Conid Still Producing During The Pandemic? April 2, 2020.

[NancyB]

Does anyone know if Conid is still working on past orders during the Pandemic, or are they totally shut down? I ordered mine in July 2019, and just curious.

[WLSpec]

Doesn't look like they've said anything about the pandemic.

[NancyB]

Thanks. Yes, I couldn’t find anything, either.

[inkypinkies]

Still waiting for my order from July 2019, as well!

[GOTO10]

I'm am also waiting on a pen order placed in July 2019.

 

Slightly less than a month until they re-open orders at this point, some communication would be nice.

[Cyclohexene]

Pardon my ignorance, but are there any special reasons for the delay in Conid pens? The pens don't look like they have many custom parts that lead to production difficulty, except for the filling mechanism maybe, which I believe is the same across all models and should be fairly standard to produce once the fundamental engineering is done. And they don't have special artistic finishing like Maki-E that requires intricate work and long curing time. Is it just excessive number of demands?

[silverlifter]

Conid is essentially a side gig for Komec, so production of pens takes a back seat to their other large, industrial customers. I imagine the bottle neck is just getting time on the machines.

[peroride]

Measures in Belgium, expect delay : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348034-conid-delivery-time/page-13?do=findComment&comment=4307411

[GOTO10]

I'm fine with delays, I don't plan to cancel my order. What I continue to hope for is communication.

[Karmachanic]

I'm fine with delays, I don't plan to cancel my order. What I continue to hope for is communication.

 

Your experience up to now tells you everything about Conid and communication. Love their pens, but I find their abysmal lack of communication unconscionable.

 

That aside, Belgium, like the rest of Europe, is under lock down. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that Conid's announced May relaunch will be pushed back, as they won't be manufacturing during this time. As peroride mentioned in the above link.

[WLSpec]

 

Your experience up to now tells you everything about Conid and communication. Love their pens, but I find their abysmal lack of communication unconscionable.

 

That aside, Belgium, like the rest of Europe, is under lock down. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that Conid's announced May relaunch will be pushed back, as they won't be manufacturing during this time. As peroride mentioned in the above link.

Unfortunately it is not out of the question that the date will be pushed back. Really is too bad.

[ralfstc]

I'm not looking to attract flames or hate here, but I do wonder if production will resume. If it's really that hard to get time on the machines, and that expensive to produce the pens, the margins can't be great. This would be really too bad :-(

 

I think Cyclohexene's question is bang on, and may point to deeper issues. These are "labour of love" products, and may be too expensive to scale.

 

*Just speculating like everybody else!*

 

Ralf

[Karmachanic]

I'm not looking to attract flames or hate here, but I do wonder if production will resume. If it's really that hard to get time on the machines, and that expensive to produce the pens, the margins can't be great. This would be really too bad :-(

 

I think Cyclohexene's question is bang on, and may point to deeper issues. These are "labour of love" products, and may be too expensive to scale.

 

*Just speculating like everybody else!*

 

Ralf

 

inkypinkies has a similar view expressed in the Deliveries thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348034-conid-delivery-time/page-13?do=findComment&comment=4309393

 

I cancelled my order and have adopted a wait and see attitude. If/when they get their act together, and show that they can produce in a timely manner, I'll reorder a second Minimalistica.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Karmachanic

[WLSpec]

I'm not looking to attract flames or hate here, but I do wonder if production will resume. If it's really that hard to get time on the machines, and that expensive to produce the pens, the margins can't be great. This would be really too bad :-(

 

I think Cyclohexene's question is bang on, and may point to deeper issues. These are "labour of love" products, and may be too expensive to scale.

 

*Just speculating like everybody else!*

 

Ralf

I hope not. Really would be a shame

Edited April 9, 2020 by WLSpec

[maclink]

I'm trying to figure out their silence. Is it that if they break their silence it's followed by tons of emails to clarify what they came out with.

 

Even with this, a blog entry/announcement about their production and COVID is in order, even if they ask that emails be kept to a minimum and that they are not able to answer clarifications/queries about their announcement.

 

Radio silence leaves the imaginations churning and not in a good way.

[WLSpec]

...Radio silence leaves the imaginations churning and not in a good way.

I was just thinking this. It would be entirely possible for May 1st to pass by and nothing to happen.

[silverlifter]

Email from them overnight:

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!

 

[peroride]

>each week we ship what we can

 

nice news that they are safe and can continue on their work, conditions adjusting

[maclink]

Thanks Silverlifter. That's most reassuring!

[maclink]

I just got an email from Conid with an invoice and picture of my Minimalistica that's on the way via DHL. I got the DHL shipping notice as well. This was a pleasant surprise. I ordered on Sept 17, 2019, i.e., 7 months ago. I may still get myself the Kingsize I was thinking of getting for my birthday which happens to be on May 1!!! Isn't that a sign??