Planet Industrials, new RTR OO 0--6-0T industrial loco

[Bigmet]

https://planetindustrials.co.uk/

That answers my question whether the tidal wave of new RTR OO manufacturer has ceased!

[Bufferstop]

Interesting to see that smaller commissioners (PI may actually be manufacturers) are matching the pricing of the big boys. I'll leave you to decide whether or not the bigboys are hanging on to the extra profit from larger runs.

[Mike Parkes]

Monies made from larger / longer production runs fund R&D. There will also be an element of pricing to match the market.

[Bigmet]

Interesting to see that smaller commissioners (PI may actually be manufacturers) are matching the pricing of the big boys. I'll leave you to decide whether or not the big boys are hanging on to the extra profit from larger runs.

Need to see their new product delivered first before making that comparison. Not long ago seen an individual grossly underestimate the cost of sustaining a model railway products business, ran out of money.

[Bufferstop]

Had some rather unconventional designs too, if it's the guy I'm thinking of not to mention some peculiar idea of producing one model to which he wasn't fully committed to finance one in a different scale that he wanted to do but couldn't generate enough customer demand. There's usually a very good reason why business people go about doing things in a particular way, it's called profit.

[Bigmet]

Monies made from larger / longer production runs fund R&D. There will also be an element of pricing to match the market.

This is true, but there's more yet. While it is generally advantageous to be a larger business, there's a lot more activity that has to be very carefully managed if it is not to start eating into return on investment, when compared to 'Newstart Models', with its current huge two product range. Hornby in particular will have a rather large number of product lines. The tooling for all these has to be stored somewhere and managed by someone, and then there's the post sales support to cover for all of it as well. Just how committed are Newstart to the messy business of supporting a customer not only immediately, but five years hence? Will they still even be in business, and if not will another business have picked up the products? (This is not hypothetical, in the past ten years Ixion (N) Vitrains, DJM (OO) LLC (O) and Hattons (OO and O) have all arrived with RTR offerings and departed the scene.)

And when it comes to manufacturing from existing tooling, is all of it truly as profitable as it needs to be? Or are there some items that end up being manufactured or procured, because they are 'essential' for the loyal customers who are committed to the brand, despite marginal profitability. Just breaking even on such activity, when the business needs profit contribution from all employee activity can quickly add up to a dwindling return, and dilution of the expected ROI and thus profitability...

[Bigmet]

And having seen that the price for Planet industrials' Kerr Stuart 'Victory' 0-6-0T is now very reasonable, I ventured a purchase last week and have been putting it thorugh its paces.
Looks good, runs very sweetly, has adequate weight for traction, mechanism design and construction is sound. Assessment in summary, altogether good, and were this outfit to produce anything further in RTR OO that fitted my modelling interest I would purchase without hesitation. (Its only real use in my operation is in a freight drag: on its way to being cut up in the late 1950s, rods removed, dented and rusty and looking very sad.)