*** Hi Keith
I know the Asian companies involved and the processes quite intimately. I have been involved is sourcing tooled and manufactured product out of Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China) on and off for 30+ years.... everything from high end audio design and manufacture thru industrial items to models.
Re the serrvice diagrammes, they are posted on Hornbys website and are therefore "appproved" by Hornby which is the point. They had to have been passed from Sanda-Kan to Hornby to the web company to post online. Clearly nobody even looked at something that by any standards, is a document that needs formal approval to exist. If they had, alarm bells would have rung - and perhaps the problem would never have hit the street!
The factory designs a model based on information provided. They wouldn't know one end of a T9 from the other - they simply do as asked based on data ex the client.
At various stages, each step of the planning is reconfirmed before taking any firm step which will add to cost - ie, basic design work on computer confirmed before tooling commenced, tools checked by test shots before production commences, assembly checked by signing off for assembly quality, finish and performance, and any paperwork and packaging for accuracy prior to finalising and printing. A QC requirement should then be confirmed by the client before ANY parts are assembled.
EVERY step is (has to be or nothing will happen) signed off by someone and that sign off indicates acceptance, and at the same time is the go ahead to produce.
NO item is ever produced without the client having approved it specifically - never ever.
After and during production, the manufacturer has also to follow whatever added quality checks have been stipulated and paid for. After completion, a wise manufacturer also institutes a pre-shipment check of each item to assure nothing slips through.
Each of these manufacture related checks is a cost and some Mfrs choose to skip one or all of them to lower cost.
*** Re Sanda Kans financial problems, they were not from Sanda Kans management - and nothing at all to do with their manufacturing ability. The company had been bought by a US company which had cash stripped them - that US company was also one of the eraly US economic casualties. Blaming them for this is the same as blaming a soldier for not winning when he has no bullets to fight with!
Nobody wants to see such things happen - its bad for all, from us as modellers to the shop to hornby and its staff to the staff on the production line - every error has huge contingent cost that directly hits everyone one way or another...
***You mention production delays in another post.
Don't always simply accept that delays are the Mfrs side - its always what is blamed but often, models are consciously delayed as clent cashflow is tight/inventry is higher than expected or more commonly, pre-orders are not yet to break even point for the model.
This is the point of no return for most who commission newly tooled product and it is only at that point when the huge cost of tooling gets the "go" and payment will be sent to the Mfr to go ahead.
Of course no Mfr is ever going to say "its late as its slower selling than we planned" so they usually find an easy to palate reason for public comment.
Anyway... enough rambling: Re the quality thing, I think it is a huccup and no more - Hornby is a generally well run company so will in the end look to the brand integrity shareholder value and make sure that image is mantained, and any "cracks in procedures" are properly fixed.
Usually after such a set of problems there is a quiet internal wake up call / shake up somewhere and things are soon back on track... and as Hornby have already acknowledged some of the problems I have no doubt this will be the case this time.
Richard
QUOTE (GoingUnderground @ 27 Feb 2009, 03:30)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Not possessing a copy of the service diagrams I can't comment on whether it was Hornby or Sanda Kan who got the tender the wrong way round in the first place and who perpetuated the drawing error, but it wasn't Hornby employees who assembled the model.
I am sure that Sanda Kan has had a good reputation, but last year Hornby were having a lot of problems with missed delivery dates with product made by Sanda Kan. I don't know whose fault that was and I've not seen any comments identfying the cause of those problems. Of course Sanda Kan do make product for others which further complicates matters. However, Sanda Kan nearly went broke at the end of last year and had to be saved by Kader. Companies that are "very competently managed and careful" don't normally have to be rescued. Ever heard of RBS and it's record loss announced today? When a company is in trouble, and I've worked for some in my time, they can do silly things in the interests of short term survival on the grounds that if you don't survive in the short term then there is no long term. Reducing QC standards might have been one of those, but i nthe absence of firm facts this is supposition on my part. Remember, when you're up to your backside in crocodiles you forget that your original reason for going in to the swamp was to drain it to get rid of the mosquitoes.
Let us hope that together Hornby and Sanda Kan/Kader can together rebuild the reputation of the Hornby range, as I don't think many people would want to see Hornby fail.
Keith.