ZTC Ceased Trading

"Philip" wrote

There's nothing really novel about this if you think about it. All it is effectively, is a knob with a lever embedded, and a similar (not identical) design were used in the 1970s/1980s by Codar on their conventional analogue controllers. Codar used the expressions 'throttle' & 'brake' from memory - I have one of their excellent controllers from that era in use on my shop test track.

I therefore wonder whether there would be any copyright protection in force for the ZTC design.

John.

Get your point copyleft was an expression one of the GNU founders used to describe the GPL license copyright conditions.

Quite right about it being farcical the last decision I saw was in support of GPL.

So who do you think is next then John? :o)

(kim)

"kim" wrote

I have my thoughts, but I would have thought there was enough speculation in the professional media to help our economy finally self-destruct without me helping things along.

All I'm willing to say is I'm glad my business isn't reliant on the banks for its future. I'd hate to owe any bank anything at the present time.

John.

I meant in the model railway business John. You must have your suspicions about certain suppliers?

(kim)

"kim" wrote

I knew what you meant Kim, and I responded accordingly.

John.

Kim,

I don't think you can expect anyone to suggest that a specific company is in difficulties. By doing that, if that company had some difficulties, then the publicising of them would probably exacerbate the problem and make matters much worse. In difficult times, lots of companies do have problems but it is possible to weather the storm in a lot of cases if people keep their heads and take appropriate actions to limit their exposure. But speculation can scupper that.

Jim.

Thats all very well, but some companies seem to try to carry on for a bit too long. Thinking especially of those that went on holiday the day before big holiday company crashed. Some people may well have known there was a strong possibility those on holiday may lose their pre-payment for hotel as well as the flight home. Seems irresponsible.

Cheers, Simon

Simon,

In a lot of cases, the decision to stop a company trading is not taken by the management, but usually by whoever is financing them and who has decided that enough is enough. The first the management might know is when a receiver walks through the door and takes charge. And if you expect the grey suits in the financial world to care about the average punter, then think again.

Jim.

Very true, but the top man at the holiday company gave the impression he cared. Time for a regulation that says you must be sure of a reasonable chance of being able to fully deliver a service before you offer it. know it would be rarely invoked but if it was a few times it may benefit the punter. But dont tell me i should pay by credit card, it shouldnt depend on knowing that. Anyway still havent got round to activating it after many months....

cheers, Simon

There already is plenty of legislation on that, Sale of Goods Act, Company law etc, but it's virtually impossible to know when the letter from the bank demanding repayment of loans/overdraft may come. These are almost always triggered automatically by the bank with no prior notification at all. I had this when a Director walked out, despite never being overdrawn and never missing a loan payment (we got through it, but I'll never, ever, trust a bank "business advisor" again). There are many other factors too - you can be dragged down by a fraudulent credit card payment *months* after it's apparently gone through - the bank just take the money, no warning, no notice, no offer of help. You can suddenly find your rent doubled, your rates re-assessed, a VAT error, a disgruntled employee can take etc etc.

The one single action that would make things very much easier is if the banks were made to give notice of such things, allowing companies to deal with a problem before it becomes a crisis. But that ain't going to happen

- anyone thinking the bank is on their side and there to help is seriously deluded.

Just trying to show the other side of what happens when things don't go well.

As for ZTC ceasing trading, they have my deepest sympathy. Loosing your business is as bad, if not worse, that losing a family member - and you get sod all support from anyone when it happens (hence the high suicide rate).

Cheers Richard

On 07/10/2008 09:01, beamends said,

As I've said before, I've seen nothing to suggest that ZTC Controls actually went bust. Working in the electronics manufacturing industry myself, I know of three companies that just decided to call it a day, two of which sound like a similar position to ZTC Controls - declining sales making the profit/effort ratio not worth the hassle (so pull it before it becomes a financial hassle). My gut feeling is that Dave Nicholson is an astute enough businessman to know when to call it a day. AFAIK, his manufacturing business is still a local competitor!

"simon" wrote

Indeed, but to be involved in business in any way one needs to have oodles of confidence, and even when things go pear-shaped or there's a sudden downturn in business there is inevitably the feeling that you can trade your way out of those difficulties.

As an example I think it's fair to say that this has been our toughest trading year since we opened in 1987. June and July in particular were pretty poor, BUT we recorded our best EVER August figures. Fortunately we have the resources to trade our way through this recession (depression might be closer to the mark) but there may well be others in this hobby that will really struggle, and they may not all be on the retail side of the fence.

As I said earlier I wouldn't want to be in debt to any of the banks at present. They are unlikely to be willing to carry any manufacturer or retailer which appears to be struggling, or which has heavy borrowings. I can see the banks calling in loans (whilst there is still some meat left on the carcass) if the going starts to get tough for any organisation .

John.

As I understand it, David finally retired and sold the business to his son, who was responsible for the new policy of only selling through the trade.

MBQ

If that is what he has done he hasn't handled it at all well - everyone's not unsurprisingly assumed the worst!

Cheers Richard

You may have misunderstood. I meant it's his son who took over a while ago (sometime before the new sales policy) and has decided to close down the DCC operation, not that David made a bad job of the transition.

MBQ

Ah right - I'd did get the wrong end of the stick!

Cheers Richard

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com said the following on 08/10/2008 15:31:

OK - I misunderstood you as well!

"We regret to inform you that ZTC Controls Limited ceased sales, support and servicing of its series of DCC train control products on 30th September 2008."

He has handled it very badly IMO, you don't just withdraw support for a product unless you closedown or get taken over, I've know of companies that stopped manufacturing years before ceasing any support. I suspect that he is saving up troubles in the future, people will remember how he (appears to have) 'dumped' on past/recent customers.