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Comprehensive Or Incomprehesible?


housebuilder

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Properly implemented ;)

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Too f****g late?

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Difficult to believe that a supplier of engines or gearboxes could have gone bust without our hearing about it (RIP TranX). But there can be other reasons for supply difficulties.<br />

From my experience in the electronics industry if there is a shortage of a component then the smallest customers get pushed to the back of the queue by the suppliers. Car industry is probably similar. Lots of component parts, most of which you don't make yourself. All of which are needed for the end product to work. Are you going to upset a customer that buys 10,000 engines from you a year by shipping late, or one that biuys 100? Westfield is going to have little bargaining power with its suppliers compared to other car companies.

Most manufacturing companies these days work on razor thin margins and just can't afford to hold lots of stock. JIT (or TFL!) was a financial advantage when it first came in. Now its a neccessity, 'cause everyone does it.

Must be frustrating having so much stuff missing from your kit, but it may be beyond Westield's control.

Jen

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JIT (or TFL!) was a financial advantage when it first came in. Now its a neccessity, 'cause everyone does it.

Must be frustrating having so much stuff missing from your kit, but it may be beyond Westield's control.

Jen

From my time in military logistics, JIT (just in time) was usually referred to as "Just Isn't There" :laugh:

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All accepted but you tread a fine line when you continue to take peoples money for a product which you actually cannot supply !

There are two sides to the contract !

Please do not get the impression I am knocking Westfield I am not, they are great people and the car is good too, however the pleasure of the build at the moment is tempered by the unavailability of parts and trying work arounds of stuff you don't have !

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Quite right, and I really, really do sympathise. But to be fair, it sounds like they did at least make an effort to delay you picking up the kit when they realised the situation. It's just unfortunate that you'd already committed your travel expenses.

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Guest splidge

As it happens they could have delayed our collection by a month and it would have made little difference to what we got on the day. Now 4 (four) months since ordering.

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It won't be any consolation but it was the same 18 months ago, my list was similar although I did get my engine and gearbox (although not my sump)

They do seem to be good about properly packing stuff and sending it as soon as they get it.

When it stops you building it is very frustrating though.

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I wasn't contacted that's an issue in itself. As I said to the guys whenI ipicked it up I would have been happier being delayed by a couple of weeks if I could have picked up the whole kit.

I booked a week off and I think I will come to a halt.

On the contract comments from an earlier post, you are quite right there are two sides. To be honest you could drive a bus through their terms and coditions if you wanted via the unfair terms and conditions act.

What is really annoying is I placed a call 5 days prior to make sure everything was there prior to parting with the last 50% to be assured it was all there.

Coincidentally the sales people were'nt there on Friday!

If you look at the terms you are only obliged to pay for what you recieve.

I wonder whether I will get a refund on Monday!!??

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Never good to read, but as others have said, a few months from now it will be built and you will of forgotten all of this

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I am not making excuses for then however the supply chain is a bit hit and miss. a lot of parts companies have outscourced production to various places. When the new car sales dropped and factory production was reduced, these outsourced production facilities got rid of staff. When the upturn came they had no staff so what production capability they had was sent to manufacturers parts first, the aftermarket, where all Westfield parts come from is left till the last. We carry in excess of £40 million pounds of stock and still get caught out due to supply delays.

What is unforgivable is to not call and explain prior to delivery and to offer no date. I guess unless you are pushing them there may be delays whilst they use parts on fully built cars awaiting completion.

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I know it's a poor situation, but I do think many really over estimate the size of Westfield as a company. Both in terms of their number of staff and in their stock holding.

This is made worse by a large swathe of industry moving to "just in time" purchase and supply policies. A descision now wreaking havoc with lead times and product availability.

Proper JIT does work. I have implemented systems for automotive production lines where the assemblies are ordered and delivered to the production line at the right workstation at the right time to include in finished assemblies. Failure to deliver here ends up being very costly! Pseudo JIT definitely does not work :laugh:

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No-one mentioned lead times :suspect:

It's not like you place the order then rock up a couple of days later. It's usually several weeks. JIT is largely irrelevant. And if you pay up front Westfield should have the funds to buy your bits. Simplistic, but hardly rocket science either.

Oh, and Julian Thompsons background is process management for airlines, with pick 'n' pack being his speciality... or so I have been led to believe...

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