MirkoBoeddecker
Hi everyone,
Anyone who’s been waiting for individual Classic and efke items has something to look forward to.
Systemspedition Riek has finally delivered the 8 plates that were dispatched over 3 weeks ago.
For some inexplicable reason, they ended up in Bochum, as we were told.
So, first we’ll have a cup of tea, and then we’ll get on with packing the parcels.
At 200 arm rotations per minute, the biggest one should be sorted by Thursday.
Apologies to everyone for the delay!
Mirko from FOTOIMPEX
Gast
Yay!!
Well, that’s some good news. Is Fomaspeed back in stock yet??
MirkoBoeddecker
What size, gradient and finish?
It’s not as if we don’t have any Fomaspeed in stock at all...
We’re just missing a few varieties.
Gast
So, I’m always on the lookout for 18 x 24 and 24 x 30 glossy paper. Every time I pop into your shop (about every two months), it’s all sold out. I really ought to stock up.
Best regards, Micha
mcbastian
:-) That’s good news...
It’s a shame that the 24x30 Classic Arts was all out...
I’ve been eagerly awaiting my delivery! (Exhibition in the pipeline)
It’s always a pain when the prints have to be developed on two different types of paper....
But now it’s here :)
Regards, Sebastian
micha
Well, there you go. I went to the shop on Friday. And once again, there was no Fomaspeed in stock :) . I reckon you could take this item out of your catalogue. After all, it’s not exactly nice if you can never get hold of it...
Regards, Micha
Gast
Micha,
This post is about Classic, not Foma!
What’s more, the 8 pallets are already sold out again, and new ones are arriving tomorrow (from Classic).
Foma always takes 8–12 weeks to deliver.
Unfortunately, demand is never consistent. That’s our biggest problem with logistics. At the moment, we have crates of Fomaspeed Variant 313 and a fixed gradient in large sizes in stock (that was last year’s bestseller), but no small sizes and no Variant in glossy.
When stock arrives, it comes in crates, but we never know in advance what you’ll want in the coming weeks.
It’s best if you factor in a lead time of about 4 weeks yourself. I know that’s inconvenient, but the only alternative is Kodak paper. We can order that at a moment’s notice.
You’re also welcome to recommend a bank that still lends money to a medium-sized company in Germany.
But you’re just as unlikely to succeed in that as we are, and although the German government’s SME bank is awash with capital, it’s too stupid to lend it out and leaves it in the hands of the house banks. They, in turn, have no way of providing capital to SMEs under ‘Basel II’ without collateral from the companies, and everything invested in the firm can no longer be counted as security.
So we carry on muddling through on a 100% equity basis and with a sophisticated ordering system.
We have an estimated excess demand of around EUR 500,000 per year that we cannot meet due to a lack of capital. That is, in itself, every company’s dream. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t count for the banks. The message was clear. Either 100% collateral in the form of property or equity funds, or no loan.
Of course, we have neither, as we reinvest all our money immediately so that you don’t have to wait four weeks if at all possible....
Now for something positive:
Positive 1) Naturally, we think of nothing else day and night but being able to deliver everything to you at all times.
One idea is that we invest our limited funds not in finished goods but in large rolls of cast paper (which naturally cost much less per square metre), store them in a more flexible facility than Foma, and then have them cut on demand, depending on what you need at the time.
We hope this will reduce the lead time to four weeks.
However, this is only possible for Multigrade.
Positive 2) A shipment of Foma has been on the road for the past two weeks....
Best regards
Mirko
Gast
By the way, Micha, I’ve just had a browse through your website.
It’s not true that the Beseler can’t fit a 50x60 onto the base plate. My MXT manages it easily.
You mustn’t confuse the new MXTs (i.e. those built since 1988) with the old grey ones, which were smaller.
You also ask why Omega isn’t available:
We don’t stock Omega because they haven’t made enlargers for over 8 years...
Just one of those flimsy children’s enlargers for the American school photography market.
Those lovely green ones are history...
Your 4x5" is great, don’t get me wrong. I just had to mention it because we’re a Beseler representative and we don’t want to give out incorrect information.
Regards,
Mirko
FOTOIMPEX
