Chinese made Yamaha P22s - update

[Roger Wheelock]

Hello Conrad and List,



I read your concern this morning about the push pins being a problem with 
the Chinese P22.  We used to sell what we called a "pin-peg setter" that 
eliminated hammering and allowed for easy placement of the push pins.  We 
stopped making them when the demand for them fell to zero.  Now, we sell a 
hex head screw driver which also doubles as a "pin-peg setter" when the 
handle is removed.  Perhaps this tool would be useful with the new P22s. I 
will take a picture of these and post to the list.  It is likely that the 
"pin-peg setter" can be easily duplicated by technicians.



With regard to the watering tube, notching of the corner of the front panel 
is an option for the vertical application instead of making a groove in the 
underside of the keybed.  This technique has been used in pianos with the 
same problem for many years.  Other technicians have brought the watering 
tube up so it is accessible through the top of the piano.  This isn't very 
useful if the piano owner is placing items on top of the piano, but it might 
work well in a university setting.



I would like to address Bob's concerns of our poor response to suggestions 
and the cost of our product.  I know I am taking a risk here and will put on 
my protective flame suit.  Kindly note that I am responding in a positive 
way in an effort to help technicians understand our business.



Our strategy at Dampp-Chaser is to provide a quality product backed by 
quality service coupled with support of the piano technician community.  We 
depend on the technician community to provide us with suggestions and 
feedback that allow us continually improve and become better at meeting our 
strategy.  That said we realized last year that those submitting suggestions 
may feel that they did not receive an appropriate response.  So, as part of 
our quality management program, last fall we instituted a suggestion team to 
evaluate and respond quicker and more effectively.  Teresa Severin leads 
this team which meets regularly to review and approve or reject suggestions. 
If approved, they are either directly implemented or moved to our product 
development team led by Ed Ashley.  If rejected, Teresa responds to the 
technician making the suggestion with the reasons we could not approve it.



Several factors can lead to rejection of a suggestion.  1. The foremost 
reason for rejecting a suggestion is one that I have seen many times in my 
twelve years with the company:  what one person thinks is a good change, 
another considers a bad idea.  We hear about this after the change, and we 
now screen significant suggestions with a group of knowledgeable installers. 
2. The second reason for rejecting a suggestion is cost.  It is often not 
the cost of the new part, but rather the cost of explaining the change.  A 
simple change can cause the rewriting of instruction sheets in eight 
languages.  And, an unfortunate truth is that many technicians do not read 
instructions making the change more difficult to communicate.  Another cost 
factor is scrapping obsolete parts when new ones go into production.  Design 
changes to key components require gaining new approvals with domestic and 
international electrical safety certification agencies (costly and time 
consuming).  3. The third reason for rejection is that a suggestion may 
create a new problem that was not first considered.  4. The fourth reason is 
that we are a small organization (25 employees), and we can only handle so 
many production changes and design projects at any given time.  We have 
found that trying to do more than we can handle leads to confusion and 
mistakes.



All this said, we are trying to do a better job in responding to suggestions 
and addressing concerns.  I hope technicians will find this to be the case 
in 2008.



Regarding cost and outsourcing, we cannot depend on a Chinese supplier to 
furnish us with a product that meets our quality requirements.  Regulating 
relative humidity is difficult and our product must be well designed and 
manufactured under controlled conditions.  A factory tour would reveal an 
efficient facility operating under what is consider today's best 
manufacturing and quality practices.  I do not believe that there would be 
evidence of extravagance or wastefulness that is passed along in the price 
of the product.  We have done a relatively good job of minimizing price 
increases over the years while our cost base has escalated.  Ever more 
stringent regulation and soaring insurance premiums are just a couple of the 
drivers that inflate our costs.  It is only through efficiency increases 
that we have been able to manage the business effectively.



While all this may sound like whining, it is simply an attempt to educate 
and deepen the bonds between Dampp-Chaser and the technician community.  It 
is only through the support of technicians worldwide that we are able to 
serve you in this, our 61st year.



Thank you,



Roger



Roger Wheelock, VP

Dampp-Chaser Corp.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Conrad Hoffsommer" <hoffsoco at luther.edu>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: Chinese made Yamaha P22s - update


> itunepiano at aol.com wrote:
>>   I hate the push pins as well.  I don't like banging on a customers 
>> piano, and I'll bet the customer doesn't like it either.
>
> Banging will be unavoidable, anyway.  I still have to chisel/carve/erode 
> in some manner a channel in the underside of the keybed for the fill tube. 
> What difference are a couple more taps for the pins going to make?
> Nada.
>
> -- 
> Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT - Keyboard Technician
> Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
> 1-(563)-387-1204 // Fax 1-(563)-387-1076
>