RE: [smartBridges] Quality Control

[RFMS]

Nish,   Thank you for this open and and very informative report.  I have also read each of the messages about field problems and agree that as dismaying as they are, the likelihood of being self-induced is greater that the likelihood of factory hardware issues being the cause.   Not meaning in any way at all to denigrate the individuals reporting the problems, but I have watched the swing of one thing/cause/problem to another, be related to another and another and again, to another.  Very shortly things get fuzzy and disconnected so no help occurs.   I will say that I own less that 15 of the AirBridge outdoor product line and only one of the AirBridge Indoor version.  None of them, so far have given me any problems like I have seen described here on the list.  Not saying that these problems aren't happening to folks, just seems to me that the percentage rate should catch up to me, too.   One thing though;  I  have not upgraded firmware on all of the devices because when the original round of miscellaneous problems began with the new updated versions.   It seemed best to me that I wait for all the bugs to work themselves through the system.  I did download it and have used it in two (2) of my units belonging to me and used only by me for hardware testing and RSSI correlation issues against various other brands.  So far, there has not been any hardware indication of the type problems mentioned by all of the other list participants on this list.   I recognize that the growth problem is a big one, just don't do what a lot of the past suppliers have done and over build for production and therefore cause a debt issue to arise and possibly cause many other problems, not to mention the worst of the all, the price, and for the quality to degrade.   In a year, more or less span of time, the issue of equipment reliability will have resolved itself and the product(s) will have a proven track record that will allow it to be successful or crash and burn up.    Please tell you team not to become discouraged because of the incoming reports, to keep looking at all of them and providing the answers, as best as they can with the information provided, and to keep bettering the product.  Yep, lower that returned equipment rate below 1% and keep it there.  Particularly when the output volume goes up and the RM number stays constant or drops.  Then you will really be making headway.   Thank you for your openness and informative manner and I do hope it remains the same for a long time.     Ron -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Nish Park Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 4:30 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [smartBridges] Quality Control   In the last few days a lot of forum bandwidth has been spent on the perceived quality issues with our products. We are preparing a comprehensive info package to address these comments. In the mean time here is some info. 1) Our macro level (worldwide and over past 5 months) RMA rate is about 3%. About 40% of these RMA do not have any problems. So the effective rate is about 1.8%. We have comprehensive process in place to monitor this and continually improve this further. Our goal is to reach under 1% over next few weeks (more details on the process will be shared later). 2) From the nature of the forums (this as well as others), we have come to realize that it is lot easier for negative sentiments to linger around. In general, when people have some problem, they post a message. Our support staff would work with them to resolve the issue. But it is rare that a follow-up post would be made clarifying the issue. 3) Many times we see posts that do not appear to be genuine problem statements. When we reach out and try to work with those individuals, they do not reply. Unfortunately this happens often enough. 4) The product shortage and availability issues had contributed to adding to the frustration level. But by now enough shipments should be reaching the distributors to take care of ALL the back orders. In addition, new distributors have been appointed to provide you alternatives. 5) We are going through the growing pains (like 100% month over month) but please be assured that our focus on quality is unwavering.   6) Here is an issue we are trying to figure out. Any thoughts would be appreciated. The outgoing quality level from the factory is better than 99.9x%. Field return rate is  3% (or 1.8%). So what could happen in between that some people experience real bad things? Nish