CIM-U-LATORS

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Im sorry but that is a total crock. FIRST included 4 different motors of theirs and they didn't expect as big a demand?? Obviously teams are going to go to the source of their motors for their gearbox solutions. I understand it is tough for businesses to anticipate an FRC season because it's 6 weeks of HIGH volume business and very little the rest of the year. However, FIRST should be getting to a point after 20 years where there is enough data to start following trends and inform suppliers/partners of anticipated demand.

Maybe FIRST should conduct a survey of where teams buy a lot of their components from.

Seeing as we continue to have a hard time even getting game pieces every year, I think this will continue to be a problem for quite some time.

It is bad for business to keep a large inventory. That money isn't very liquid, and you have to store the physical product, etc. If you take a look at BaneBot's building, it is not particularly large. I assume since this generation of gearbox is made in the US, that building contains both the offices & production floor.

It's hard to guess the relative company size, I can't find any guesstimates online, but they obviously aren't huge. They also offer their gearboxes in a wide variety of sizes, so it would probably be unwise for them to assemble 1,000 64:1 boxes before the season, only to find that teams order only a few of those and 1,000 of the 132:1. I've never worked in gearbox assembly, I don't know how much it costs them to produce one. But if we use $50, then producing 5000 gearboxes costs them $250,000. That is a pretty large capital outlay. I would imagine the real demand is higher than 5000 units.

As a relatively small company that I imagine deals mostly with hobbyists, they have a lot riding on their reputation. If they say they are working 24/7 to ship these puppies out the door I definitely believe them.