Hi, folks. I'll try to provide some answers and a little bit of helpful (I hope) context.
I am now more than 3 months past my original ship date for an RV14 slo build fuselage. I have contacted Vans both email and phone which provides limited info. Any others having this same problem ? I am aware that COVID has caused shipment delays but I didn’t think it would be quite this long....
Fuselage and wing kits, right now, are the most difficult from a delivery timing perspective. Because we have had a significant number of quick build kits that unfortunately are coated with primer that turned out to be bad when it was received from the paint manufacturer (we recently received lab results confirming this), we're having to replace some QB kits. This means that the same batches of manufactured parts - which of course are used to create our standard build kits as well as quick build kits - are being leveraged to fulfill a higher demand than could have been planned for. With our always-existing manufacturing lead times, plus a huge increase in the volume of new kit orders, and the fact that some of our parts rely on third parties to perform certain aspects of the manufacturing process, our projected and actual delivery timelines have been extended. We're doing everything we can to keep things moving and it's been a time-consuming process. We look forward to returning to something more akin to "normal," but we're not there yet.
I know that if you've contacted us recently we may not have had complete information to provide. Please know that we're working on that. If you want to send me a PM or an email with your RV-14 kit serial number and your contact info, I'll be glad to take a look and communicate back with you.
The lead times for all the remaining kits have doubled since I ordered my empennage kit back in late November, so the situation is getting worse rather than better at the moment. Remember that it's not just Van's that is behind schedule, it's the entire supply chain. The situation is the same at every other kit company, from what I've heard.
There's going to be a gap between when I finish my empennage and when my wings arrive, so I'm going to use that time to finish my instrument rating, then start getting some tailwheel training.
I'm hoping lead times start to shrink again by the time I'm ready to order my fuselage.
We hope so, too.
Doing the additional training sounds like a great idea if the opportunity is there!
And yes, many companies in our industry are experiencing the same issues. Our increased lead times (and backorders) right now stem primarily from a few big things (although it's important to understand that these are not the only causes):
- A recent massive increase in the number/volume kit orders being received each week. To illustrate: Year to date, we are currently receiving more than double the number of orders per week compared to a year ago. That's a very significant change.
- The fact that we need to build new Quick Build kits that were not part of our original manufacturing projections, due to the primer problems described above, has constrained parts supply and requires us to rework schedules and build capacity.
- In general, the availability of third-party parts and manufacturing supply chain issues have had a real impact.
- Shipping (freight, postal service, courier and international containers) has been severely impacted with delays across the board in addition to increased costs of service, which slows both incoming product delivery and outbound delivery to our customers.
Just curious,
So if someone ordered a kit at the beginning of the year and was given a 5 month crating date, and now the website says it's a 8 month lead.....
Does that mean that the kit ordered Jan 1 will now be crated in approx 8 months?
Not necessarily. It means that kits ordered now are estimated to be crated in the 8-month timeframe. For your kit ordered at the beginning of the year, we will be (in the context of the issues listed above) working to get it out the door in the timeframe stated. In this real-world situation we all find ourselves in, there are of course a number of variables that can impact actual crating timeframes.
Perhaps not. I ordered my tail kit just days before the lead time went from immediate to four months, and it was shipped immediately (well, within a couple of weeks, which is normal). This guarantees nothing for your order, but may be a hopeful sign.
We're working hard to get things out the door as quickly as possible. One thing that's delayed some tail kits has been some long-backordered parts that require third-party manufacturing. We've started receiving batches of the backordered parts and our shipping team is working super hard to get those out to people as soon as they're ready to ship.
Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding in this crazy situation. We really are working hard to figure out how to shore up some of the uncertainty, but we have to do that while continuing to operate, so it's a bit of a complex set of calculus. Our employees are super smart and dedicated, and changes/improvements are happening!
I hope that helps.