Re: Da Lens -- here yesterday, gone today

[Joseph Tainter]

Graywolf wrote:

"My understanding from the area Pentax Rep is that Pentax no longer 
warehouses things. They come off the assembly line, are shipped to the 
distribution center in the Philippines, and are shipped out directly to 
dealers from distributors orders. Usually within 24 hours or so. That 
kind of means that they go in fits and starts as they dribble in until 
the pipeline is full then they kind of keep moving along until the item 
is discontinued and orders are no longer filled."

Thanks for the clarification. I don't know much about such matters, but 
see a problem with trying to save costs by this strategy. After the 
initial production surge for a new product, eventually the market 
becomes saturated and demand tapers off. It tapers off, but doesn't go 
away, because there are new users, and established users who take a 
while to decide on a product. So this means that without warehousing, 
production must continue either at a low level, or in fits and starts. 
Either approach raises unit costs. Economies of scale are lost. In the 
fits-and-starts approach, there must be a reduction in quality, because 
the assemblers lose and then must regain experience with the product. 
Warranty costs increase.

What am I not understanding here? Of course the standard approach today 
is to save a dollar now even if it costs ten dollars tomorrow. 
Somewhere, I presume, some economist has figured out the relative value 
of a dollar saved today versus ten dollars spent tomorrow. All this, of 
course, discounts customer satisfaction.

I guess we'll see the same fiasco when the DA 14 debuts.

Joe