Mesatchornug
NES Member
I totally agree with what you're saying. Humans are the weak link in any system of this sort.Humans are the weak links, as always.
That sounds great, but then remember that some human has to actually key or post the updates. This is a small manufacturer where the parts sit in a box on a bench, not a large industry where everything is bar-coded and scanned and tracked at every stage.
From the Army, through a .gov career, to private employment, one thing that I've always found true is that the more record keeping you demand, the more pencil-whipping you will get.
I grew up in a small manufacturing plant, making things of little consequence, and we knew where every project was in the queue. Considering the legal penalties associated with a frame showing up in the wild that's unaccounted for, or for complete but unnumbered frames during an inspection by the ATF, it's not unreasonable to assume that they have production travelers that are at least as thorough as ours were, and a bound book of all their created serial numbers. Someone is in charge of knowing where they are at all times; their life would be made easier by putting it in a computer (with off-site, redundant backups).
There are certain milestones that are really easy to track for, even in a mom and pop facility. At minimum, I'd expect four: frame serialized, in production, final function test complete, shipping. If they kept these in the computer, it could be available to customer service/receptionist, and similarly to a pretty simple order tracking website.
I feel for Coonan right now; they're in a tough spot. I also feel for their customers (of which we seem to have at least three in this thread) who are completely in the dark. A very simple production tool could help everybody feel more comfortable with the process, and obviate this thread. Even if the message was "still waiting on frames from foundry," I'd bet that most customers would find it preferable to the silence they're getting now.