To Kader Industries: Please read this request

[Wendell Hanks]

To the management of Kader Industries:

Please have select acknowledged large scale users test a prototype of each of your locomotives prior to shipping them to distributors for resale.

Historically, Bachmann locomotives have had problems in either the manufacturing or design that have brought user concern and user problem solving -- all of which would have been discovered through user examination and on-site testing.

Please offer your response to your perception of a need for several respected large scale hobbiests to throughly test, in full confidence with you and the factory, future locomotive offerings prior to their release to the public.

We await your consideration of this proposal.

Thank you.

Wendell Hanks
California

[the Bach-man]

Hi, Wendell,
While your proposal seems a good one, it is totally impractical. To set up an entire production line to run a dozen or so locos, then take it down and set up the next line while those folks did their inspection would be way too expensive and time consuming.
Good to hear from you, though!
Best,
the Bach-man

[Wendell Hanks]

Dr. Bach-mann-
Thanks for the response.
I think the drive train is the essential candidate for any pre-shipment testing. My guess is the drive train is designed by adaptation from other Bachmann locos. My second guess is that drive train can (could) be assembled and tested prior to the customers taking delivery of the finished product.

A least there would be assurances of the most foible prone part of the product having been tested.

Any of those guesses with merit?

Wendell

[the Bach-man]

Dear Wendell,
To  a degree. But a half dozen hand-assembled drives would not show assembly line issues.
Still, your thoughts are appreciated.
Have fun
the Bach-man

[Greg Elmassian]

This is a classic case of todays manufacturing. Since the locomotive is not being built on an assembly line dedicated long term to this particular production, the common technique of building a pilot production run and then checking the results is impossible.

One thing the customer (Bachmann) can do is ask the manufacturing company to build prototypes that will exactly match the production units.

Sadly, this does not often happen for many reasons, which I won't get into, too political and critical.

I would think Bachmann could request a few more prototypes, and have them torn apart and run to death in a short time.

The trick is the "guarantee" that the production matches the prototypes.

I'm not sure there is an answer, with market conditions putting extreme pressure on the vendor, although there is a favorite phrase of mine:

There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to do it over.

Did Bachmann save money by bringing the K to market earlier considering negative press, and having to do the counterweights over?

We will probably never know what the financial bottom line is.

Regards, Greg

[grumpy]

Here is your biggest problem -if you turn the loco upside down you wil see the tag that says made in China.It is pretty damn difficult to monitor quality control from the USA to China, just ask Mattel. There are also not that many suppliers of quality in China. As a result some of the Bachman loco's and Aristocraft loco's come from the same factory.As a result the deficiencies are not discovered until the units hit the consumer.
Don

[petertoot]

just a quick note, grumpy implies made in china is hard to watch for qaulity control,dont you forget that the usa is one of chinas BIGGEST TRADING PARTNERS,ant to be fair to kader,aristocraft,things do not always go as planned,if you dont like it,dont buy it,usally the second run has the bugs out,just my input,take no offence,but this is life,peter from ozzie.....

[Greg Elmassian]

Dealing with China is a cultural thing, and also different business practices.

The company I work for gets a lot of material from China, made to our specification. We get samples, then order. We often get something different from the sample. Unfortunately, the sample is not made on the production line (sound familiar), so this happens.

One huge problem is that everything is paid for before it even gets to the docks in China. So, what is our alternative? Ship it back? We are often "stuck".

There is no easy solution for "short run" production items.

By the way, Kader makes Bachmann, Sanda Kan makes Aristo and USAT.

Regards, Greg

[glennk28]

Kader apparently also makes the HOn3 K-27's for Blackstone--these have an issue with over-oiling of the motors--Apparently there was some colaboration on designing the models--note the same variations being made--gj