Gun laws, F/A uppers starting to ship out and where am I in the que?
- Thread starter alberta tactical rifle
- Start date
- Location
- calgary alberta
Not for an instant do we not appreciate everyone's business, but we are getting on average 20 emails per day asking where in line a person is and when their order will ship. We don't keep track of the phone calls asking the exact same question but I suspect about the same number as we get emails.
We have been extremely transparent and communicative as to what our schedule is, why we elected to go this route etc.. Not sure exactly how many times we have to re-iterate this.
What we KNOW is that everyone is wanting theirs ASAP, BUT the more time we use answering the same questions the longer it will take to get the sets out. As stated before we can be answering emails and phone calls or making parts but not both.
I realize that our assorted production runs could be confusing so let me try one last time to clarify it.
Orders placed before mid September 2018 are production run #1 and 99% of that run has shipped out, these were all slick side upper sets.
Orders placed after mid September 2018 are in production run #2 and will have either F/A uppers or SS uppers available. The uppers for either are already done. We are currently making the lowers.
Orders placed after April 15 2019 are in production run #3. We made an over run of F/A uppers and a small run of SS uppers while we were running uppers for run 2 while we waited for the material for lowers to arrive. Once the lowers for run 2 are done we will continue making lowers for run 3.
Run 2 sets will start to ship out late August and continue to ship out into October as they are completed. Then run 3 sets will start to ship out as they are completedwith the expectation that by spring of 2020 all of run 3 will be shipped.
EVERY order has a date on it, Look at the dates on your order and it should be pretty obvious where you are in line.
ATRS Shaun
Business Member Rep.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
I didn't mean to sound unappreciative of people's business in the least, and I wish I had something more interesting to provide an update of... but it's been making uppers, and making more uppers, and then to shake things up, we've made some more uppers... We're starting on lowers, but the same way we upsized the production of uppers last time we're doing the same with lowers. Maybe it'll slow the first twenty guys down by a couple of weeks, but it'll speed up the last couple hundred orders by months. New fixtures, updating programs and running test parts. We're squishing op 1 and op 2 into the same machine, and we've cut the cycle time per part nearly in half.
I like this idea, but just haven't had the free time to do much there. Maybe something in the next couple weeks, but after that it's gonna be full crunch to get stuff ready for TACCOM, and receivers out the doors, etc.
I like where your heads at, and while I agree that expanding would be REALLY nice, and we're keeping our eyes open for opportunities there, we're instead trying to optimize our production in the space we have currently. A lot will be decided after October.
An example of this optimization, is that we are condensing operation 1 and 2 of the lowers into one machine, our largest with a bed large enough to mount four op 1's, and four op 2 parts. So 8 parts per cycle
ATRS Shaun
Business Member Rep.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
With finding a lot of improvements for efficiency, I'm hoping that day isn't too far off. Maybe this time next year if we're lucky?
We have a limited edition version coming out in partnership with my favourite gun rights organization soon too... actual photos are a few weeks out on the first samples, but I'm really excited for those
They're going to be ridiculous!
Maybe out east there's a under appreciation of the scale of ATRS's operation. This isn't a big company like Troy or Colt. As someone who regularly pops in to the shop to buy stuff or just kick tires, I'm always impressed that they can crank out as much quality product as they do. ATRS is TINY. At work I regularly deal with fab companies that are way less responsive or productive. If you wanted something up front, go buy a M&P or a BCL (lots of them on the EE hahaha).
Shaun , I’m just razzing you
I know what it’s like to get a crap load of calls from customers,asking the same sh!t over and over.
I feel like telling them to go get bent. But at the end of the day, it could be worse,as in no calls .
Keep up the excellent work!
I know what it’s like to get a crap load of calls from customers,asking the same sh!t over and over.
I feel like telling them to go get bent. But at the end of the day, it could be worse,as in no calls .
Keep up the excellent work!
- Location
- calgary alberta
So let me ask you this.
Given we have a 50/50 chance of getting another lieberal government in October and KNOWING that if we do get another lieberal regime they fully intend to put all of the gun business's out of business, would you invest a several million of your own dollars into purchasing more machines a new building and hiring more staff?
We are in the perfect position to expand as our lease is up in 13 months which gives us time to get a new facility built and more machines ordered all the while still producing product. If you don't think I want to expand significantly you are dead wrong. I do NOT however wish to lose absolutely everything should Turd and his merry band of morons get back into power, so we wait and see whether we are allowed to remain in business or not come October.
ATRS Shaun
Business Member Rep.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
You obviously don't work in the machining industry.
I'm at a shop in Calgary that is COMPLETELY swamped right now. We have no business putting out as much work as we are, and it's still never enough. We have a night shift, and are/have been actively looking for quality people for it. They're just not out there. The downturn over the last few years completely ####ed the labor pool. Seems like all the decent guys are actively employed, and a lot of the rest moved on (I personally know more than a few guys that went back to BC, Ontario, etc). Even trying to find guys for day shift spots is difficult.
TL/DR: It's not that easy.
Good guys aren’t that hard to find, if you want top guys you need to pay top dollar
- Location
- The Canadian Republic of China
I am up for a career change! It’s not work, if you enjoy what your doing..
