How Order Times, Turn Around Times, Order of Manufacture and Shipping Order Are Calculated
Most items that HBA manufactures are "made to order" and can vary in turn around times. Nearly all items have a maxim turn around time listed on the descriptions page for each specific item. These times are based off of weather the item is CNC or manually machined as well as if the item is done in batches, some items are only cost effective when made in "mini runs/batches" otherwise it would drive the end product price up by manufacturing them all as "one off" products.
Generally the minim turn around time (from receipt of payment) is 2 weeks and as long as the listed delivery time for any particular product. The minim 2 week time frame allows for payment to be received, processed and for us to order and receive any required materials for product production.
At the time funds are received the order is placed in a build queue - this is the order it will be manufactured (again, according to receipt of funds and not necessarily the ranking that the order was placed by the customer online) this is done before the material is received to shorten the overall turn around time as they continue to move "up" in the queue even before the material is actually on hand.
Once the material is on hand and the order rises to the top slot it will begin manufacture. Once the order is completed it will transfer to shipping and generally ships 24 to 48 hours after it is completed. Once a order is posted and delivered to the USPO the US Post Office will (or should) send a email to the email address that was listed at the time the order was placed. We have found this email usually takes 12-36 hours to be received and as such the orders are generally already out of our physical position by the time the customer receives the shipping notification.
Once the package is delivered to the carrier it is beyond our control or means to alter the shipment or delivery date.
OVER-RUN ITEMS and "Holds"
On occasion we may have "extra" items left over from a run of a given product. These "extra's" are referred to as over-runs and they are made to replace any that may be deemed as blemished or otherwise not up to quality control standards from a given product run. In the event that none from the run are replaced with the over-run(s) then the over-runs are placed on the shelf and "in stock". They are then used to fill orders in the order that orders/funds are received. We can not and will not place "holds" on these items (or, generally speaking, any other HBA items).
We did try this approach (allowing "holds") at one point however it was found to be ineffective and only complicated the order/tracking and processing to the point that it was not only chaos in the office it caused considerable issues in the machine shop with knowing what orders were filled, what orders needed to be filled and just what products had been made and still needed to be made. Additionally we did experience a sharp increase in orders that asked for "holds" ending up as non paid orders, this resulted in wasted shop time (making products in addition to products that had been paid for) but also increased business overheads (Labor, material and tooling cost increases) and costs that had to be passed on to the paying customers.
It is for these reasons that we will not and can not offer to place "holds" on items. Any and all items that are left as over runs will be shipped to the next order received for that item, to that event we ask that all customers expect and anticipate that a item is going to take UP TO the time stated in the product descriptions. If HBA is able to fill the order in the matter of a day or two (via the use of a run-over item) then it nothing more than a "Fast turn around" and a pleasant surprise for the customer.