Rick asked me to post the following on his behalf.
*****
In 2009, a year that will be interesting for all industry including ours, I see Figarti doing several things.
First of all, we will continue to improve on the sculpting and painting of our figures.
Secondly, we will make several NEW tanks and will keep the tradition of the “Figarti Way” in details and creative manufacturing.
As for airplanes, we will do the Storch and will do two different versions which I will disclose in more details before the West Coaster Show. So Figures, Armor and Planes will be in the playbook for Figarti.
But there will be some changes this year relating to our production planning. First and foremost, we will try to have product deliveries to the US every Month, in 2008, we only had 7 shipping windows and this was the cause of having delayed shipments to the US, we will improve on this. Secondly, we will put on hold the “ARTIST CLUB” program for a year so that our production capacity can open up for a NEW PROJECT which is going to be EXCITING but will only be announced in Chicago this year!
As for production numbers, we anticipate a potential drop off in the industry due to obvious economic reasons so we will go to a 120 only limited production numbers for each product line. We went up to 160 units per item in 2008 due to our successful European launch with Clive but to make sure we keep the industry healthy and NOT causing over inventory, we will go to a 120 limited runs (And we plan to individually number all products!).
As the economic impact will certainly affect everyone, it is important to keep prices in check, so in 2009, you will not see Figarti increase prices, in fact, we will do our best to try and lower costs and pass the savings to collectors. As for the subject matter focus for Figarti this year, we will continue strong in the FM30 line in WWII Europe and if you follow our recent products, you can guess we’re on our way to Rome. No secrets, and its good to see K&C also pursuing a similar time period because this way, collectors benefit from the choices to complete his/her own story, diorama or collection.
In our FM32 line, we don’t expect to see major developments into new subject matters but will continue to release add on sets to our established Pacific, Vietnam, and Modern lines. Overall, I am quite excited about 2009 and already looking forward to Chicago this year!
