CPR Updates - Changes

[swinks]

yes copied from Pinside, but some background info that I thought some may appreciate, as pre-order system maybe getting the CAN......

The guys here can decide where to locate it

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-updates-1


Hey Guys;

I just thought I had to post here and hopefully give you all some news on what's been happening at CPR this summer.

- Kevin had to shut down his home based part of CPR as we just totally outgrew it. We started with a small section of his basement and when we shut down a few weeks ago he calculated we were using 2600sqft of his house!! His entire basement, living room, hallways and at least 2 spare bedrooms were completely full of CPR stuff. Even one of his bathrooms has PFs stacked against a wall! So we found a new location not far from his place and he's been moving in over the past few weeks. He tells me he'll be fully up and running this Monday..... he's a very optimistic guy  

Once Kevin said he was shutting down and I blew a board in my CNC I took it as a sign for me to also take advantage of Kevin's print shop being down and I dismantled the two small shops I had been operating out of for many years and decided to build a new two story shop that will have almost 3x the combined space of the old shop. It'll have proper power and decent insulation so anyone working there won't freeze in the winter or have heatstroke in the summer. I was told by my builder that it would be ready this Friday.... but so far all I see is a foundation..... another demented optimist  

In the past year or so since Stu became a partner at CPR and he agreed to take on the roll of Art Director and he's been posting and fielding many of the questions posted online of CPR. Even though Stu's opinions are just that... Stu's opinions, whenever he stated a fact it was backed up by the knowledge of being a CPR Partner and having total access to the inner working of the menagerie that we call CPR. I was very disappointed when he recently decided to stop posting in the name of CPR because that was a very valuable asset to us that was lost. I have implored Stu to continue posting as it gave unprecedented access to all of you into where we were going. Hopefully he reconsiders and begins keeping you guys up to date once again even in some limited capacity, as having me update the CPR website once every few months.... OK, every several months... or even worse was just not doing anyone any favors.

- Preorders- The idea of preorders was a way we came up to initially gauge the demand we might expect for a PF. When I first started making PFs we took deposits but the logistics of tracking hundreds of emails with changes of addresses, emails, changes, etc.. was a nightmare. When CPR formed the preorders just seemed the best way to do things. It gave us a rough idea of how many PFs might be wanted which allowed us to make an educated guess and order the number of inserts we needed. The real issues was the long lag times for inserts. It many cases it's been 10 months to get an order and that order might have 6 months or more of inserts for planned PFs. So at least some of the PFs are 18 months away when we place the order for the inserts. Lots can change in 18 months, the artwork might not be ready yet, guys sell off their games, you name it, it's happened. we actually have inserts for many PFs which we later decided not to make or inserts for PFs that we couldn't get licenses for. Anyway, the preorder system worked as well as could be expected given the obvious limitations. It actually worked much better that we ever expected. As the list got older more and more guys would drop off, not responding to their call for payments for many many reasons. Sometimes a guy moved or changed emails etc but since we go through the list top to bottom changes like this are very hard to track, impossible really given our limited spare time. However, this gave guys at the bottom of the list to get a PF he might never have gotten. In almost all cases everyone that had showed an interest would get a crack at one if their email we had was current. I think Playboy and Whirlwind were the only ones that we completely ran out of before everyone got a shot. However, Stu has been very influential in us deciding that the preorder lists might be more of a curse than a real use. We'll retain all the data we have from our current lists but I doubt we will regularly use them except in special cases from now on.

Lastly I was going to rewrite this but decided to just cut and paste from a post a made a few days ago. It was a post that wanted us to add carts etc to our website and some other suggestions. I hope this sheds a little light on how we have ALWAYS done things.

<paste>

We're a few pinheads trying to make parts for you guys. .... carts? While shopping carts are available at the local grocery store we really haven't figured out a way to get them set up on our website. Seriously, until...well... this weekend we were a couple of guys who make this stuff "solely" in our basements. Our first and truly most important task is to actually make the parts. Then we have to find a simple way to have you guys purchase them....hence the website. Beyond these basics we think its more important to show good pictures and discuss how we make parts rather than spend a huge amount of time learning how to code the website for carts... etc..... I hope you all understand.

I have repeated this many... many times. CPR is about pinheads making parts for pinheads. We have to make a few bucks to keep the business afloat but that is NEVER our primary goal. We make many parts that we lose money on and we know this even before we give the project a go ahead. That's OK as long as the next project is able to cover the loses on the previous. That's why you see us make parts that you all know we're gonna lose our shirts on... we'll make it up on the next run.. well, hopefully. CPR was never designed to come in and take the cream of the crop, like others do. CPR was begun for Kevin and I to be able to make the parts we needed to restore our own games. Later, after we had set up a functioning system, we expanded that model to include the parts our friends needed and then to what it is today where the Art Team gets the parts they all want to have made, and hopefully you all need the same parts. It's been super because as more of you want these often obscure parts we are able to make more and more of them. We are often and I really mean often are criticized for not concentrating more on the high value parts. The reality is the high value parts will get made because.... there is profit in them. If we only based our business model on profit then at least half of our projects would have NEVER been done. I know it's not the way to make money but it's in my opinion it's the best path for the hobby, my hobby and hopefully, yours too.

Mike P.

[Strangeways]

Great update. Also a reminder that CPR are more a hobby business for hobbyists. Just imagine pinball restoration without them !

[goodolddays]

Thanks for the update . Long live CPR

[swinks]

a bit more from Mike


The existing pre order lists will be used so anyone who is on one is good to go, but guys please keep in mind that many of these pre orders lists are years old and they are what I based my production numbers on at least to some extent. There were other factors too.

1. At about 100 PFs I start to get decent discounts on the inserts, for example we once ran short of a run of Centaurs. On the original run I cut about 100 but in the end we had about 15 more guys on the preorder list. Back then inserts were pretty quick and we had the time to order more inserts to make 15 more before Kevin printed them. The inserts for the original 100 were about $30 per PF and the last 15 were about $120 per PF..... not exactly inexpensive. Nowadays this is impossible anyway due to the huge lead times for inserts.

2. With the old shop we really only had room to make about 150 PFs at a time before we just plain had no where to put em. So that was the max we could make. Even if we had 300 preorders we couldn't make them all at once anyway and would have to make two completely separate runs. Hopefully we have a bit better usage in the shop and this problem can be overcome. Although truthfully we never have had to make that many anyway. I think ToTAN is going to be our biggest run yet and we will either have to make two or maybe three separate runs unless we find some new way to cycle that many PFs through the screen shop at once.

We will probably still use preorders on some games, especially licensed themes as that may help determine if it's worth paying for a license.

I noticed someone mentioned taking a good deposit.... we tried that before CPR and it was a nightmare. For example, old buddy Joe sends in his deposit, two months later he changes emails, a few months later he gets a new apt, and then if we're shipping between July and Sept we should ship to his cottage, then he sells his game due to family troubles and needs his deposit back etc... each one of those changes required a change on a customer spreadsheet. In the end many of the deposits generated many many emails each that truly had to be answered because we had this poor guys money and a responsibility to him because of that. Now multiply that by about 100 PFs in each run and maybe 8-10 runs a year. We'd need to stop making PFs just to keep up with all the extra emails!

From now on I will try to buy enough inserts so that we can quickly rerun titles that sell out but for at least the next 12 months I'll be working through existing pre order PF titles so no one has to worry about this very much. We'll still advertise upcoming titles so you guys can plan for them and in some cases we'll still run the preorders but just not in every case.

I hope you guys understand as many people see the preorder technique as broken and we're just trying to find something that works as well but doesn't make people upset at us when for some reasons they don't get one of our products.

You have other options as well, Rick at Bay Area usually and at odd times Gene gets these products as well as part of our licensing agreement so hit them up early and you'll probably be able to get one there. We often have PFs that aren't perfect that Kevin sets aside.... funny thing is after 10 minutes examining it a month or two later he can't figure out why he culled it the first time around. These are usually the silver quality. There are always a few with just plain weird stuff on them, a wrong colored insert somewhere, a weird coloration of the wood, a small misalignment on a color, or something else. These are offered up later as Bronzes with certain caveats and explanations. These type of PFs are often available for a long time afterwards even if they are not posted online because... it takes quite a bit of time to examine and photo each and every PF oddity and list them on our website.

I hope this helps explain some of the rather odd way we do things. I know its not the way to run a "real" business because I have been told this by quite a few people, but it's the only way we really know how to.

Thanks
Mike

[Crashramp]

Thanks For the update all good info to know. Those guys do a great job. Just wish they'd do BoP playfield and plastics at some stage.

[elkor-alish]

Thanks For the update all good info to know. Those guys do a great job. Just wish they'd do BoP playfield and plastics at some stage.

I agree 100% except they need to do Banzai Run playfields first.  :)

[swinks]

Stu is right, more inserts for WW have been ordered, now please understand that they could be 9 months or more before they arrive.... but we already have a CNC cut file and the ready artwork so they can get made very quickly once the supplies are here.

ToTAN inserts are here and I ordered enough to make twice the PFs we have preorders for so everyone should easily get one.

Fish Tales boats were drum sanded yesterday and should be ready to print within a week. After that it's just up to Kevin to get some press time.

Skateball PFs are coming but I don't yet have inserts for them so it won't be in the next few months.

I will endevour to order extra inserts from now on so I can flush our runs when needed. It's just expensive. Inserts can average $25 per PF and if I order enough for an extra 100 PFs then don;t need them I am out $2500. Sometimes I can scavenge them for another title but almost always it won't work because I need inserts for 125 so I wind up trying to flush out the order with a very small order for the missing ones. This drives the costs up for the remaining ones so high that it's often cheaper to just order all new for the 125 we need. Then when you have inserts from two batches you ALWAYS have inserts that are two shades of your color. Both green for example, just different shades... also not a great situation.

Mike

[swinks]

There has been frustration from people missing out on playfields and worried they will loose a opportunity to get a playfield so the last 2 posts are responses to peoples concerns, just thought to share as it helps people here with restorations so relevant. Also they did say to just setup a bookmark in your internet browser for CPR and check once a week instead of the previous pre-order method


I just thought I'd add a bit more about the preorder list and the way we used it. We have always used it as a tool for me to be able to order sufficient inserts. This only worked up to about 125 because that was all the room we could comfortably make. We have made more in the past, Black Knight comes to mind but we were literally tripping over these things while we were cutting them and even more so during the printing and then we have had them piled everywhere for years after. The real problem was the preorder list because almost 50% of people on the preorder list dropped out. It wound up be a HUGE wasted effort at a time when money was very very tight tight. In fact we almost didn't recover from that PF. So when PF after PF we have an average of about 30-40% of guys decline to buy a PF that they wanted enough to list themselves on our preorder we start to get a bit gun shy and take this into account when we make the PFs. We have had two real exceptions so far, Playboy and Whirlwind which sold out right out of the gate. Far far faster than we ever expected. Usually we have dozens left over that we have to carry for a long time or discount and sell them to the distributors. Playfields are EXPEN$IVE to make. Getting caught with 100 unsold Target Alpha back glasses was bad but getting caught with 100 unsold PFs would be costly enough that we might not survive another one of those. So you see its safer for us to underestimate than to over estimate and then try to make a second run later if the demand is there.

We want to be around to make the next PF and the one after that and making too many PFs of any one title is a gamble.

I know that not everyone thinks about how costly a PF is to make or how long it takes to recoup that outlay but I place $25,000 insert orders about twice a year..... how many of your spouses would appreciate that little surprise when you write a check on your home equity line of credit... twice in one year? Wood is even MORE expensive! I'm surprised she puts up with me doing this at all. 

Mike

[swinks]

this is from the art director guy


as for Updates, I can tell you this much:
I have already made out my spreadsheet for this years remaining Art Projects for Backglasses, Playfields, and Plastics sets as well as I already have 2014's list of 8 new Playfields, 15 new Backglasses, and 12 new Plastics Sets. My spreadsheet does Not include any Re-Runs of projects (those will be in production as needed). Right now I'm deciding on what will be done in 2015, so as you can see I'm staying ahead of the game. My plans (which I have already discussed with Mike & Kevin) is to stay 18-20 months ahead of the production department. The more artwork I can "vault" the more productive CPR can & will be. For you the customers this means More Product on a more 'consistant' basis.

Stu

[swinks]

For the Xenon guys - heads up


I actually have inserts for a very small run of about 25. We'll make that as soon as we get a chance. They will all be the standard version though. Hope you understand that with such a small run its hard to split it up.

Mike P.

[swinks]

Dungeons & Dragons Plastics:
http://classicplayfields.com/photo135.html

Power Play Plastics:
http://classicplayfields.com/photo134.html

Strikes & Spares Backglass:
http://classicplayfields.com/photo136.html

Order Plastics Here:
http://classicplayfields.com/store-plastics.html

Order Backglasses Here:
http://classicplayfields.com/store-backglass.html

[Crashramp]

Those Strikes and Spares backglasses look beautiful. Only problem is I'd need the rest of the machine to go with the backglass.

I still hope they do BoP plastics sometime soon and Genie would also be great.

[pinoffski]

For the Xenon guys - heads up


I actually have inserts for a very small run of about 25. We'll make that as soon as we get a chance. They will all be the standard version though. Hope you understand that with such a small run its hard to split it up.

Mike P.

I would like one of these

[Crashramp]

For the Xenon guys - heads up


I actually have inserts for a very small run of about 25. We'll make that as soon as we get a chance. They will all be the standard version though. Hope you understand that with such a small run its hard to split it up.

Mike P.

I would like one of these

I have one from there last run (yet to be installed) and they are beautiful.

[joele]

I have the FT boat and full playfield on pre-order, just hope the aussie dollar holds on long enough ;-)