Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (
More info?)
That is great news. Finally there will be someone that understands how
to run a business with control of the parts. The bottle neck that
Illinois Pinball has created has a lot to do with the poor business
practices they use. Your decision to make parts available direct via
the web plus give the distributors room to make some money gives
consumers a choice. Now, many people that are in need of parts are
forced to deal with companies that provide horrible service. I would
rather pay more from you direct and get the parts. I will continue to
buy from local distributors that provide good service when I can.
sales@mrpinball.com.au wrote:
> Our products have been getting stock piled for October, we have been
> working on the more hard to get items rather than coil stops etc that
> you can get anywhere.
>
> We have spent 200k on new tooling that was either Lost/damaged or not
> available.
>
> We have split our time chasing both parts for our games as well as
> parts that have not been available for years.
>
> People don't seem to understand most parts Williams assembled
> themselves and those seperate parts came from different suppliers, like
> a mm drawbridge had 5 different suppliers
> 1 decals
> 2 Rod/shaft
> 3 main bridge
> 4 flap
> 5, 2 different rivets
>
> Even a slingshot switch was made up of parts from 4 suppliers.
>
> Many of the suppliers had not made anything for at least 6 years most
> 10 years, some are no longer in business, many tossed the drawings or
> films/art or tooling, luckily we have all the drawings and most of the
> art on disc, but even art Williams didn't start using computers for art
> until 1995? Very Old Macs at that, and the art we heaps of versions of
> the same art, we can even tell you TOM was going to be David
> Copperfield because we have all the art, the Playboy after Wizard
> blocks was Dreadmoor Manor,
>
> All our parts will be available from the Pinball.com site factory
> direct to the public, distributors will still carry parts but most
> distributors these days order parts as they need them, we are trying to
> streamline the system, everything available will be on the site and
> distributors will order online just like the public but will have a
> distributor price built into their account. We waste most of our time
> sorting through lists of parts we don't have where if it is not on the
> website they can add it to a parts wanted database. We will check the
> database weekly and chase the parts needed.
>
> People don't really know my full backround but I did manage a Consumer
> Electronics Company with a large inventory and was one of the companies
> top sales stores and hold a degree in Management, but as most will say
> time will tell.
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