PlayStation 3 Manufacturing Not Started Yet?

aapold writes "Despite reports to the contrary, Sony Computer Entertainment American president Kaz Hirai states in an interview on Gamespot last week that 'We haven't started manufacturing yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the [production] lines and everything else. But they are, again, preparing as we speak to get the manufacturing going. We've not announced and we haven't set really a specific date to say, 'As of this day we're going to start manufacturing.'"

Re:Initial price not all that important

[Babbster]

To sell the sort of mass quantities that can keep the factories humming and sustain developer interest that price does have to drop, and fairly fast. Can they do it?

Not if history is any guide. The PS2 was out for about 18 months before the first price drop of $100 (33%). Then, after 12 months it dropped 10%, the following year 16%, and finally 13% this year to its current price of $130.

If they could follow the same pattern in terms of percentages (and these numbers are rounded a bit), the PS3 price would drop to $335 in 2008, $300 in 2009, $250 in 2010 and $220 in 2011. If the Xbox 360 followed the same guide, we would see (premium - the core prices would be more like the PS2) $270 in 2007, $240 in 2008, $200 in 2009, $170 in 2010.

Of course, Sony could end up being a lot more aggressive if things start working out better in terms of Cell production, and if Blu-Ray manages to knock HD-DVD out of the movie market (I'm sure MS could hang with them easily, staying lower priced no matter what Sony does). If not, we could be looking at PS3 consoles costing a minimum $300 up to 3 years from now - that would seem to be something that would put a dent in PS3 sales compared to those Sony enjoyed with the much less expensive PS2.

Re:But you can get a pink (as in ponies) PS2

[Quino]

Actually, this is one of the principles of modern manufacturing: Toyota lean production methods, just-in-time manufacturing, etc.

http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid 19_gci810519,00.html [techtarget.com]

I'm not saying that I think this is what's going on with Sony, but going away from massive warehousing has been a "revelation" in modern mass production .

Warehousing is *bad*, you're paying for storage for stuff to just sit there, and when you're talking about millions of units the amount of money wasted can be huge. Of course, what you want to do is to have the manufacturing set up to meet demand with the minimum amount of storage possible. The concern isn't theft (maybe it's then 100th concern), but cost.

Here's a summary (copied from the above link) that summarizes Toyota Production Methods (now, of course, widely emulated with varying degrees of success by other companies, industries, around the world):

1. Eliminate waste
2. Minimize inventory
3. Maximize flow
4. Pull production from customer demand
5. Meet customer requirements
6. Do it right the first time
7. Empower workers
8. Design for rapid changeover
9. Partner with suppliers
10. Create a culture of continuous improvement

Vast warehousing is so 1980s! (and a sign of inneficient manufacturing).

Re:We've found the Idiot of The Day, guys

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo was the only console of the last generation to turn a profit. NDS is currently the top selling console.

And I don't even own a gamecube.