UKH

Really?

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en_GB/recalls.html

Ascenders, cams and via ferrata. Haven't read the details but.. wow!

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

the rivits again and wrong stitches...

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

They should have kept their manufacturing in China...

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Just saw that! They're not having a good run are they?

In reply to TobyA:


Not really.

Is this going to be terminal?

This unprecedented level of recalls may be difficult to recover from.

In reply to Ghastly Rubberfeet:

It's not going to be terminal as it's not the financial core of their business anymore and hadn't been for years. Mind you, their shares are taking a heavy beating...

In reply to Ghastly Rubberfeet:

Of course not. 3 sets of Camalots are the staple of any American climber. Most of which don't trust dmm or the others

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Again, poor manufacturing procedures and lousy quality control. It would be interesting to know whats gone on behind the scenes that led to it. Cost cutting, lack of training, change of manufacturing site or contractor, losing key staff ? I work in a business where that sort of thing happening in your manufacturing site gets you shut down until you've shown you have addressed the issues.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

That makes for worrying and painful reading. Not good times for black diamond at all.

In reply to beardy mike:


Can you buy shares in just BD? I thought they were owned by a bigger conglomerate or venture capital fund or some such? Anyway, can we be sure drop in share value is from these recalls?

In reply to Otis:

"In a very small number of via ferrata lanyards, the security stitching (three orange bar tacks that attach the carabiners to the lanyards) may not be present, which would result in immediate failure of the lanyard under body weight."

"In some Index Ascenders, the rivet attaching the toothed cam to the ascender body may not be properly finished. This could cause the cam to become detached, allowing the ascender to disconnect from the rope. There is also the potential that the rivet attaching the plastic safety catch to the cam may not be properly finished, increasing the likelihood that the ascender could become detached from the rope."

"In a very small percentage of Camalot™ and Camalot™ Ultralights, the axles connecting the cam lobes to the stem may not be properly riveted. This could cause the device’s strength to be compromised, and it could possibly come apart during use."

The scope of these failures is enormous! This just looks more and more like mass incompetence at the manufacturing end. Surely Black Diamond have a lot of explaining to do - primarily how things got this bad, and why anyone should trust them in the future?

In reply to TobyA:


Lowest price in 13 years... sure looks like it!

http://oi63.tinypic.com/1ox552.jpg

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
American rubbish.

In reply to Dave:

It would be interesting to know whats gone on behind the scenes that led to it. Cost cutting, lack of training, change of manufacturing site or contractor, losing key staff?

They moved manufacture from China to USA in August 2015.

In reply to FactorXXX:


As the recalls are for items manufactured both before and after that date it would seem irrelevant. It looks more to be a problem with procedures and checking wherever the items are manufactured.

In reply to BigBrother:

Don't worry guys and gals, it's all 3 sigma rated so it MUST be fine... some of the tightest quality control there is right?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Its a good opportunity for Ukclimbing.com to do an article looking into why there are so many recalls in the last few years from lots of different companies.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

It just gives the impression that BD just found out that there entire safety checking/QA department was on crack for the last 3 years, and now they have no faith in their own product quality...

In reply to andrewmcleod:

Company wide quality audit innit...