Supply chain...

[Felix K.]

For the same reason that people are paying premiums on the EPIC-M to have it a few months/weeks/days earlier.

But, no. I don't expect it either...

Nah, there is a difference. You can't go UP from an EPIC M or X. There is nothing better. So of course you would pay more to get it now if you have the money. But if a Scarlet reaches the ballpark (and we are talking theoretically here, no prices available, sorry) of an Epic-S you might reconsider what you actually want. A 2/3 3k camera deluxe version now or a S35 5k (mass-produced) camera a bit later. Maybe there would be some candidates going for the Scarlet still but as you said I don't expect that

 

[Wayne Morellini]

Companies source same parts from multiple suppliers to cut risk, suppliers in China, Brazil snd Europe might be one example in respect to securing from nstural disasters.

I know some items are too specialised to be made elsewhere, but contract manufacturing is one thing that is used, and canbe shortened during down turns. All is needed is license, and the design specs/requirments/molds etc. The organised contracted manufacturer uses some of their capacity to set up a production line for the contract. In forward planning like this, companies control their risk and supply. People might tell you it is cheaper, but I dont agree that it is likely cheaper than an efficently run, managed and self owned facility for a major run of a specialist item design, but during down turns somebody else is left with the idle factory costs. Nintendo was a prime example of this, and these days another form is used, a number of different brands of laptops, tv's, monitors etc are oem manufactured by common companies with even oem designs, which I have in past considered using to produce a cheap digital cinema camera solution based on existing product designs.

As you can tell, Red has allready moved most of it's supply and manufacturing, but some things are probably limited.

Too bad the Japanese factories that make these parts couldn't have just picked up and moved in their entirety to a different part of the country, or to another country altogether. Of course, this assumes that most of their workers and machinery made it through the tsunami and radiation.

What would have been even cooler would be hearing the RED engineers had figured out a way to make the Epic without those parts (unless they are sensor or ASIC critical ones.) As it has turned out, there seems to have been time to re-engineer the whole camera, and who knows, create a better and cheaper version.

 

[Imran Farouk]

Curious, the parts missing, I figured you could get almost anything made in China but since it's all in Japan, does that mean this stuff is only possible to be made in Japan due to engineers there having a more specialized training towards this stuff?
Or is it a quality factor?

Just wondering what makes this stuff special from Japan versus other countries where labour etc. is obviously cheaper...
Always known Japan to be tech central but figured with enough schematics of any given part one could replicate things in China

Not that a schematic of an EPIC would = mass number of 5K fakes but small tiny parts I figured could be replicated with reason

 

[Jarred Land]

Curious, the parts missing, I figured you could get almost anything made in China but since it's all in Japan, does that mean this stuff is only possible to be made in Japan due to engineers there having a more specialized training towards this stuff?
Or is it a quality factor?

Just wondering what makes this stuff special from Japan versus other countries where labour etc. is obviously cheaper...
Always known Japan to be tech central but figured with enough schematics of any given part one could replicate things in China

Not that a schematic of an EPIC would = mass number of 5K fakes but small tiny parts I figured could be replicated with reason

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

 

[Joseph Hutson]

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

I don't know about you, but that sounds a bit mind boggling. That, and having a detailed explanation of what's causing the delays...from the camera manufacturer's top tier of leadership. People sometimes forget just how personal RED is. Sometimes I even do. Then, it hits me all over again.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

We understand this, and even so believe me when I say we want and wish we had the Redvolts... But...

I don't like second best...
I don't want second best...
I will not settle for second best...

We much prefer to carry around the big and bulky heavy Bricks, rather then have second best, however, we sure are hoping that the Redvolt ship soon as well
running around the Streets of Italy with them would be so much more fun...

 

[hans de vries]

We understand this, and even so believe me when I say we want and wish we had the Redvolts... But...

I don't like second best...
I don't want second best...
I will not settle for second best...

We much prefer to carry around the big and bulky heavy Bricks, rather then have second best, however, we sure are hoping that the Redvolt ship soon as well
running around the Streets of Italy with them would be so much more fun...

Don't run around with it in Naples; I just spend only two days there, what I have seen in two days was incredible; a war zone filled with Fellini characters; robbed at knife point, several hours in hospital; sorry, back to the main topic.

 

[Imran Farouk]

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

Thanks Jarred,
Was always curious on what the parts were and its amazingly nice how transparent you guys are on what parts are missing and where they are from,
really mind blowing when put into perspective that its just one factory that does those parts and a single natural disaster has sent waves through camera manufactures,
can understand now why Jannard said what he did above about June...

 

[Paul Nordin]

but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. .

Damned...you guys try snot tape?! That stuff will stick anything to anything. Have a roll in my grip truck if you need it!

 

[Joe Carney]

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

Thank you for not doing that. !!!

 

[Joe Carney]

Damned...you guys try snot tape?! That stuff will stick anything to anything. Have a roll in my grip truck if you need it!

I hear a George Carlin joke in there somewhere.

 

[Stefan Antonescu]

2 parts.. first of all your right on some things... some things can be made everywhere and anywhere... but usually ( and this is changing ) there is one place that makes them better then anywhere else. Japan is one of those places that just makes some things better than others... and in a piece of complex electronics like the EPIC you cant just get by using 2nd best... sub quality components can create random irregularities so small they are sometimes impossible to diagnose.


2nd part is that some things are so difficult or specialized to make there is only one factory that makes it on the planet... and only enough demand that its not worth someone else setting up competing factory, so everyone just buys from that one place. Many of those are in Japan... Northern Japan.

This stuff runs really, really deep. For example, our REDVOLT cells are made in Japan, and the rest of it made in Mexico. Getting the Cells is not a problem as you would expect... but its one of the little small specialized adhesives that Mexico uses to put the circuit boards together that has run out.. that one simple little part of assembly stops everything dead. We could of course find another adhesive that almost is as good, but that goes back to point #1.

Don't worry, Jarred.

We all know that you guys are doing your very best...

 

[Stefan Antonescu]

I don't know about you, but that sounds a bit mind boggling. That, and having a detailed explanation of what's causing the delays...from the camera manufacturer's top tier of leadership. People sometimes forget just how personal RED is. Sometimes I even do. Then, it hits me all over again.

It is a bit unreal... But so are the cameras.

 

[Luca Immesi]

Don't run around with it in Naples; I just spend only two days there, what I have seen in two days was incredible; a war zone filled with Fellini characters; robbed at knife point, several hours in hospital; sorry, back to the main topic.

Ketch is safe with his friends here in Rome and Italy is a very quite place compared to other countries.
Naples is a wonderful city although some neighborhoods have several problems. I'm sorry for your bad experience.

 

[David Rasberry]

I was at a pre bid meeting for a college sports complex today. The bidding contractors who are camera dealers were telling me that Canon Sony and Panasonic orders are running 8-12 behind normal lead times due to shortages. These issues are affecting everyone.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Don't run around with it in Naples; I just spend only two days there, what I have seen in two days was incredible; a war zone filled with Fellini characters; robbed at knife point, several hours in hospital; sorry, back to the main topic.

Bad stuff happens every were, I should know, with my share I went thru in the US, but Italy has welcomed me back in a much bigger way that I ever expected,
and safe so far, now in ROME...

 

[Rob Ruffo]

+1
Which is why, if things aren't too bad for foreigners, I will still be going there this summer. If nothing else, to help out (I imagine tourism will take a dip for a time but hopefully the economy won't be too badly damaged!)

Fortunately tourism is not a huge part of Japan's economy.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Bad stuff happens every were, I should know, with my share I went thru in the US, but Italy has welcomed me back in a much bigger way that I ever expected,
and safe so far, now in ROME...

Lucky boy. A wonderful city.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Lucky boy. A wonderful city.

He he I am, and yes In deed She is a wonderful city Rob...

 

[Emanuel A.]

My Rome ;-) is truly one of the most beautiful ones for sure. I still hope to see you, Ketch, when I'll be back from Copenhagen/Hamburg (E