Sword Manufacturing & Sales..... Interesting?

I have 27 years of Production Manufacturing, Quality Control, and Manufacturing Inventory Control experience, and there are some things I find interesting about those who make and sell swords.

I collected swords for many years, mostly high dollar. I got away from it for a few years, and am just now returning to the hobby. What I am finding is, "nothing has changed", in a number of areas.

Four years ago when I got out of it, a custom well known and respected sword maker was running 5 to 6 weeks behind in his production schedules and constantly making excuses. As a customer you were constantly having to contact him for his latest excuses, .... he still is!

Just about everyone selling swords had lots of backorders,..... and they still do?

Certain middle of the road manufacturers were having quality control problems such as "bad heat treat", "kinks", "blades not straight", etc., ..... and they still are.

It's like I was never gone.

I recently placed an order with a very well known and supported online dealer. They showed the sword "In Stock" and I wanted it sharpened. I was told it would take a couple extra days to get it out due to the sharpening, ... no problem. (They normally ship in 1 to 2 days after payment)

Over two weeks later I contact them to inquire if the sword has shipped. I am told "oh yea, we were going to call you, the one we sharpened had a bad blade and we are still waiting for more to come in.". OK, .... why wasn't I contacted? Well, they are real busy, .... so is everyone else. Better yet, why are you still showing that sword "IN STOCK" on your website? I appreciate the fact that they didn't just go ahead and send me a bad sword, but call and let me know what's going on. This same type of poor customer service was happening years ago, and apparently still is in this industry.

Seems to me this is a very simple product to manufacture. No moving parts or long lists of subcontractors. Some simple, yet important, parts and processes, ... assemble, quality check, and ship. Yes, I know heat treating and the likes is not easy, (in my business we heat treated aluminum, been around that type of work forever), but it's an established process with hopefully very strict contols. All the rest is just simple quality control. You should not have to "disassemble" your brand new Katana and inspect it before cutting with it, ..... HELLO, someone has very poor quality control if that is the case.

Retailing this product should not be that hard as well, .... if you provide good CONSISTANT customer service. Problems will arise, .... let the customer know! Stay on top of your commitments! Quit making excuses and start addressing the source of your problems!

Can someone shed some light on this? I realize some of these guys are just operating on a shoe string, but I surely would have expected some improvements over the last few years.

Opinions?