Apogee 3rd Gen Tacoma Rear Bumper Dual Swing Thread

In my head, I am thinking there is surely some scrap steel sitting around that could be used for the continued design and iteration of the spindle. Since the spindle is such a small piece vs the entire bumper. But what do I know? Its also about the time for R&D available for the smaller shop as pointed out. All good info.

 

I work for a major electronics manufacturer, and can share some of our experiences as it relates to R&D within our current state of affairs. For our company, it has more to do with prioritization of ALL resources (not just materials), which is what I think @Apogee Offroad alluded to above. Less materials means we are scrambling to fill orders on very tight deadlines (as stuff is often arriving very late) or pushing divisions to source alternate suppliers, which takes a lot of time and effort. This translates into everyone having to work much harder to accomplish the same productivity level as before, which means there is less time to be used for "alternative tasks." If you couple those challenges with an increase in demand for your product/incoming orders, the challenges grow exponentially. And that is on top of hiring and staffing challenges that ALL industries are facing, which also compounds things because you can't simply flex your workforce to handle the increased demand or workload (which usually isn't even a viable option for smaller companies, as someone has to stop what they are doing to find a new employee, interview them, hire them, and then you probably don't have any work for them when production returns to normal).

A small company like Apogee likely has less than 10 employees. If they're all busy trying to keep up with their current orders, then it doesn't make sense to pull resources away from those tasks in order to finish designing this new product, which will only increase their workload even more and make it even harder to keep up. It sucks, but it is what it is. I just hope I can keep myself from going crazy waiting

 

Well said!

 

Could not have explained it any better. This hits the nail on the head.

We’ll keep grinding and keep everyone posted as best as possible. Really appreciate all the understanding.

 

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this bumper too. I’m an R&D engineer myself and have lived the pain of when money is tight, R&D moves to the back burner and it’s all hands to make and sell the existing products. Hoping prices and lead times get back to normal for you guys! We will be here when you are ready!

 

Sub'd. This looks good. Well done.

 

So, is it done yet? Wtf?

Kidding!

 

Two weeks and this post is a year old. They just grow up so fast!

 

Milestone!!

 

So … My birthday is this weekend. Are you going to announce the release of the swing out for my birthday???

 

@Apogee Offroad are you still looking into doing sliders as well?

 

Of course!

Seems like the swing outs are taking priority over everything "new product" wise.

 

I'm like a kid on christmas eve. Please let it be christmas morning so I can open my presents......

 

Hey guys!

Just wanted to say we're not dead yet, but we're definitely not close to getting those swing outs in production.

Price of steel just increased another $300 for bumper production, and continues to increase every batch.

We're doing all we can for you guys but all concentration has been focused into bumper production. We'd like to thank all of you that currently have an order with us for your continued patience and understanding.

I know you are all chompin' at the bit for these.

We still have an ongoing list of people interested in testing as well as production.

 

Thanks for the update! Don't mind us all as we are sitting here like:

 

Well !!!!


&

 

Do we have any status update on these?

 

I wish we had something more definitive for you guys. We have the revised prototype design updated. We're just trying to allocate personnel, time, and funds as efficiently as possible and keep the bumpers flowing out the doors. The swingouts are still on our radar and they are the next thing we plan to bring to market, but currently they are in a holding pattern. We'll keep everyone posted as soon as we have news. Thanks for staying patient, we know it's rough but we appreciate it.

 

Please don't forget those of us who bought your rear bumper already! You had mentioned earlier about designing it to be able to be added afterwards by welding on two stubs, is that still the plan?

 

It sure is!

The brackets will be welded on to existing supports on the bumper.