Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

"Studies that we've done suggest that our market is about eight times what we're producing right now, so we're way behind the eight ball," Hall said.

Thanks for posting, a great look into the business aspect...

Thanks Stan....that was terrific!!

Thanks, Stan!

That's a very heartening read. Principle is all too rare these days, and I applaud Mr. Hall and RIC for recognizing that it's important, and sticking to it.

It also makes me very glad that I snagged my brand new 650D nearly 7 years ago for $695

Cheers, Stan. Thanks for posting the link.

There was a thread on the corporate forum that linked the original story and there were 5 (IIRC) pics of JH and factory shots. Very nice article.

Hall inherited Rickenbacker from his father, Francis, ...

If memory serves me right, John Hall has stated in the past that he & Cindalee had purchased the company from his father.

It's nice to know that (someday) I'll be in such august company. I'm quite looking forward to that eventuality.

JimK

wmthor wrote:

Hall inherited Rickenbacker from his father, Francis, ...

If memory serves me right, John Hall has stated in the past that he & Cindalee had purchased the company from his father.

In fact, you'll note that the original Bloomberg article has already been updated to correct this and some other inaccuracies:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=muse

That one's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I think it was my dad's way of insuring there was some sweat equity in the company. Of course, I did eventually inherit the money I paid him, which had been well invested for some 16 years, so maybe it was just an enforced savings plan.

johnhall wrote:

wmthor wrote:

Hall inherited Rickenbacker from his father, Francis, ...

If memory serves me right, John Hall has stated in the past that he & Cindalee had purchased the company from his father.

In fact, you'll note that the original Bloomberg article has already been updated to correct this and some other inaccuracies:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=muse

That one's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I think it was my dad's way of insuring there was some sweat equity in the company. Of course, I did eventually inherit the money I paid him, which had been well invested for some 16 years, so maybe it was just an enforced savings plan.

Hahahaha! Parents can be funny that way!

Great artical, it's hard for us to have to wait for the Rics we ordered, but Im glad that Rickenbacker can't keep up with the orders, if they're selling guitars faster than they can make them then that equals buisness is very good indeed, and that in the long run is good for us. If it was'nt for the poor guys&gals who've been waiting so long for thier Rics to come in, I'd hope that Rickenbacker sales would double form it's currant level. I don't know John Hall, nor have I ever spoken to him, but I do know that he's a very good buisness man, and would never let Rickenbacker quality suffer by spitting them out in mass quantity in order to satisfy demand. I also know from firsthand experiance that Rickenbacker takes care of thier customers, I had a BIG warrenty issue with my 620, right after I bought it I took it to an authorized Ric dealer to have it set-up, but the problem was that the neck could'nt be adjusted. I sent the guitar back to Rickenbacker and they had to strip everything off my guitar and put it on a new neck/body, essentially giving me a new guitar, and the best part was that two weeks after I sent them the guitar, I got it back!!. So with the quality of Rickenbacker guitars, and the service that they give thier customers, it's no wounder that they can't keep up with demand, I say God Bless them.
Paul

Unfortunately, not everyone understands what a complex issue and daunting endeavor it is to increase production and maintain (if not improve) the level of quality we strive for. Some people think it's just a matter of operating another shift or throwing more employees on the line, and I wish it was so simple.

The biggest hang-up is finding even minimally qualified people to work and the training involved to bring them up to usefulness. As we add people, initially things slow down as the training is done by other people on the line who know the job- the trainers own output is affected by having to work with new people. New people invariably make mistakes and more re-work involved to not only correct the mistakes but do the additional steps to make sure it can't happen again.

Then there's the matter of a fairly complex supply chain. There are many components with very long lead times- keys and pots come to mind- some of which exceed nine months. Chrome platers have been a perennial problem through the years and even more so recently during the RoHS conversion. So many have just gone out of business trying to keep up with tightening environmental regulations and many are just too small to handle volume, small part production at reasonable prices. (This has been the single biggest problem trying to keep up with the tsunami of pickup orders we've experience in recent months.)

It's also been very difficult in many circumstances to source North American produced components- either we don't make things here, the quality is poor, or the prices unaffordable. Foreign made goods are often attractive at first blush but we'd rather spend the extra time, and often, money, to make sure we have a consistent domestic supplier for the long term.

We're also in the process of two major changes with regard to production. The first concerns automation and scheduling, where we're working hard to make production processes as efficient as possible, not so much from a cost standpoint but rather to increase output. This involves the design and implementation of additional machinery, tooling, and fixtures. The second is intensive documentation of the components and procedures so that it's possible to create better training aids, more precise quality control, and better standardization. Both of these projects are being led by Grover Jackson.

Anyway, at least at other sites that I've read, most people think we're in some kind of market manipulation mode, holding back production to keep the supply down. The reality is so much simpler: the demand has kept increasing faster than we can grow- which we most certainly are doing. For the short term, we raised prices partly to try to slow down those increases in demand now but for the long term, we're continuing to increase daily production.

One last thing about prices. With a backlog at two years, it means we won't see the benefit of those price for a very long time, as we don't raise prices for the orders already in house and we hold no deposits for anything except lefties. It should be obvious to all that there's a great deal of price instability right now, which is a risk we have to cover. Wages have been rising, not to mention a 16% rise in worker's compensation insurance this year, a very big number. Finally, while the dollar has done better internationally in the last few days, it's still very low against international currencies as compared to 12 or 18 months ago; given that 60% of our business is export, we felt it was only fair that some of that differential was shared by the export clients to help offset increased costs for those few imported components we have, to the benefit of the domestic market.

Mr. Hall,
Thank you for your post above. It sounds as though RIC is really trying to do the right thing. There's a Cajun idiom I learned a while back "Lache pas la patate." Loosely translated it means "Keep on keepin' on", or "Hang in there." And although I may grouse a bit on these forums, I hope you'll realize that I'm just venting. Keep up the good work.

JimK