EAG, the good, the bad, and the ugly. | FerrariChat

EAG, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023.

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  1. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #1 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023
    Hello FerrariChat, my name is Chris Heuss. I was brought on as CEO of EAG on January 1st, 2023. I joined the EAG team with the explicit goal of identifying our issues and overcoming them. The bulk of my time was originally spent getting to know what operational systems we had (or did not have) in place. After I had a clear picture of our backend operation I began implementing changes to address our operational issues. Some of the changes were simple and some of the changes have been fairly substantial.

    EAG was missing a few components that are critical to running a business.

    1. Inventory Management - We had no organized inventory system. When a manufacturer does not have an efficient inventory management system a lot of other problems are created. Problems such as long lead times, inaccurate deadlines, and broken promises.

    2. Operational Discipline - Ordering parts, shipping parts, cleaning the shop, the day-to-day tasks that are required to run the business are put off and sometimes forgotten.

    3. Internal Communication - Our internal communication was very poor. It’s still something we are in the process of improving.

    4. Customer Communication - This is the big one. We have really messed this up. I think most of the communication issues have been caused by the issues listed above; the guys are simply overwhelmed and don't know what to say so they just don't say anything.

    To address the issues listed above EAG has made changes:
    1. I was brought on to steer the ship.

    2. We hired a full-time mechanical engineer. He has proven to be a huge asset even outside of his engineering role.

    3. EAG has employed a consultant with many years of Ferrari service experience. I have asked him to audit our customer records and inspect all vehicles in our possession. He should be done with this task within the next ~14 days. Audit and inspection records will be available to our customers.

    4. In an effort to have more control of our supply chain we are bringing approximately 90% of our manufacturing in-house. We are in the process of purchasing two HAAS VF2 CNC mills and a HAAS ST25Y lathe. These machines will greatly reduce our lead time.

    5. We have also hired two top-shelf mechanics. They are known in the automotive performance industry, and have already significantly increased our capacity. This will help with our backlog, and will reduce lead times.

    6. EAG now has an inventory management system that is robust and accurate. We have spent months building out a system that will help us maintain the inventory levels needed to satisfy our customers' needs.

    7. We have temporarily paused all R&D projects unless it is something that is needed to complete customers' cars.

    8. Our internal communications are being addressed by having clearly defined roles for our team members. This is still a difficult task because, at this phase of our business, we all have to do multiple job functions.

    9. Most importantly, I feel obligated to personally resolve the ongoing communication issues our current customers are experiencing. A handful of the people reading this will have already spoken with me at length about the topics I have discussed here. I am in the process of reaching out to all EAG customers. If you are having communication issues with EAG that need to be addressed immediately please message or email me so we can arrange a phone call. My email is [email protected] I will reply to everyone as quickly as possible.
     
    Cordero, ewright, Caphill and 14 others like this.
  2. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    #2 ttforcefed, Apr 6, 2023
    nice to meet you Chris. Glad to see this happen!
     
    Cordero and Natkingcolebasket69 like this.
  3. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #3 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023
    Thanks sir. Nice to meet you as well.
     
  4. imahorse

    imahorse F1 Rookie
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    #4 imahorse, Apr 6, 2023
    You may also want to push to add no more fake profiles with EAG employees trying to silence anybody questioning anything about their kits. I've ran into it on here and on social media. Belittling anybody with the audacity to have a different opinion is probably not the best image or business strategy.
     
    rampante550, RoyalGramma, RedNeck and 4 others like this.
  5. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #5 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023

    Thanks for the feedback. Creating fake accounts and belittling customers is a horrible practice that only makes the situation worse. The team is very well aware that I am the only one from EAG that should be replying in this forum.
     
    Cordero, rampante550, RoyalGramma and 4 others like this.
  6. imahorse

    imahorse F1 Rookie
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    #6 imahorse, Apr 6, 2023
    Glad to hear, because these practices and outright lies are ridiculous to everyone involved in swaps. I look forward to finding ways to spend the 1.485 million I saved. I hope you are able to genuinely turn over a new page where EAG benefits the community instead of antagonizes it. Best of luck. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    TheNewEAG likes this.
  7. craze

    craze Formula 3

    Mar 5, 2021
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    #7 craze, Apr 6, 2023
    I sincerely hope you reach out to all your clients immediately and set some realistic time frames and stick to them
     
    RoyalGramma, TheNewEAG, Natkingcolebasket69 and 1 other person like this.
  8. PPW

    PPW Karting

    Oct 4, 2019
    128
    #8 PPW, Apr 6, 2023
    This was so prevalent that Ferrari chat banned half a dozen of your guys who from the benign promoting the company without paying sponsorship to making fun of my car for not being as nice as they thought it should be.

    This is a nice try to burry the garbage that art has created but it won’t work.

    I have a lovely phone call with Art where when he was holding my car due to a shift gate plate, he found out he was on the phone with someone that owns a lighting manufacture with 120 employees that has everything to 5 axis cnc machines. He told Art that if he sent him the specs, he would make one and overnight it to him the next day. Further, he offered to solve his problem there by doing a run of 20 at cost (couple hundred bucks if I recall).

    Art and his people refused and claimed IP on the scan of the part!!!!!

    This fool claimed he owned IP on a scan of a Ferrari part

    The call ended with him screaming F-you, come get your car, etc. which I said I happily would and just have the plate made myself. He said if I did then there would be no warranty whatsoever.

    It became evident that he was out of money and had no ability to finish/return my car until more money came in. I was very lucky to get it in one piece. The content of the phone call was truly unbelievable. To this day, I can’t believe he is still in business, both because I think he is so upside down financially he doesn’t know which way is up but also because of who he is as a person.

    Nice try changing the subject/discussion of dozens and dozens of people who have voiced the exact same problem.
     
    JJCTHE1, Gaius, Cordero and 11 others like this.
  9. rotaryrocket7

    rotaryrocket7 Formula Junior

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    #9 rotaryrocket7, Apr 6, 2023
    While I haven’t been a customer, I am encouraged by you getting on here, acknowledging the past issues and committing to correcting them. That’s good leadership for a brand.
    I’m sure some of those presviously impacted will take more time and proof to come around, but if you’re true to your word it’ll happen.
    Thanks for being upfront and I hope in time you’ve built your brand into something that’s revered. It’s a great idea and product to offer the conversion, and a service to the overall community.
     
    AD211, EnzoItaly, TheNewEAG and 1 other person like this.
  10. FerrfanFL

    FerrfanFL Formula 3
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    #10 FerrfanFL, Apr 6, 2023
    You know, this is how it should be done. Clean slate. Clean up issues. New, fresh set of eyes. Transparent. Kudos to you. I got a factory gated car, but read ALL the posts regarding conversions. I would have done it EXACTLY as you did. Honest first post, address issues, instill confidence, move on. I think you're doing a great service that many owners want/need/demand and make it work for all....God bless...
     
    ewright, rampante550, AHudson and 6 others like this.
  11. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    #11 ttforcefed, Apr 6, 2023
    @Zanfi should also have an update for us in the next few days...
     
    Zanfi and Natkingcolebasket69 like this.
  12. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #12 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023
    We are working on doing exactly that.
     
  13. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #13 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023
    Thanks a lot for the kind words. As we make progress I will update this thread.
     
    technom3 likes this.
  14. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #14 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023
    EAG's reputation will certainly take a lot of hard work over a long period of time to recover. Thank you for the encouragement and compliments.
     
    rampante550 likes this.
  15. TheNewEAG

    TheNewEAG Rookie
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    #15 TheNewEAG, Apr 6, 2023

    Honestly I am not trying to change the subject. I am actually putting a spotlight on it. I am publicly telling everyone that I want to hear about their bad experiences. I personally understand the value of a good forum and have been advocating to join since I started. I will not make any excuses for Art's behavior.
     
    ewright, rampante550, technom3 and 3 others like this.
  16. Steve Heck

    Steve Heck Formula Junior

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    #16 Steve Heck, Apr 7, 2023
    The 1st step to improvement is accepting and admitting fault ... EAG I commend your transparency, well done
    Cheers
    Steve
     
    rampante550, NYC Fred and technom3 like this.
  17. PAUL500

    PAUL500 F1 Rookie

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    #17 PAUL500, Apr 7, 2023
    As an outsider looking in.

    Fantastic set of products, with a willing market that is readily prepared to pay significant sums of money.

    Lousy customer service and terrible communication over an extensive period of time so far.

    Two many cooks, and way too many people shilling trying to justify the latter, with one notable one on the other thread who is also now on here. Ask them to stop getting involved so you can do your thing.

    Make yourself the sole point of customer contact from now on, halt all you tuber vids by third parties as this muddies the waters, and steer the ship back on course.

    Good luck with it all
     
    Boomhauer, DOWORKFCAR, TheNewEAG and 2 others like this.
  18. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #18 Texas Forever, Apr 7, 2023
    This is the way to dig out of a hole.
     
    carguyjohn350, Doug., rampante550 and 2 others like this.
  19. RedNeck

    RedNeck F1 World Champ
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    #19 RedNeck, Apr 7, 2023
    @TheNewEAG you've got quite the job on your hands and I wish you luck. The company started off pretty rocky trying to sell their first conversion, without mentioning that it was a conversion. From then on, there seemed to be 2 schools of thought- 1 that loved what they were doing and loved the company and then 1 that loved what they were doing and hated the company. It's going to be an uphill battle on the seconds group. I'll be interested to see the progress.
     
    TheNewEAG and Texas Forever like this.
  20. chekraze

    chekraze Rookie

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    #20 chekraze, Apr 7, 2023
    Am in the market. Chris what is your previous experience prior to working with EAG?
     
    TheNewEAG and 19633500GT like this.
  21. 19633500GT

    19633500GT F1 World Champ
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    #21 19633500GT, Apr 7, 2023
    Super relevant question and one answer I am surprised was not within the original first post.
    That should tell a bit about trajectory.
     
    TheNewEAG likes this.
  22. MacNugget

    MacNugget Formula Junior
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    #22 MacNugget, Apr 7, 2023
    GatorFL and PPW like this.
  23. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #23 Rifledriver, Apr 7, 2023
    Is it just me or does this link go to a blank page?
     
  24. willrace

    willrace Three Time F1 World Champ
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    #24 willrace, Apr 7, 2023
    Goes to a "Join Linkedin" page.
    Ummmmmmm........... no.
     
  25. MacNugget

    MacNugget Formula Junior
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    #25 MacNugget, Apr 7, 2023
    For those that are logged in to LinkedIn, you'll see this profile.

    Image Unavailable, Please Login

    I don't mean to suggest that everyone should be expected to have a presence on LinkedIn, the importance of that site varies a lot from industry to industry. But for an executive role in this particular industry, I find it surprising that there is a profile current enough to include EAG but it is otherwise completely empty.
     
    GatorFL and TheNewEAG like this.
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