Manufacturing Update January 3rd, 2018

Good afternoon, everyone. Happy New Year and welcome to the first edition of our Manufacturing Updates for 2018.  In 2017 we launched 54 updates, just like this one, keeping you informed on the latest and greatest happenings here at the facility.  

These updates are our absolute best way to keep you in the know on what’s going on, and to communicate with current clients and potential clients.  We make every effort to get you the most accurate information as its available and, as always, we are up front with you on our operations.  

If you don’t want to wait, we will not be the company for you.  If you want the best product at a real value for what you receive, we will be the company for you and we absolutely are thrilled your here.  Even if you are just stopping in to look at cool parts or projects via our social media pages, welcome!  We are car nuts too here, and we too browse and view pages that interest us as people. With that, let’s get started!

Holiday Requests

As we reported, all through December we were successful with getting in those holiday requests (with the exception of a few matte black orders where we could only ship a partial).  We hope those of you that have received your orders are pleased with your goodies and, as always, if you need support after the sale, just reach out to us for any help or assistance.  

Encore Sale and December

Our Encore Event, as you can imagine, was a huge success back on November 21st and records fell early on during that sale.  We did a large volume of business, as well as a record December, and we have a very good handle on what’s going on, and what we need to produce and replenish. We have material coming in daily to fill things that have sold out, and then circle back and build inventory to get those blanks back on the shelf again for future business.

Outside Services (Color Finishes)

As we told you all through December, and the update right after, during The Encore we did lose a week of outside services during Thanksgiving week. We also lost approximately two weeks of outside services for The Christmas and New Years Holidays. Now that our outside vendors are back and ready to start a new year, we are ready to start sending lots of product to them to get plated, coated, and finished as needed. As you know, we keep all of our products in blanks ready to be either completed as satin machined finish items (we sold a bunch of satin machine finished products during The Encore and throughout December- all shipped with the exception of the coolant tank cover) or sent for plate, polish or powder coating.  

High Volume Items and Color Consistency

As is usually the case, under hood kits, catch cans, and the new coolant tank were huge sellers during the sale as were the door lock kits (pins and bezels).  As such, and especially on the under hood kits, we do need to manufacture parts to make complete kits.  What we are doing is going in order of receipt and sending complete kits out for finish first to ensure color consistency.  

Keeping Up With Your Order via the BT Updates

As we update your orders when they go out for plate, anything that may need manufacturing will be notated in the comments section, so please keep a close on on the order tables.  If at any time you do not see your order pop up on a color, please be patient we will be making SEVERAL visits to our outstanding outside providers this month and you can expect to see many supplemental updates with just orders going out and coming back in.

Of course, as we move further along here in the next week and into week two of the New Year, feel free to call us as we will begin to get a better feel of what will be going for certain finishes as we work hand in hand with our vendor partners to send things out for processing.  

Many orders will be shipping this month and we will have some things going into February from The Encore Event.  We need to be up front with you on that, but be assured our goal is to be near complete or completed with all business as of 12/31 by early February, excluding any custom orders and the coolant tank (will address this separately so stay with us).  Please remember we are in extended lead-time right now too and you can find that information concerning lead-times on your invoice copy, and also by clicking the link here Order Lead-Times.  

Stain Catch Cans

Anyone ordering a satin catch can – we are going to be back on the 2 weeks or sooner to ship starting essentially right now.  We had a large shipment of hose and hardware come in yesterday and have staggered orders for essentials all through the month to keep replenished to complete assemblies.  We move anywhere between 300-800 plus units a month of all finishes and at times we outstrip what is available to us to order. We use one vendor for our supplies that is local to us,trusted by us, and has been in business for a very long time.  We don’t take our relationships with our long time suppliers for granted and support them always  The only time we part with a supplier is if quality becomes an ongoing problem and fortunately, we have little turn over there.

We have plenty of inventory and are assembling/shipping daily and machining this product every day as well.  If you need an immediate shipment of a satin can, just call us to place your order and will get it out to you within 24-48 hours with two day to three day shipping (depending on your location in the United States).  If you need a color quickly, let us know this as well so we can earmark your item to go into the next batch of colors that go out on that respective finish.  

Catch Can Z Brackets

When it comes to catch cans you will see we have a deficit on our most popular mount – the original and often copied right on down to description “Z Bracket.”  In fact as of January 2nd, we were in the hole 135 brackets.  We are actually running these right now, and there will be absolutely no impact or delays on filling backorders, and current business.  We manufacture these brackets a couple times a month, and this is our normal first of the month run of 500 brackets to start.  As of this writing, we are pulling brackets from the shop and assembling satin cans to ship or send out for colors. 

Under Hood Kits, Caps and Covers

Under hood kits and under hood caps and covers as always are super popular here, and customized even more so.  We are building and replenishing all of these individual parts right now (oil caps, radiator caps, oil dip sticks, transmission cap covers, brake fluid caps, washer caps etc).  You can be assured that we will be running these all month to stay on pace with sending complete kits out for colors, or for folks that just ordered an individual piece here or there.

This is a common situation at the beginning of each year, no matter how much we may run prior to the end of the year festivities, or for that matter summer time show rush.  As more and more people come on board and join the Billet Tech family, and as our pieces are seen, we are extremely fortunate even in a competitive market that clients continue to choose us.  Again, we are very grateful for those opportunities and thankful to you our awesome customer base.  As we like to say, our customers rock!  

Fuse Box Covers

Fuse Box Covers were extremely popular sellers over the holidays.  We have 13 units in stock, and are ok to fill orders for 2008-2014 Challengers. The 2010 and up Chargers and 300 and the 2010-14 Challengers we are low on and have back orders for.  We shipped quite a few orders in December, and have several here now pending engraves. If you ordered a fuse box, and you showed up on one of our updates in the last month, we are sending these boxes out for finishes in order of receipt.

Please refer to the Product Table we provided in this update that has what is on order as of January 2nd, the current stock status, and the requirements we need to fill all orders in house at this time.  We have material coming in for fuse boxes late next week, and they run quickly.  A large batch will go to all colors in the middle of January. We we will begin shipping satin covers this month, and colors this month until all covers are completed and shipped, with inventory back on the shelf into early to possible mid February.

Many of our clients order custom covers, so please be sure to direct any questions or changes to Nick. He also will be providing you your custom renderings prior to cutting the finished product.  Custom images and designs are our speciality, and we absolutely love bringing your themes to life, or as we say, “Your Ride Your Vision.”  You can reach Nick via email to nick@billettechnology.net.  He is also available by phone Monday through Friday 6:00 A.M. until 3:30 P.M. EST.  These are our phone hours in general as well.  

Coolant Tank Covers

As you can imagine, the big coolant tank cover has been a major hit here. We absolutely are blown away with your support.  We are sold out and have quite a few covers we need to produce.  If you have not received yours yet, or did not appear in one of the tables from last month or prior, then we still need to make your cover.  We are also going to be making some changes based on customer feedback from those great folks who have received the product.  

Slight Variations with Fitmit of Coolant Tank Covers

As is the case with any factory part, the plastic is injection molded and can vary from lot run to lot run from the factory.  We take these factors into consideration when designing the production part.  The BT piece is going on like a glove for our clients.  What we are running into with some folks is an issue with closing the hood flush.  This is not happening with everyone, and certainly is not the case when placing that piece on Nick’s Hellcat here at Billet Tech.  Sometimes there may be a slight variation from the factory on how the actual hood was installed and assembled on the line, creating a slight difference in clearance from one car to the next, or in engineering terms a tolerance range that is acceptable not only for us on fitment but from the factory when they are assembling vehicles.

Adjustments for the Next Run

 The next run of these covers this month will fill backorders and replenish our stock. We are going to make an adjustment to compensate and ensure clearance across the board, be it on your Challenger, Charger, or 300.  You will absolutely have no issues installing the factory radiator cap back on, or even placing one of our radiator cap covers over the factory cap.  Our staff has a firm grip on this, and the redesign won’t be noticeable to you visually – it will be in the engineering where it counts.  For those clients affected with the flush mount problem (very few), we appreciate your feedback and have worked with those folks to agreeable resolution that works for the customer. Thank you!  Our primary focus is always about people first.  

Colors/Finishes Due Back Soon

We still have the following due back in to us from December:

• White from December 21st
• Yellow from December 21st
• Polish from December 14th 

We expect to have these orders back in later this week or early next week, and as soon as we do, will get them either assembled or final engraved and shipped to you as soon as possible. Remember, if you have engraving that still needs to be completed ,and especially with the current volume we have that will start to come back in now this month, please allow up to 2 weeks for us to complete the processes and package and ship your parts.  Chances are it will be sooner.  

Table of Products Currently On Order

Finally, we are ready to let you take a look at the following tables. The first table you will see is Current Product Listings.  On that list is what is on order as of January 2nd, the current stock status as of the second, and any quantity that is needed to fill current orders.  We will, as stated, be building all this month to fill orders and replenish inventory into the new year.  There is also an ETA to when a particular product will enter into manufacturing. These are subject to change, and if they do,we will let you know in updates all this month.  Changes can be for any number of reasons, be it a material delay, an emergency order comes in, or unforeseen maintenance (machine down).  These circumstances are rare, but we want to cover all bases as thoroughly as possible.  

Color Tables

We also sent out blue, matte blue (both combined on one table), matte black, and clear anodize (clear on satin machined finish) today. Fun fact – close to 900 unique pieces went to plate today and that’s just a start, friends.

Questions, Comments, Contacting BT

 Once more, if you do not see your order on these tables and have one of these finishes, do not panic. Just as explained in this update above, we are in the process of manufacturing and replenishing product all month long and will be making SEVERAL visits to plate all this month. Just stay tuned or call as we move a week in or so, and we can more than likely narrow down an ETA for you.  

As always, our sincere thanks for all the support, and most importantly the trust you place in our people and our brand.  A very Happy New Year to everyone.

Products On Order as of January 2nd, 2018

Orders to Clear and Matte Clear January 2nd, 2018

Orders to Matte Black January 2nd, 2018

Orders to Blue January 2nd, 2018