Alphalpha
Well Known Member
When I did my kit arrival inventory like many there were a few things to sort out. But the other day I realized I had completely missed the “air”boat in one way and had to redo the inventory.
There are three things that affect our kit inventory. The first is a part isn’t there because it wasn’t available at the time of shipping and the mothership notes it as back ordered. The next is because it is simply missing. It got checked off but didn’t make it in the box for whatever reasons. The third is you got a part that the label says is the part but it is not the correct part.
It’s this latter condition that makes inventorying difficult. It usually occurs where parts look very similar. By example if you are slow building the tanks your kit contains eight different types of main ribs that look a lot alike. And in each wing they face in different directions.
The only solution is to also use the plans while inventorying to ensure each part is what it says it is.
Having said this I must emphasize that I am not denigrating the good folks at Vans. I have received mislabeled or mispackaged parts from every major aircraft and parts manufacturer over the years. Things like .010 over pistons in a standard box. Or alternators with the wrong data plate. The list of mistakes I’ve seen is really long and I’m not that old.
The industry (and FAA) expectation is that it is up to the installer to ensure that any parts installed are the correct part underneath its label. And, where a data plate is required, that data plate is correct.
To counter the haters before they jump in to bash, I’m very curious to know how many sub kits Van’s ships out every day. What I do know is they all vary based upon what they have in stock at each moment, they all have thousands of parts, and there are roughly five different sub kits across ten models of aircraft. And these different models don’t really share a lot of common parts. What Van’s does every day is pretty impressive.
There are three things that affect our kit inventory. The first is a part isn’t there because it wasn’t available at the time of shipping and the mothership notes it as back ordered. The next is because it is simply missing. It got checked off but didn’t make it in the box for whatever reasons. The third is you got a part that the label says is the part but it is not the correct part.
It’s this latter condition that makes inventorying difficult. It usually occurs where parts look very similar. By example if you are slow building the tanks your kit contains eight different types of main ribs that look a lot alike. And in each wing they face in different directions.
The only solution is to also use the plans while inventorying to ensure each part is what it says it is.
Having said this I must emphasize that I am not denigrating the good folks at Vans. I have received mislabeled or mispackaged parts from every major aircraft and parts manufacturer over the years. Things like .010 over pistons in a standard box. Or alternators with the wrong data plate. The list of mistakes I’ve seen is really long and I’m not that old.
The industry (and FAA) expectation is that it is up to the installer to ensure that any parts installed are the correct part underneath its label. And, where a data plate is required, that data plate is correct.
To counter the haters before they jump in to bash, I’m very curious to know how many sub kits Van’s ships out every day. What I do know is they all vary based upon what they have in stock at each moment, they all have thousands of parts, and there are roughly five different sub kits across ten models of aircraft. And these different models don’t really share a lot of common parts. What Van’s does every day is pretty impressive.
. I try to fix the last bugs and hope to be able to show the demo within the next days. )
