Zu dem ganzen Thema hat Mark Reed, Chef von Prism, im GWTW-Forum folgendes gepostet:
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Hi friends,
Thought I'd wait a few days and see what the rumor mill dredged up before replying to this thread, and I must say I'm flattered to hear such appreciation for designs that have been in production continuously for five to ten years. I was chatting recently with a designer friend who works for Nike and was glad we're not in the athletic shoe industry, where the typical life span for a new shoe design is just three months before it disappears from the shelves!
While the models we're discontinuing have all been great successes in their day (I've logged more hours on the Elixir than any other kite I've flown) we have to recognize that from a business standpoint it takes significant resources to keep a product available in the line. After a successful design finds its way into most enthusiast's bags over a few years, demand slows and it becomes more and more expensive to produce as the production volumes drop. Not only is it immensely inefficient to set up all your jigs and tooling to produce just a few kites at a time (this alone can quintuple production time for one kite), it's also difficult for the staff to remember all the dozens of little model-specific details when they build it infrequently. As a result, costs go through the roof, quality can suffer, and at a certain point it's just a basic business decision to draw the line and discontinue the products that no longer support their own overhead. We?ll continue to build the full competition suite of Quantum Pros in our small-scale Seattle workshop, as well as the 3-D which continues to sell well, but many of our older Elite Line models have seen their time in the sun and it?s time for retirement.
I expect all of you will agree that sports like ours are driven forward by what's new and innovative, and we've worked hard over the years to be an industry leader with new ideas and creative designs. Design and development work is the best part of my job, but my biggest frustration at work is that I can't devote enough time to R&D because I'm too busy running the operations of the company. That needs to change, but unlike the bigger players out there we're not big enough to hire dedicated teams for operations, production, sales and marketing, admin, HR, etc., which means we all wear many hats and work long hours.
So for 2006 we're taking steps to simplify the business so we can dedicate more of our time to bringing new ideas to market over the next few seasons. My design board is loaded with projects in the works, and pruning the old lineup right now will free up resources, both cash and management time, to dedicate to the meticulous follow-through that turns great ideas into finished products.
I apologize in advance if any of you had plans to stuff your 2006 bag with crisp versions of old favorites, but I can promise that with your patience and continued support, we'll be whetting your appetite in due course with new offerings to inspire and amaze.
And thanks again for your enthusiasm; it inspires us to do our best and I'm honored to be appreciated by such a discerning community.
Mark Reed
President, Prism Designs Inc.
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Ciao, Frido.