China Back at Work.
China returned to work last Monday after the Chinese New Year holiday break and in response to our emails information regarding deliveries is starting to filter back to us from our factories.
The first news received is from the old factory who have advised that assembly of the re-run of our AD60 class Garratt is underway and that dispatch should take place the last week in April which suggests a mid-May arrival at Port Botany.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
E wagon 1st Engineering Samples Arrive - Detailed pictures
The first engineering samples for the E Wagon project arrived in the week prior to Chinese New Year.
The samples are excellent. The detail is accurate and fine. The interior detail on the open wagons is particularly impressive and provides a very nice view for those who like to run their wagons empty.
The factory has stated that these are the first samples and that they will be making further improvements. At the same time the samples are being checked at this end for any necessary improvements or corrections.
In November last year the factory advised that they expected to deliver the 1st samples in the week before Chinese New Year and this is precisely what they did. This is very promising for the dates that have been supplied by the factory for our other projects currently in the pipeline.
The next steps will involve making any corrections that are necessary, preparing artwork and then proceeding to production.
The samples are excellent. The detail is accurate and fine. The interior detail on the open wagons is particularly impressive and provides a very nice view for those who like to run their wagons empty.
The factory has stated that these are the first samples and that they will be making further improvements. At the same time the samples are being checked at this end for any necessary improvements or corrections.
In November last year the factory advised that they expected to deliver the 1st samples in the week before Chinese New Year and this is precisely what they did. This is very promising for the dates that have been supplied by the factory for our other projects currently in the pipeline.
The next steps will involve making any corrections that are necessary, preparing artwork and then proceeding to production.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Eureka Web-Site Malware Warning.
Visitors accessing our web-site through Google are receiving a warning that malware may be present. I have had this problem looked at and am told that there is no malware present (Google itself states that no-one has been infected) and that the warning is being caused by the fact that we are using a very old version of Java. Whatever the cause of the warning, the site is currently being up-graded (and up-dated) to eliminate the problem.
Visitors accessing our web-site through Google are receiving a warning that malware may be present. I have had this problem looked at and am told that there is no malware present (Google itself states that no-one has been infected) and that the warning is being caused by the fact that we are using a very old version of Java. Whatever the cause of the warning, the site is currently being up-graded (and up-dated) to eliminate the problem.
THE EUREKA TIMES - 21st EDITION.
The latest edition of The Eureka Times is in preparation and posting out will commence at the end of this week. It will also be available on our web-site early next week.
The edition will contain an update on all current projects and timelines for all current and proposed projects. It will also contain order froms for our 3-dome bogie oil tank wagon 3-packs.
The latest edition of The Eureka Times is in preparation and posting out will commence at the end of this week. It will also be available on our web-site early next week.
The edition will contain an update on all current projects and timelines for all current and proposed projects. It will also contain order froms for our 3-dome bogie oil tank wagon 3-packs.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Fun and Games in China
It has been some time since my last post, too long in fact but there have been major developments at the factory and whilst there is some awareness of these developments in the public domain the situation in China has changed almost on a weekly (and sometime daily) basis so it has been difficult to state definitively at any point in time what is the current position. However, understandably there are a lot of inaccurate rumours going around so this post will attempt to clarify what is the current position regarding Eureka Models in the turmoil which is currently engulfing the factory.
The signs had been there for sometime but in June this year we were summoned to our manufacturer's head office to discuss what turned out to be a major re-structuring of the company's activities. Our manufacturer, Sanda Kan is now owned by Kader the large toy manufacturer who also owns Backmann.
At the meeting company management opened procedings by stating that they were having problems maintaining deliveries (which we already knew) and that they intended to downsize the Sanda Kan operation to a more manageable size. This would be done by completing existing projects for customers but for the majority of customers no new projects would be commenced.
Now, whilst the suddeness of these decisions came as a surprise, as mentioned above, the signs that something was happening had been there for sometime and so Eureka had already started to make arrangements with an alternative supplier.
When Eureka first started with Sanda Kan Ivan was our project engineer. Ivan delivered the first four of our projects, all were excellent in terms of quality, accuracy and operation. Just over two years ago Ivan left Sanda Kan and in partnership with an existing manufacturer went into business for himself. Eureka kept in touch with him and early this year after seeing the quality of projects that he was delivering for other customers commissioned him to do a project for Eureka. This is the VR E wagon project outlined elsewhere.
The E wagon project is progressing well and so when the problems at Sanda Kan surfaced the decision was taken to switch all new projects to Ivan.
This is working well. Sanda Kan have been very supportive and have assisted the move of projects to Ivan. This is taking the pressure off them which I suspect they appreciate. In a recent discussion with a US based supplier the word that they used most in discussing their dealings with Sanda Kan was "chaos".
The current arrangement then is that Sanda Kan will complete the AD60 re-run, the 38 class re-run, the CPH/CTH sound units and the 40 class. Ivan has taken over the R class, HUB sets, NSWGR oil tankers, 59 class, 620/720 re-run and LCH/CCH re-run.
As stated above things are very fluid at Sanda Kan but I expect the above arrangements to hold. The move to Ivan will have very positive outcomes with the E wagon project already demonstrating the ability of Ivan to deliver quality items in a more timely manner.
There will be more problems in the short-term but once things settle down with Ivan I think that we will see a much improved delivery result which would be a pleasant change.
The signs had been there for sometime but in June this year we were summoned to our manufacturer's head office to discuss what turned out to be a major re-structuring of the company's activities. Our manufacturer, Sanda Kan is now owned by Kader the large toy manufacturer who also owns Backmann.
At the meeting company management opened procedings by stating that they were having problems maintaining deliveries (which we already knew) and that they intended to downsize the Sanda Kan operation to a more manageable size. This would be done by completing existing projects for customers but for the majority of customers no new projects would be commenced.
Now, whilst the suddeness of these decisions came as a surprise, as mentioned above, the signs that something was happening had been there for sometime and so Eureka had already started to make arrangements with an alternative supplier.
When Eureka first started with Sanda Kan Ivan was our project engineer. Ivan delivered the first four of our projects, all were excellent in terms of quality, accuracy and operation. Just over two years ago Ivan left Sanda Kan and in partnership with an existing manufacturer went into business for himself. Eureka kept in touch with him and early this year after seeing the quality of projects that he was delivering for other customers commissioned him to do a project for Eureka. This is the VR E wagon project outlined elsewhere.
The E wagon project is progressing well and so when the problems at Sanda Kan surfaced the decision was taken to switch all new projects to Ivan.
This is working well. Sanda Kan have been very supportive and have assisted the move of projects to Ivan. This is taking the pressure off them which I suspect they appreciate. In a recent discussion with a US based supplier the word that they used most in discussing their dealings with Sanda Kan was "chaos".
The current arrangement then is that Sanda Kan will complete the AD60 re-run, the 38 class re-run, the CPH/CTH sound units and the 40 class. Ivan has taken over the R class, HUB sets, NSWGR oil tankers, 59 class, 620/720 re-run and LCH/CCH re-run.
As stated above things are very fluid at Sanda Kan but I expect the above arrangements to hold. The move to Ivan will have very positive outcomes with the E wagon project already demonstrating the ability of Ivan to deliver quality items in a more timely manner.
There will be more problems in the short-term but once things settle down with Ivan I think that we will see a much improved delivery result which would be a pleasant change.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Back from the Middle Kingdom
Just arrived back from a visit to the factory and have much news. So much in fact that another edition of The Eureka Times (no. 20) is probably warranted. (Distribution of ET19 has only just been completed.)
ET20 will include artwork for 3806 and 3807, updates on the R class (test shots are close), details of new projects which we have been working on (both VR and NSWGR) the delivey of which is now expected much sooner than we thought, updates on existing projects such as the 40 class (8 -12 weeks), CPH/CTH (12 weeks) and news on our re-runs (38, AD60, LCH/CCH and 620/720).
We will be at the Brisbane exhibtion next weekend and will start work on ET20 when we return but don't expect to see it before the end of May as it may include some surprise details which we have been promised from the factory.
Just arrived back from a visit to the factory and have much news. So much in fact that another edition of The Eureka Times (no. 20) is probably warranted. (Distribution of ET19 has only just been completed.)
ET20 will include artwork for 3806 and 3807, updates on the R class (test shots are close), details of new projects which we have been working on (both VR and NSWGR) the delivey of which is now expected much sooner than we thought, updates on existing projects such as the 40 class (8 -12 weeks), CPH/CTH (12 weeks) and news on our re-runs (38, AD60, LCH/CCH and 620/720).
We will be at the Brisbane exhibtion next weekend and will start work on ET20 when we return but don't expect to see it before the end of May as it may include some surprise details which we have been promised from the factory.
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