Price Increase

[I am Belch II]

I noticed a pretty big price increase on the IWM site.
It sucks but understandable.  Should of placed my order last month.

[Cache]

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/iron-wind-metals-news-and-announcements/what-s-in-the-pipeline-2-the-wrath-of-speck/msg1710713/#msg1710713

[I am Belch II]

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/iron-wind-metals-news-and-announcements/what-s-in-the-pipeline-2-the-wrath-of-speck/msg1710713/#msg1710713

Thanks I guess I just noticed now.

[RABIDFOX50]

It’s the interesting times that we live in. Prices are going up and wages stay the same. It’s all so tiresome but as you said, understandable. I don’t cry over it as Battletech is a passion for me. My other passion is firearms and the ammunition prices have been high due to not only demand but also due to shortage in supply and the political climate. Sometimes love hurts, lol. 

[kaliban]

just read the announcement now and give my two cents on it:

well, raw materials are certainly increasing. Hedging is normally used to protect against this fluctuations but probably IWM is too small or not professional enough to use these instruments. This does not help on the long run but would avoid losses in the orders planned for next months

they also seem to have a costing problem (small miniatures vs bigger miniatures) probably coming from poor allocation of fixed costs to unit costs.

On top of that all these 3D printing everywhere and much cheaper good quality miniatures from Poland and other places.

It is a tough spot to be.

[Daryk]

Poland?  I wouldn't mind paying a bit more to the Poles over their competition from the other continent...

First I've heard of them being in the picture...

[Sartris]

There are a nonzero number of people making 3D printed battletech models and a nonzero number of that nonzero number that reside in Eastern Europe

Whatever the case, battletech doesn’t represent a significant enough portion of IWM’s business to justify going in on the massive plastics investment required to get even a portion of the line off the ground

[Daryk]

I must be looking at the wrong Google results, or have a very different understanding of "massive" in this context... 

[Scotty]

Likely.   A single machined mold for a plastic sprue in a modern HIPS machine is going to run five figures, let alone the cost of the machinery itself in the first place.   Plastics are ****** expensive to setup even if the line to support isn't 400+ unique models.

Even assuming something like 4-5 mechs in the same sprue to save space and mold costs you're still looking at seven figures, minimum, to have the setup complete.

BattleTech isn't worth that to IWM, and it's vanishingly unlikely to ever even come close.

[Daryk]

So it's the latter, then.

[kaliban]

interesting webpage on IWM :

http://www.purplepawn.com/2010/03/the-convoluted-story-of-iron-wind-metals-ral-partha-and-battletech-miniatures/

At least the machinery seems fully depreciated ...

[speck]

interesting webpage on IWM :

http://www.purplepawn.com/2010/03/the-convoluted-story-of-iron-wind-metals-ral-partha-and-battletech-miniatures/

At least the machinery seems fully depreciated ...

It is also over 10 years old. A lot has changed since than.

[Daryk]

I was thinking that exact same thing...

[kaliban]

It is also over 10 years old. A lot has changed since than.

I hope so.

Is the Confederated flag still there? (just curious)

[speck]

I hope so.

Is the Confederated flag still there? (just curious)

Pictures are from before the move to the new / current location.