AndyMark out of stock

[deeek]

Has anyone else been highly inconvenienced by the stock shortages at AndyMark lately? All shifters are out of stock as well as many wheels and other miscellaneous items.

[Gearheads1]

It's really hard to forecast demand for items that are needed for so many teams so rapidly. Yes, it's inconvenient, but I appreciate all that AndyMark has done, and continues to do, for the FIRST community. I do know they're doing everything they can to make sure you get the parts you want as soon as they can. Now, back to hoping we get our parts in soon!

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Gearheads1

It's really hard to forecast demand for items that are needed for so many teams so rapidly.

This is true. The one exception to this that seems to be a problem every year is FIRST game pieces. The BOF supplier of the part each year never seems to make enough of them to satisfy the surge in demand, which is pretty well known. I blame FIRST for this.

The severe weather in the midwest has also disrupted a lot of the supply chain. I know they've starting sourcing their own hex clamp collars because they couldn't get any supply at reasonable prices. As a 4th year mentor, I've become used to part shortages and really push to know what parts to order very early in the build season so we get them in in week 1. That being said, I'm starting to get concerned that I won't be able to get parts for the final robot. I know AM is working as best they can to get parts in and out the door.

[Whippet]

We just received our TB Nanos today, and our *ducks* 6" mecanums are on the way. It was a bit frustrating to navigate our school's payment system, especially with both gearboxes and wheels seemingly perpetually out of stock, but we feel that AndyMark has been very professional with the whole thing, and contacted us about our order when bad things happened. Overall, I appreciated AndyMark's excellent service, and will gladly order from them again given the opportunity.

/me may or may not want a mecanum-driven AM14U for home.

[magnets]

While I do totally understand why places like vex pro and andymark are out of stock, I am extremely frustrated why, year after year after year, the game pieces are impossible to get. This year, we've got one. Just one. The whole year. We've called the company, we've checked andymark, and we've only got one for our kit. I can only think of three reasons why this could happen.

1. Every supplier for game pieces since 2003 (those bins were great) tells FIRST that there will be enough, but there aren't. This is sometimes hard to believe, as the suppliers are only making more money by having things in stock.

2. FIRST doesn't do a good job estimating demand. They tell the company that we'll need 3000 by kickoff, then probably one or two teams will decide to order a single extra ball, so the company only makes a few balls. This is again really hard to believe. They know what happens during the season.

3. FIRST just doesn't care. I think this could be the case. Year after year, the game pieces are specialized for FRC (weirdly shaped tubes, custom basketballs, custom dimension frisbees, custom exercise ball), and are stupidly expensive. $52 for an exercise ball is overkill. I should be able to buy 10 exercise balls for that amount of money.

[Bruceb]

I have to agree to some extent with this. I sure wish FIRST GDC would think about the game pieces in terms of availability. If I can't buy it that time of year at Walmart or make it from something else that is readily available maybe we should not use it.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by magnets

While I do totally understand why places like vex pro and andymark are out of stock, I am extremely frustrated why, year after year after year, the game pieces are impossible to get. This year, we've got one. Just one. The whole year. We've called the company, we've checked andymark, and we've only got one for our kit. I can only think of three reasons why this could happen.

1. Every supplier for game pieces since 2003 (those bins were great) tells FIRST that there will be enough, but there aren't. This is sometimes hard to believe, as the suppliers are only making more money by having things in stock.

2. FIRST doesn't do a good job estimating demand. They tell the company that we'll need 3000 by kickoff, then probably one or two teams will decide to order a single extra ball, so the company only makes a few balls. This is again really hard to believe. They know what happens during the season.

3. FIRST just doesn't care. I think this could be the case. Year after year, the game pieces are specialized for FRC (weirdly shaped tubes, custom basketballs, custom dimension frisbees, custom exercise ball), and are stupidly expensive. $52 for an exercise ball is overkill. I should be able to buy 10 exercise balls for that amount of money.

I don't remember any particular problems getting soccer balls in '10 or the tubes in '11 or the basketballs in '12.

Perhaps we were just lucky and ordered early.

This year, we purchased 3 of the excercise balls so we have enough to practice with.

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I don't remember any particular problems getting soccer balls in '10 or the tubes in '11 or the basketballs in '12.

Perhaps we were just lucky and ordered early.

This year, we purchased 3 of the excercise balls so we have enough to practice with.

Agreed. I also don't remember having issues getting frisbees last year. For our team, at least, it was a four year streak of good game piece availability.

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I don't remember any particular problems getting soccer balls in '10 or the tubes in '11 or the basketballs in '12.

Perhaps we were just lucky and ordered early.

This year, we purchased 3 of the excercise balls so we have enough to practice with.

Wasn't part of FIRST for the soccer balls and wasn't in charge of purchasing anything for 2011 tubes.
2012 BBalls had availability issues somewhere in the middle of build season. It took several weeks to get them in stock again, and when they did make more, the variability in mass and "squishyness" was awful. It seems that the manufacturer discontinued the item, so there wasn't even the possibility of getting a generic alternative.

Originally Posted by Nemo

Agreed. I also don't remember having issues getting frisbees last year. For our team, at least, it was a four year streak of good game piece availability.

2013 Frisbees were out of stock for a period of time, but that seemed to be not too long of a span.

[Mr. Van]

Any idea when the 2014 game piece will be back in stock, or are they out for the season?

- Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox

[magnets]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Agreed. I also don't remember having issues getting frisbees last year. For our team, at least, it was a four year streak of good game piece availability.

Trust me, it gets really difficult when your school takes 5 days to process the order. The game pieces weren't in stock for five consecutive days very much in previous seasons...

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I don't remember any particular problems getting soccer balls in '10 or the tubes in '11 or the basketballs in '12.

Perhaps we were just lucky and ordered early.

You were lucky in 10 then. A lot of teams couldn't get the correct ball and their ball possesion mechanisms didn't work properly with the real surface finish that the balls had.

I had forgotten about how bad that was until I saw this note.

Also in 11 I remember there being a 2 week delay in the game pieces shipping after kick off.

12 and 13 were better but availability was still limited.

[efoote868]

The easiest solution (for teams) is to get multiples in their KOP... If every team this year received 2 or 3 exercise balls, I suspect most teams would be content with what they had. It may be overkill, but it really is the only way to guarantee a manufacturer that they'd sell out their batch. FIRST also probably gets volume discounts...

This might be an opportunity for someone like AndyMark or VexPro to step up - sell prepackaged deals and guaranteed delivery of game pieces after kickoff. While teams might not know what the game piece is or how much it costs, they can "invest" a certain amount knowing they'll get the value back in game pieces. $200 this year would be 4 exercise balls, $200 last year would've been 30 frisbees, $200 next year would be 10 of whatever.

[ThunderousPrime]

Perhaps extra game pieces could be a FIRST Choice item? Although quantity may not be available for choosing it still would be a way for teams that like extra game pieces to get them. (If this is not possible then someone can correct me.)

Also do we know if the amount of offseason/week 0 Competitions affects the surge in demand? FRC 1511 Hosts an offseason (Rochester Ra Cha Cha Ruckus) and a week 0 event (Rochester Rally) so we like to buy a "Field Set" of game pieces. (I believe this year we are ordering 5 balls but have only been able to purchase 1 because of stock issues.)

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

This is true. The one exception to this that seems to be a problem every year is FIRST game pieces. The BOF supplier of the part each year never seems to make enough of them to satisfy the surge in demand, which is pretty well known. I blame FIRST for this.

I have been a mentor for 12 seasons and for that time will say that FIRST HQ has almost without fail poorly forecast the game object availability to teams in a reasonable time. This is solely on FIRST HQ and not the folks who support them logistically like our friends at AM.

At least we haven't had a major screw up in providing an actual game object since 2004 when the balls we were sold for practice were completely different from the real game object.