

Cliff makes all decisions so he'll run FAS exactly as he sees fit. But some of us have real world experience with some of the challenges of growth in a business. Even if it's a growing product in a large company or a small successful company experiencing serious growth.

It's all good.. I have good working solution for myself until my invitation arrives. I just hate seeing a struggle when it's not really needed. But I do think that with every new product that Cliff offers... he's gonna grow... and there are many ways to manage that growth. (both good and bad.)

There is a huge short term (<1 year) inelastic demand bump, followed by long term increasing demand, from pre-bumped levels. Frantically trying to meet the short term bump through contracting and temping can lead to more problems than solutions. Especially since demand has very low cross elasticity. There are not good substitutes and I am going to buy these things today or six months from now, unless something unlikely happens with the competition. Hopefully the company is gearing up wisely (hiring), for the higher long-term demand future.
 
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Quality is much more difficult to control with contract work, with a short term demand spike. If production needed to ramp up to a permanent higher level, temp or contract work makes more sense.

There is a huge short term (<1 year) inelastic demand bump, followed by long term increasing demand, from pre-bumped levels. Frantically trying to meet the short term bump through contracting and temping can lead to more problems than solutions. Especially since demand is inelastic. We're going to buy these things today or six months from now. Hopefully the company is gearing up wisely (hiring), for the higher long-term demand future.

You've evidently never worked in an ISO 9001/9002 company (or forgot how brutal audit week can be.)... Quality is not difficult with good hard controls in place to ensure it. But yes permanent staff that are invested in the company's success are always ideal if your growth is sustainable. I've been the temp staff early in my career as a IT consultant... rolling in for for extra capacity for big product roll outs and back out once the surge is over. And I've been in other business / projects that have brought in the contract staff... and it took preparation to make sure that the contract workers could be successful.

I agree with you, but I am also very optimistic that with the right process/procedure/controls that your concerns are very manageable. And again it's too late for the AX8 roll out... that needed planning for such a solution is past.
 
Yes, yes... people on the web can suck I just don't see the problem with a company saying we are shipping out (on average) X units a day? at least we could have some kind of idea as to when it will arrive besides SOON, after that who cares... If someone wants to be a mathematician and go through all that gobbledy goop then let them. It still won't change the fact that they are still getting shipped out.

There is absolutely no benefit for a private business to disclose details about their production, productivity and demand to anyone but shareholders. Consumers will be given more information in cases where demand is more elastic or where there are more substitutes. Again, how much demand will be lost by FAS by having us wait? Doesn't feel great to me, but I know I will be getting a well made and supported world class product. After checking my email frequently through the Holidays, I have peacefully accepted I will get mine by June.

The other side of the coin, is if FAS were going to capitalize on the demand spike, prices for a unique, cutting edge product could certainly be lot higher in the near term. IMO.
 
You've evidently never worked in an ISO 9001/9002 company (or forgot how brutal audit week can be.)... Quality is not difficult with good hard controls in place to ensure it. But yes permanent staff that are invested in the company's success are always ideal if your growth is sustainable. I've been the temp staff early in my career as a IT consultant... rolling in for for extra capacity for big product roll outs and back out once the surge is over. And I've been in other business / projects that have brought in the contract staff... and it took preparation to make sure that the contract workers could be successful.

I agree with you, but I am also very optimistic that with the right process/procedure/controls that your concerns are very manageable. And again it's too late for the AX8 roll out... that needed planning for such a solution is past.

I get the other side too. A company that always is too conservative in planning and execution and makes roll outs too painful will suffer long term demand consequences as well (not that this is FAS by any means).
 
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The fact is if you want the BEST modeler available FAS is the only game in town. Period.

If you want their products you have to wait sometimes but once you get it you will enjoy its benefits for years to come. Some of us have waited over a decade for someone, anyone to make products as good as theirs.

Get over it and move on.
 
There is absolutely no benefit for a private business to disclose details about their production, productivity and demand to anyone but shareholders. Consumers will be given more information in cases where demand is more elastic or where there are more substitutes. Again, how much demand will be lost by FAS by having us wait? Doesn't feel great to me, but I know I will be getting a well made and supported world class product. After checking my email frequently through the Holidays, I have peacefully accepted I will get mine by June.

The other side of the coin, is if FAS were going to capitalize on the demand spike, prices for a unique, cutting edge product could certainly be lot higher in the near term. IMO.

I see your point, and maybe it was the wrong way to get my point across... So how about this,

As a potential buyer on a wait list and past customer of a product and strong advocate for the past 8 years I personally don't see that harm in relaying a future expected delivery date. To me it gives the customer a sense of ownership even though you don't already possess the product not to mention you can plan future expenditures, gigs etc. So as far as business benefits go you have a chance to turn a fan into a fanatic and that is hands down the greatest form of advertising you can have and it's free!
 
I see your point as well, and agree that it could be done, but still has risks. Delivering on an exact date is almost impossible. Being overly conservative or aggressive risks losing and alienating customers, probably more than saying nothing.
 
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