PLAN B analog blog

Like Bakis, I own a number of Peter's modules and have never had an
issue. That is not to say that Plan_B are perfect, Peter has clearly
admitted that he has had problems in the past, as do all manufacturers,
but he is open about problems and transparent about steps taken to
resolve them, some other manufacturers aren't.
 
Peter, I understand your annoyance. reputation takes years to build and
minutes to tear down. Defend away and those of us that are happy with
our purchases should help will that defence.
 
David
 
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________________________________

From: PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bakis Sirros
Sent: 06 December 2008 16:56
To: PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PLAN_B_analog_blog] Plan B pride



and on a positive side:
 
i have had many modules from Plan B and i never had any problem with
them! 
all worked fine and sounded great.
and i am sure Peter is doing his best to deliver great modules to us.


Bakis Sirros - Parallel Worlds / Interconnected / Memory Geist
[Doepfer_a100] group owner
www. parallel - worlds - music. com
www. myspace. com/ parallelworldsmusic
www. myspace. com/ interconnectedmusic
www. myspace. com/ memorygeist
www. DiN. org. uk
www. musicamaximamagnetica. com
www. shimarecords. co. uk
www. rubberrecords. gr
Athens - Greece

--- On Sat, 12/6/08, (i think you can figure that out)
<peter@buzzclick-music.com> wrote:


	From: (i think you can figure that out)
<peter@buzzclick-music.com>
	Subject: [PLAN_B_analog_blog] Plan B pride
	To: PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com
	Date: Saturday, December 6, 2008, 6:45 PM
	
	
	I just posted tthe following comment on Muff Wiggler. It stems
form a
	rather pointed remark made sighting the best part of the new box
we're
	using is it wil allow for easy transport form and to when
modules have
	to be returned several times to fix a problem. I feel it's
pertainent
	here as well only because this is the first place most go to get
info
	on Plan B goods.
	
	My response follows:
	
	I'l let that one slide (saved yourself with the love thing at
the
	end!), but really...this is a supremely unfair remark you're
making
	which is potentially hazardous to the reputation I personally
spend my
	life trying to uphold.
	
	You must remember something... in the Spring of 2008 I hired six
	people, some of which had no previous experience with
electronics. We
	went from about 28 modules every two weeks to our current
average of
	50 modules A WEEK in four months time. There was a slight
learning
	curve. While some of the defects which got out there were
bullshit and
	should not have been shipped, some where ridiculously silly
(slightly
	loose nuts on jacks, knobs which weren't perfectly aligned with
the
	markers). I mean...pull the f'ing knob off and put it on right.
	Understand we are human and therefore privy to all the
behavioral
	miswires the species enjoys and these things will escape from
time to
	time that possibly shouldn't have. 50 units a week...sometimes
this
	will happen.
	
	As far as the other issues, some were what I call serious and
I've put
	MANY QA steps in our system - some coming a quite an expense -
to make
	them go away. QA stamps, separately boxed modules, and now a
dedicated
	QA inspector in our assembly process. Deopfer doesn't put his
products
	in boxes when they ship them, we do. I'm not going to go into
all the
	corrective actions we've undertaken.. .anyone is free to join
the Plan
	B blog (yahoo) to get that breakdown, they've been listed, but
what
	bothers me personally is while I've seen a bunch of gripes, I've
not
	seen many people speak about the corrective actions which have
removed
	these problems.
	
	WhIie I completely encourage peaole to use blogs for these types
of
	things, making points about them BEFORE EVEN CONTACTING US ABOUT
IT I
	see a a bit cowardly and completely counterproductive to the
problem
	at hand - getting the issue solved. It does wonders for ruining
	reputations, granted..so if this is your intent you're on the
right track.
	
	Ive had public complaints about our rework methodology although
we
	incorporate standards used by NASA. When I was the QA Manager at
	Western Digital for their US PCBA manufacturing division I wrote
the
	companywide workmanship standards for printed through hole PCBAs
which
	were approved by both ATT and IBM Boca Raton before it went into
circ.
	These are the two companies that introduced zero defect
acceptance
	policies in commercial electronics. If it was good enough for
them, I
	feel it's good enough for Plan B.
	
	The straw that broke the camel's back for me was a guy who wrote
me
	about his M13 response, got my reply which listed the technical
	reasons behind this (again...it' s the VACTROLS), posted his
complaint
	to the net, but at no time did he amend his comments with the
reason
	why this was happening. This left me the rather daunting task of
	trying to hunt all these down and commenting myself. What ever.
	
	There was another guy who didn't like the way my M10 worked and
cut
	components out when he returned them to make a point it was us,
not
	him. Weird solution as I really don't care if someone doesn't
share my
	vision so to speak, this is to be expected with the wide range
of
	applications musicians have, but to damage something to make a
point
	is strange. OK, he did it...fine (but creepy) but he went on the
net
	and complained about it as if he had received them in this state
which
	he hadn't.
	
	What I'm trying to get to here, and admittedly I'm trying to
find the
	magic words to make people understand what it's like to be on
this
	side of the desk, is that we did realize there was a few
	problems...but we did something about them and they all but went
away.
	Yes, there will still be defect escapes from time to time,
again...we
	are as human as you are, but they are no longer trends, they are
	exceptions.
	
	So yeah, I read these blogs. and yeah it effects my pride when a
point
	is made of something we've successfully addressed. Please (try
to)
	understand our side of the issues here. If my diatribe here went
well
	with you feel free to take that into consideration when ripping
us a
	new butt on blogs.
	
	respectfully submitted,
	
	- P
	
	


 


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