Any news on the 4 way steck connector

[Rasputin]

I know I would be willing to put up $40 or $50

But I'm not sure it would be enough - even if we could get 2,000 people to each advance $40, that's only $80,000 and they would have the cost of a mold and the normal production costs, etc..

No sorry my bad  math was $100 per person

2000 members at $100 each = $200,000

[tahra]

Perhaps the molds for  whole new set might cost that much, but if individual part molds are that expensive then the fairy princess stuff is going to bankrupt the company.

Yes, I do not understand that. I think that is the problem - I'm guessing we have no idea what we're talking about...

Maybe there are different kinds of molds or something? I mean... in the last 2-3 years, how many hairstyles appeared? Is it a matter of size? How about those huge system Y parts that are fit for... well... nothing else? And all the stuff in the fairy theme is also a good example..

So, I think there must be something more to it that eludes us - well, me at least.

[Baron Marshall]

If I had to guess I would say they suppose that to keep producing old parts not in current sets would be a great expense because they would have to buy more molding machines to dedicate to old parts not currently in use so they didn't interrupt the production of the hundreds of new sets that are planned 2-3 years ahead already.

[hauden_lukas]

I assume a big part of the production cost of a mold is the design, manufacture of a prototype and initial testing/feasability study. But the plans for this mold schould already exist...so that should bring down the price enormously....

[Indianna]

Here is a link to an interesting article which talks about Playmobil's current mould-making capacity and their plans to quadruple that capacity in 2015:  Blum-Novotest GmbH website article   (There is also a lot of just plain interesting information about other aspects of injection moulding at Playmobil.)

An excerpt from the article:
So the demands placed on the mould-making process are very high - and they are rising steadily as the rate of new releases continues apace. A total of 77 designers and technicians are working continuously to produce new figures and sets, for which new injection moulds then have to be made. "We output as many as 1,200 new moulds a year, around 45 percent of them internally and the rest from external contractors," reports Attila Britting, head of the in-house mould-making shop. "To increase our in-house capacities, in 2015 the mould-making shop is going to be relocated to a new building, which will quadruple its size. That will also entail an expansion of our machinery portfolio, and mean more of the injection-moulding will be done in-house".

Next year they ought to be able to fit in a few runs of new and re-released Steck pieces!   

[Rhalius]

I think they might focus too much on making new pieces instead of putting to use what they already have.

I mean.. any castle building system after steck was not needed. Could have just added some new parts to steck, or release different colors of steck.

It's understandeable that they want to add more hairstyles or such though.. but I think more often, they should look at whats already available.

[Baron Marshall]

I think they might focus too much on making new pieces instead of putting to use what they already have.
.... but I think more often, they should look at whats already available.

Bingo! This is why the company is reporting revenue instead of profits on their balance sheets... they might be "growing the brand," but actually they are decreasing profits and taking on debt for capital expansion... if it doesn't work, the company will go bust.

This is why they are so concerned about pushing volumes of new stuff all the time trying desperately to get kids interested.

 They have taken a huge gamble and there are not enough collectors to bail them out so they desperately need "new market share" however, they will keep throwing bones to collectors because they need them too, badly.

Sorry for the grim assessment, I hope they can pull it out and get their heads on straight. 

[Rasputin]

Bingo! This is why the company is reporting revenue instead of profits on their balance sheets... they might be "growing the brand," but actually they are decreasing profits and taking on debt for capital expansion... if it doesn't work, the company will go bust.

This is why they are so concerned about pushing volumes of new stuff all the time trying desperately to get kids interested.

 They have taken a huge gamble and there are not enough collectors to bail them out so they desperately need "new market share" however, they will keep throwing bones to collectors because they need them too, badly.

Sorry for the grim assessment, I hope they can pull it out and get their heads on straight. 

  how could you say such things ? no no no

puppies, kittens and rainbows, puppie,s kittens and rainbows puppies, kittens and rainbows .....repeat 100 times........ah all better

I am so glad there is a 4 way connector, I will go and ask Geobra if they will let me buy something now, no more than 9 though or is it 2 ? The pink gilded fence is on sale and its so pretty or should I get the collectors edition red rocks ?? decisions decisions 

[Indianna]

Bingo! This is why the company is reporting revenue instead of profits on their balance sheets... they might be "growing the brand," but actually they are decreasing profits and taking on debt for capital expansion... if it doesn't work, the company will go bust.

This is why they are so concerned about pushing volumes of new stuff all the time trying desperately to get kids interested.

 They have taken a huge gamble and there are not enough collectors to bail them out so they desperately need "new market share" however, they will keep throwing bones to collectors because they need them too, badly.

Sorry for the grim assessment, I hope they can pull it out and get their heads on straight. 

Hi Baron Marshall 
While I totally agree with you that they need to "get their heads on straight" especially as regards the value of adult collectors    I do disagree with part of your message.  First of all, they are raking in the dough and they can reinvest as much as they want to because they are a privately owned company and do not need to satisfy stock holders with dividends or rising stock values. As long as HOB (Horst Brandstätter) is satisfied (and he seems pretty comfortable, money-wise) they can continue to expand.  It may seem counterintuitive, but I think their success of recent years is a big part of the problem because they are increasing sales in the big markets (except the USA which they don't seem to understand at all) and it will take some time for their mistakes to become apparent.  I certainly don't know what all their mistakes might be, but, IMO, there are some things that stand out: extreme gender differentiation and the emphasis on all the sort-of violent spy/criminal/robo-gang products which may alienate their strongest market (well-educated parents and other adults with money to spend on creative-play toys.)

As far as throwing bones to the collectors, I don't believe that they feel they need us.  Rather, they are literally throwing us a bone to keep us busy the way you might try to distract a cute, but annoying, over-active puppy.  We could definitely be the "new market share" that you mention, but they still don't see it that way - if they did, then the Steck 4-way connector would have been in the Direct Service line for years now, both in castle gray stone-style and plain brown.   

[Baron Marshall]

Yes, it would take a long time a some major screw-ups to ruin this company they have a solid footing and they have a lot of flexibility being a private company, and that is my real hope, that they will remain so. Moving to the collector market is in my opinion the best option for remaining a private rather than public company... all the pink certainly screams "sell out." 

Of course if they would just tell us exactly how much a new old mold would cost we could respond with just how interested we were in having the part, but we get veiled answers. the only thing I know definitively is that the big red chassis piece for the big newer fire engine cost 200k euros to research, develop, test, produce, and archive... but that is a huge piece (and that figure may have been for the whole set not just the piece)... my guess is the 4 way connector couldn't cost more than 10-25k... and we all know they would make enough money to cover that.