Conid News - Update

[Karmachanic]

Dear Conidfan,

We are currently living through a period of uncertainty that we'll never forget. The first thing we want to say on behalf of everyone at Conid is that our thoughts are with you.

Like many of you, we are trying to do what we can to help our customers and the larger community navigate this challenging time.

At this moment we are still working hard to catch up and reduce our backlog. Of course we apply all social distancing measures, and all shipments are carried out with highest awareness for hygiene.

As soon as we're ready for the relaunch of the Condipen, we'll inform you first.

In the meantime, stay safe!

The Conid Team

 

What we have done already

A few months ago Conid announced to stop accepting new orders due to the great success of our Bulkfillers. The main goal is to create the greatly needed peace and time to complete the long awaited open orders and maintaining the same quality and individual care as we always have. Zero compromises! Thank you to everyone for the support and understanding.

At this moment, we have already taken several initiatives.


R&D

The Conid team is continuously occupied with R&D. A lot of improvements have been made in the past few months on how parts are produced and measured. The main goals here are the ultimate balance between efficiency, quality and production time. We embrace this challenge with unconditional confidence, and each team member has a crucial role in the creation process of a Bulkfiller

Stock

With the focus on relaunching soon, plenty of bottlenecks have been solved by increasing the production batch quantities. We just want to be more than ready and cannot afford shortages in crucial parts. An interesting fact: at this very moment, Conid has 164 unique parts in it’s pool, to build up all the variations of only 5 different models. On top of that, all the different nib sizes, and from XF to BB combined, there are 50 standard nib choices to keep in stock as well. These numbers might indicate the challenge that is connected to keep track and maintain the total stock.


Building building building...

For some who are awaiting their pen to be shipped, with the due date passed for several months, it might seem as we have slowed down and come to a stop. The truth is that in the past few months more pens have been assembled than ever before, and each week we ship what we can.
We want to explicitly share our greatest appreciations for the amount of patience and support that we ask from you!

[WLSpec]

Thank you for the update Karmachanic. It sounds like Conid is doing all that they can even in these times. It is nice to hear what is going on back at the factory.

[MoriartyR]

One can only imagine how big their order backlog had become if they are producing more pens than ever, but still have many customers waiting. In my limited experience (I have one minimalistica) they are certainly worth the wait, and for such a unique, small volume, and well-crafted pen it is ok to have a significant waiting period.

 

I’m guessing from the newsletter they are likely to reduce the number of customization options for their pens in future. That would make most sense to make production more efficient and timely. But I hope whatever they do there is no compromise in quality. That is Conid’s main selling point, in my opinion.

[inkypinkies]

One can only imagine how big their order backlog had become if they are producing more pens than ever, but still have many customers waiting. In my limited experience (I have one minimalistica) they are certainly worth the wait, and for such a unique, small volume, and well-crafted pen it is ok to have a significant waiting period.

 

I’m guessing from the newsletter they are likely to reduce the number of customization options for their pens in future. That would make most sense to make production more efficient and timely. But I hope whatever they do there is no compromise in quality. That is Conid’s main selling point, in my opinion.

Given that they said their backlog was 250ish pens when they went on hiatus, it makes it clear that their production capacity is very limited.

 

If it's been 18 weeks since the order stop, they've made

 

I am grateful for this communication, however. Makes me more confident they will deliver, eventually.

Edited April 10, 2020 by inkypinkies

[Calabria]

Any news about what’s happening a year later in 2021?

[Rob77499]

I hope to hear acceptance of orders will begin soon.

[es9]

Any reason to believe that will be happening anytime soon? 

[Detman101]

Wow...that's gotta be rough. All that money paid already...all those pens to deliver.
Glad they're not on my short list of pens to acquire.

[Karmachanic]

4 hours ago, es9 said:

Any reason to believe that will be happening anytime soon? 

 

No expectation = no disappointment.

They'll reopen when they reopen. Wishin' and hopin' makes no difference.

 

For myself, I'd not order for at least six months after they reopen to see how they manage the pent up demand; as well as seeing if they improve their non-existent communication with customers who have prepaid for pens yet to be made, and see if they can deliver on schedule.

 

I understand the pen making side of the business had limited access to the necessary machines. I do not understand their inability to design an ordering/production/communication system to match their ability to produce. Hopefully they've used the downtime to work this out.

 

Fabulous pens though! Wouldn't mind another.

 

 

 

 

[MoriartyR]

Ah, I don’t mind the wait times or communication so much. It would be frustrating and worrying if you aren’t aware of how the business is run, but otherwise it just makes these fine pens hard to get and it is more of a triumph when the pen arrives. Conids are worth the wait if you think of it like a hunt and manage your expectations accordingly. I think once you have the pen all the other stuff will soon be forgotten.

 

Just understand that Conid is a sideline and production capacity will always be dependent on how many orders the machine tools business has to deliver, and how much machine down-time is available for pen manufacturing. Given that situation, the choice is between variable wait times / temporary unavailability or no Conid business at all. Or I guess they could double their prices to reduce demand. I would rather Conid pens exist and accept the production limitations. We can gripe about it but unless one of us is willing to invest the money to buy dedicated machinery and hire dedicated staff for them griping isn’t going to change anything.

 

They will never be able to meet high demand so I expect that when they restart they will alleviate the problem as much as possible by streamlining production (fewer models/options, less customization). Apart from that I guess rather than continuing to accept orders that would be backlogged they will probably change their website to show that pens are not available to order. Is that preferable? I don’t know.

 

[Karmachanic]

If Conid can make 100 pens a week they should not accept 200 orders a week and not let the customer know what's going on.

 

The third alternative is to have a visible production list. Order a pen, get an order number, and that number goes to the bottom of the list, with the expected production date next to it. Check back a month later, and theoretically one will see their pen moving up the list.

 

Waiting is not the problem. It's a matter of them accepting my cash, holding it while not fulfilling their end of the bargain by producing as promised, and not letting me know when to realistically expect delivery, whilst refusing to communicate the nature of the delay. Bad business practice, at the very least.

 

If I know up front that it'll take six months to get a pen, fine. But don't tell me that, not produce, and not contact me to let me know what's going on. The list thing solves this problem without them having to contact every customer on an ongoing basis.

[MoriartyR]

5 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

If Conid can make 100 pens a week they should not accept 200 orders a week and not let the customer know what's going on.

 

The third alternative is to have a visible production list. Order a pen, get an order number, and that number goes to the bottom of the list, with the expected production date next to it. Check back a month later, and theoretically one will see their pen moving up the list.

 

Waiting is not the problem. It's a matter of them accepting my cash, holding it while not fulfilling their end of the bargain by producing as promised, and not letting me know when to realistically expect delivery, whilst refusing to communicate the nature of the delay. Bad business practice, at the very least.

 

If I know up front that it'll take six months to get a pen, fine. But don't tell me that, not produce, and not contact me to let me know what's going on. The list thing solves this problem without them having to contact every customer on an ongoing basis.

That’s a great idea. I guess the challenge is that they would be producing parts in batches rather than making each pen singly in order. People who ordered a particular model for which the parts are produced would be served before others who ordered a different pen model. But even in that case I think your suggestion would still be helpful.

 

 

 

[sgphototn]

I wonder how many people are waiting on pens now having paid their money or did Conid refund the advance payments?

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, MoriartyR said:

People who ordered a particular model for which the parts are produced would be served before others who ordered a different pen model.

 

 

With proper production/inventory management/scheduling based upon past demand, this should be a non-issue

[Detman101]

Yikes...I left Penbbs over their delayed production time (3 months) for the 355 line.
There's no way I could wait potentially years for a pen...
Conid must have some reeeeeeeally devoted fans.

[Karmachanic]

It is not uncommon for the wait time for a custom, handmade, artisan pen to be twelve to eighteen months or more. Not that Conid fits that definition.

[Calabria]

There’s no excuse for not communicating with customers. I’m interested in the pen but when all is said and done, it’s still a Bock nib in a fancy housing.

[Karmachanic]

34 minutes ago, Calabria said:

it’s still a Bock nib in a fancy housing

 

I wouldn't call my  Minimalistica fancy. I'd say it's very well built, perfectly balanced, feels very much at home in the hand, and is a delight to write with. A top notch, world class pen. I find the communicating thing baffling, and in my view, deleterious  to their reputation. Which is a shame.

[es9]

40 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

I wouldn't call my  Minimalistica fancy. I'd say it's very well built, perfectly balanced, feels very much at home in the hand, and is a delight to write with. A top notch, world class pen. I find the communicating thing baffling, and in my view, deleterious  to their reputation. Which is a shame.

 

Karmachanic, have you had any difficulty getting the cap on/off re the gaskets?  

[Karmachanic]

No. Gentle push/pull and twist.