PropScope, QuickStart, PropStick- all out of stock..
Hanno
Posts: 1,130
Several people have contacted me wanting my opinion on which micro to get started with. I enthusiastically praise the Prop. Sadly all the products I tell them about are out of stock. They've now gone with Arduinos 
I'm especially sad about the PropScope- so much hard work from a good team of people- and for the last ~6 months barely any have shipped.
For perishable products with low margins (like groceries) I can understand that keeping sufficient inventory can be costly- for the life of me I can't understand why Parallax keeps their stock so low. I'm pretty sure they even ran out of QFP Propeller's a couple days ago- but they seem to be back in stock for now.
Am I the only one that has this frustration?
Hanno
I'm especially sad about the PropScope- so much hard work from a good team of people- and for the last ~6 months barely any have shipped.
For perishable products with low margins (like groceries) I can understand that keeping sufficient inventory can be costly- for the life of me I can't understand why Parallax keeps their stock so low. I'm pretty sure they even ran out of QFP Propeller's a couple days ago- but they seem to be back in stock for now.
Am I the only one that has this frustration?
Hanno
Comments
Could have directed them toward Propeller Platform... (A great alternative to Ardunio)
There are quite a few in stock at Parallax (187), and Ohio product fulfillment for Gadget Gangster (me) has 11 units on hand with a large box of them (and more!) on it's way!
OBC
Hanno
Hanno
Not sure if you are looking for a reply or not, but I share your frustration. The situation isn't intentional.
Our production department is at maximum capacity and has been trying to stay on top of the demand since June. We have many new products in the production process and we've switched to split shifts and we have about six temp staff joining the manufacturing team right now. They're working weeknights and weekends for the last six weeks. The next step is to add a night shift to production, or another SMT line. What you're not seeing right now is that we manufactured 5,200 QuickStarts in the last week, the new Eddie Robot control board, and next the PropBOE. In the next couple of days we're building 1,200 each of the new gyro, compass and altimeter. This is a massive setup/teardown process and inventory is spread among the manufacturing facility as it works its way through the P&P, oven, selective solder, washer, and cutter. To keep them happy we brought in a huge batch of In-n-Out burgers, shakes and fries last Friday. This is hardly a thank you for the work they're doing lately, but they were really thrilled to have such a simple token of appreciation.
The reason PropScopes take a long time is because they're not an easy manufacturing build. Even with our automation each PropScope takes at least 30 minutes per unit when the production run is finished. I saw a rack of them the other day so they should be in stock shortly.
The QFPs are in test, all the time. What you don't see is our untested inventory levels, where most of our inventory lies. Large orders don't occur within same warehouse as the one used for the web site.
But to your point - I hear ya loud and clear! And I am working to fix this problem. Our Manufacturing Manager has been on vacation for quite some time and returns to Parallax on Tuesday. Hamburgers can't increase production throughput and we're looking at the solution more closely.
We appreciate your support, so "thanks" Hanno!
Ken Gracey
Great to hear that you're super busy building innovative products in America. Sadly you don't hear many such stories these days- would be nice if more companies treated their customers and staff the way you treat yours. Keep up the good work.
Hanno
I begin to wonder what the point of full page ads are. Being a long time user, I can be quite forgiving - but a new buyer is likely to be quite wary of starting to use products when this happens.