Very valid questions. The problem I face here every single day is that of volume. Suppliers simply are not interested in making or supplying smaller quantities.
Yesterdays example is T-Moulding. We are halfway through developing our new lowboy upright video game and I need 15mm black T-Moulding, nothing special (you would think) but the 5 factories we contacted (and visited two of them) do not stock anything. It is all made to order and the minimum orders are massive.
In the end I had to pay for a die to be made (not expensive for a single colour moulding, about AU$200) but then I had to order 5000mts of product - each machine will use about 5mts so I doubt I will be reordering any time soon.
This same problem goes on with anything you want made or done - quantity, quantity, quantity.
Pinball, worst luck, is mostly lots of different parts but all in small numbers!
This is one reason we do as much as possible in-house. I got tired of having to wait for small tooling from one place every time we needed something so it was easier and much faster in the end to buy a new milling machine - that was one of the best things I have bought here.
I know people say stern are charging too much for games now, but looking at homepin's ops, everything seems very labour intensive. I guess it would be great to have equipment to automate a lot of processes but not economical given the numbers. Also contracting out may enabling dealing with orgs with access to automation, you then pay for it anyway. So take away the Chinese costs advantage, pinball manufacturing and margins may not be that great??? I dunno. Do you envisage Mike once business ramps up and becomes accepted by other manufacturers, that a lot of the labour intensive stuff you have presented to us can or will be automated to achieve mass production. And being in China will that also lower costs further making pinball more affordable? Thanks
