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* This Blog represent’s Rob’s opinions ONLY
March 2, 2008 Last week MTL informed one of their clients that they would no longer sell them OEM couplers or trucks. This generated quite a few discussions amongst Z scale enthusiasts. We here at AZL decided a long time ago to switch to our own trucks and couplers, and we hope that consumers now understand why we decided to do that: we wanted to control our own fate. While it is unfortunate for other small Z scale manufactures that MTL has decided to limit their sales of trucks and couplers, we obviously recognized their right to do so long ago, and we do not pass judgment on the policies of others. In comparison, we now reaffirm our position that we are willing to sell our AZL Z scale trucks and couplers to any client for any purpose. We welcome any other manufacture who wishes to buy and use our trucks and couplers because we think it is good for the scale, good fo the hobby, and good for all manufactures in the long run. January 16, 2008 Happy New Year! I hope Santa was good to everyone. He stopped by our warehouse on several occasions to pick up goodies, so I know many of you are out there having fun with AZL trains. Remember, our products are for those who are young at heart, not young of age! We wouldn’t want to have any injured youngsters out there, so please put your tiny trains on the top shelf once you’re done having fun. Our products are designed for ages 14 and up. 5 December 2007 We got mail! I got a nice email from a customer asking me about our spare parts situation. He kindly allowed me to post the exchange in hope that it helps shed a little light on the subject: From: John M. Rob, nice web site. I have couple of question in regards to AZL products. There is a perception on my part that AZL doesnt have the parts to support its products. For example, I ask Rob K. if there are any spare fuel tanks for the SD70, and from his answer, I get the idea that he doesnt have them. Rob does a very good job of giving me spare parts when I ask for them, but its up to AZL to give him the parts. Last night, while doing a maintenance on a C44, I lost the pin that holds the truck, and I email Rob for a spare part, but I am not sure if he has the parts. I always know MTL have spares. This is my only concern my AZLs. Thanks ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rob at AZL Hi John, Thanks for the email. You are correct - for some models we have parts, for others, nope. Rob winds up cannibalizing old defective locos for parts for customers, which makes for a nasty case of inventory control. As a rule of thumb, the newer the model, the better the chance that we have parts. This is due to two factors: 1) As with all manufactured goods, eventually you run out of spare parts for older models This is also a bit of a factor with AZL because we outsource all our manufacturing. We are in the process of moving all of our injected products from Korea to China. Hans is in China today meeting with our new factory rep and I will talk to him tonight. I will put spare parts on the agenda - your timing is excellent. Best, 29 November 2007 The E7s are Here!!! Whoppiiieee!!! 28 November 2007 - 11:10 am So we think we know what went wrong with UPS: Ajin listed me on the address for the box, but listed Hans in Norway as the buyer. This threw UPS customs service into an infinite loop: We can’t deliver the package to Rob because Hans is the buyer, but Hans can’t sign for the package because it is addressed to Rob and Rob can’t sign for the package because Hans is the buyer, but Hans can’t sign for the package because it is addressed to Rob. Simple enough? Right? By the end of the day I’m going to be insane, sitting in the corner, drooling and singing the “Barney” song: “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family...” 28 November 2007 - 10:34 am AZL Corporate HQ in Oslo, Norway received a rather odd memo from our distributor, Mr. Robert Kluz of Ztrack Global Media and MegaDistributor or Railroad Supplies to the Stars: Dear Sirs, With the utmost respect and humility We shall make our response public: Dear employee/associate/vendor #4739361[ZEE-TRACK MAGAZINE]
27 November 2007 - 10:45pm Some very exciting news! The E7 units are on their way from Korea! In fact they are already in the USA tomorrow and should be delivered to the AZL regional office in Arlington, VA by tomorrow afternoon!
For those of you who have ever tried to import anything, let me tell you, it can be a paperwork and bureaucratic nightmare, even with a good shipping company. We switch back and forth between FedEx and UPS. There was one little thing wrong with the shipping documents and check out what it did to UPS system (the following is the tracking information – so far…)
What the heck does Missort at Hub mean anyway? Where is the Hub? And how can you Missort something with a barcode? So what exactly is on its way? Check this out:
WOW is right! Now before you all get too excited, please remember that these are hand made brass locomotives. They were made by Ajin in Korea and we have to do quality control checks on each and every one of them. We always find a few units that do not meet our Quality standards (and we have been raising those standards recently) so that means a good percentage of them will go back for factory repairs. The moral of the story is place your order EARLY. I hope to have them all tested so that Rob Kluz can ship them in the first week of December (yes, 2007!!!) He will fill orders on a first come, first serve basis. Of course if you have some unseemly pictures of Rob, or a great off-color story, I’m sure that will bump you up to the head of the line. Just remember folks, always keep the negatives… 26 November 2007, 11:20 pm
Hans is on his way to China to meet with our new factory reps. I’m stuck here in the USA due to work issues, which is too bad because I always enjoy traveling with Hans. Up until now, all of our products have been made in Korea and the good ‘ol USA, but the times they are a-changin, and we want to give our customers the best deal we can, so it’s off to China we go. It may not be popular to say, but the quality and price of Chinese made trains is tough to beat. We will competitively bid, but it looks like more and more of our business will be done with the Chinese. There are lots of exciting new projects underway. 2008 will be a huge year for AZL!
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