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A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays

32.212.90.185
Posted on June 7, 2019 at 10:37:21
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 Some of you have expressed concern about the long wait for the LRS. I want to assure you that we understand your concern, and explain the situation that we face, and why we haven't been able to speed production beyond what we could achieve by working overtime.

When a new product is introduced, we get a rush of sales. Should we hire and train new people?

Unfortunately, it actually slows down production to train new people. With summer here, sales will experience a seasonal slowdown. By the time we have the new people trained, sales will probably have slowed, so we would then have to lay off the new people.

Giving an accurate estimate is tricky business. On the one hand, we are inclined to significantly increase the estimate so we won't get complaints. But, that practice would drive away business. In addition, we often experience unanticipated delays.

Summer is here and I expect we will soon be trying to increase LRS sales.

- Wendell Diller, Magnepan

 

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Small to medium size business, posted on June 7, 2019 at 12:20:29
grantv
Manufacturer

Posts: 7728
Location: B.C.
Joined: January 15, 2002
 It's a constant concern with a business that size. At my day job just went thru a peak sales period for around 4 months. Knew it was coming, around a $150K/month increase (over an average of say $450/month) all from one very large job.
Do you hire new people? Takes longer when training, and NCR's/rework generally go up.
Or do you work a bit of OT to get thru it? Experienced employees still making the product they know, nobody spending their time training others.
The latter is pretty much always our preference.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 7, 2019 at 14:08:58
BDP24
Audiophile

Posts: 1070
Location: Vancouver, Washington
Joined: September 12, 2013
 Which is worse?: Losing potential customers because of a too-long expected delivery date quote, or because of a failure to actually deliver by a quoted date? I myself am patient and know the speaker is worth waiting for, but as others have said, our culture has created a consumer desiring, expecting even, instant gratification. Magnepan is between a rock and a hard place.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 7, 2019 at 15:03:50
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 Perhaps they should put another red note on the website explaining that due to extreme demand, delivery could be as long as 7-8 weeks, and inviting people to all if they haven't received theirs by then (so that customers don't feel abandoned)?

 

Feel free to take your time with mine., posted on June 7, 2019 at 15:32:01
Tromatic
Audiophile

Posts: 2760
Location: Portland
Joined: July 27, 2000
 No hurry.

 

I am just happyMagnepan is doing well so we have the option to buy them. Bravo to a unique & excellent product, posted on June 7, 2019 at 15:55:43
PhilJ
Audiophile

Posts: 2826
Joined: January 20, 2002
 ...

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 8, 2019 at 06:48:42
Mr_bill2
Audiophile

Posts: 2178
Joined: September 17, 2002
 Suffice to say, exposure of the issue has not fallen in vain or on deft ears. The community has spoken out and the manufacturer has responded, as it should be! Best of luck on your new speaker launch.

 

RE: Small to medium size business, posted on June 8, 2019 at 08:04:58
emailtim
Audiophile

Posts: 5500
Joined: July 2, 2017
 "Make hay while the sun shines ...", not all employees understand this, nor happily comply with it.
.

2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 8, 2019 at 08:08:47
Mike K
Audiophile

Posts: 13976
Location: 97701
Joined: September 23, 1999
 Thank you for your post. Thank you for your products too.

My annoyance is with lack of accurate - or even semi-accurate - estimates
of delivery times, and with the lack of proactive contact with customers
telling them that "Well, we promised delivery on June 1, but now it looks
like delivery will be on June 15". People are understanding about delays
if you keep them informed proactively.

As Benjamin Franklin (or someone) once said: Under-promise and over-deliver.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 10, 2019 at 06:07:05
BillH
Audiophile

Posts: 3913
Location: Baton Rouge
Joined: December 23, 1999
 It's a cottage industry, and the weavers are about to go on summer break.
So go fishing, and wait 'til fall for your new speakers.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 28, 2019 at 13:22:21
Doktorfuture
Audiophile

Posts: 17
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 12, 2019
 They really should just let people know where they are in a queue and make the process more transparent and less painful for their customers.

Just communicate transparently and proactively vs whatever the heck they are doing now.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 28, 2019 at 16:31:56
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 I agree. I'm not sure that they have the resources to do this properly. But I think that proactive communication is important. There's nothing more frustrating than waiting for something and not hearing anything from the seller!

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 28, 2019 at 16:42:43
Doktorfuture
Audiophile

Posts: 17
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 12, 2019
 It's not about resources. It's more a state of mind.

Surely it takes less resources to send one mail to a mailing list of people in he queue vs individually handling every request plus posting to forums.

I think it's more a matter that they dont want to scale or don't know how to.

Wendel posted the question of should they 'hire' more people. I think if they want to grow their business the answer would be 100% yes.

If they have no faith in their ability to grow or don't know how to grow, or just don't want to grow then they will keep doing what they are doing.

I get the sense that it's more than just being stuck in their ways.

I bet a lot of the company DREADS more sales and success.

Here's why: If they grow they will have to hire more staff, probably younger and more open minded. Will these new hires outclass the older people working there now?

It's a kind of cognitive dissonance -- where they somehow are not self aware enough to see they are causing their own problems (and customers problems).

They have a stable and comfortable business but are actually subtly sabotaging themselves so they don't grow: Don't hire people. Don't streamline customer communications.

It is not their products holding them back, or the customers who want their products -- that's for sure!

My experience with them points more towards existential dread and fear of growth and change in their management team, which has not seemingly changed in a loooonnnnggg time.

Until it does I don't see things changing much with these guys. Great products but a pretty self limiting management team that would prefer to keep doing things the same same way until they all pass away peacefully in their sleep.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 28, 2019 at 16:59:19
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 I think it's hazardous to make assumptions about what's going on within a company, since naturally much of that is confidential. But I do know they can't put on staff. Remember that demand is cyclical and increases when a new model comes out. As Wendell said, training new people would take more time than not, and when they came online, demand would likely have slacked off. Putting on more people and expanding when initial demand spiked has killed more than one audio startup and I suspect that at this stage in their corporate history, they have a pretty good idea of how demand fluctuates and what the issues are.

I think too that Wendell is loath to give up the personal telephone touch. As he puts it, would you rather talk to someone at the factory, or a telephone agent in India? He also wants someone to speak personally to people interested in the LRS So they can tell them whether it will work in their room and situation. He'd rather not make a sale than sell speakers to someone who will be unhappy with them and create bad word of mouth.

They also can't just increase the size of their staff beyond what they need to meet average demand. The market for large speakers is shrinking, rather than growing, and the dealer network has shrunk significantly. If they put on more people, they'd have to raise price.

Still, yeah, I wish they'd have somebody set up some kind of automated email queuing system that would give customers an account of what they are, or at least do some kind of bulk email to customers on the wait list. But I'm not sure they have the resources to do so.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 28, 2019 at 20:02:19
timm
Audiophile

Posts: 780
Location: Ann Arbor Mi
Joined: January 15, 2008
 Really ... this feels like a software solution.
Get email address on invoice. I assume they have computers there that keep track of orders.
When build starts - someone enters a build date in the software and automated email goes out benefitting customer on entering build start date. Magnepan also has a record of all customers for promotions as well
Which benefits all.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 29, 2019 at 03:09:24
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 I think you're right -- they need something like that. But I have the impression that they have too much on their plate right now what with trying to get the LRS and the 30.7's out the door. And their website needs an upgrade too, which is apparently in the works. So a lot to do on the software front.

 

RE: A note from Magnepan regarding LRS delays, posted on June 30, 2019 at 12:02:53
Satie
Audiophile

Posts: 5426
Joined: July 6, 2002
 It isn't fear of growth - it is fear of shrinking. This is not their first hot product. They know perfectly well how it cycles. But the overall market for large speakers has been shrinking for two decades. And the market for small speakers is not that healthy either.

Multiple family households and multigenerational households are growing in numbers, while new home construction stands at half of its peak run rate of 2005-6, and still less than its long run average of well over 1 mil. Thriving coastal labor markets are devoid of new homes (construction is accommodating only 20-30% of new jobs) so people are doubled up - 50% in LA (meaning 2/3 of the people live in flat shares), 70% in SF, 60-70% in the valley, nearing 50% in Boston. So long as this continues the market for large speakers will continue to shrink even if pay checks appear to make them affordable.
.
Age group . . % doubled
. . . . . . 2005 . . 2018
23-29 . . . . 38% . . 55%
30-39 . . . . 17% . . 27%
40-49 . . . . 14% . . 21%
50-59 . . . . 21% . . 29%

Meaning the key first timer demographic and the kids out of home demo are all much smaller

This will not improve till employers move new jobs into metro areas where one can build. E.g. Detroit and Dayton build more houses than have more jobs.

 

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