I think this is a big mistake on Nintendo behalf, they should imediately increase produsction of the Wii to sell more, simple as that.

To quote myself: That was really deep-sighteed...

Ok, I know it's been stated over and over again here, even with pictures, but there is no "increase production" button.

I have some experience of industrial production in a vastly smaller scale, and even there the lead times are prohibitive. For example, let's consider some of the things it actually takes to manufacture a Wii:

-plastic casing, which is probably pressure cast and requires molds. You know, you can only produce so much casts with a set of molds. Now, the lead times for new aluminium molds (which I have experience of) are anything from 40 days to half a year. Before you can start production, you need test casts and there almost always are things that need to be revised, so even a simple thing like a plastic casing can easily have a lead time of 3 months before you can actually start mass production.

-circuit boards have far shorter lead times, as they require relatively little tooling work. Still, to start mass producing them takes weeks even if you're extremely lucky. And there can be unforeseen problems with the component suppliers which can cause delays. For example, I know for a fact that the EU legislation concerning hazardous materials has caused electronic component suppliers a lot of headache as they have had to change manufacturing methods and materials to ones that are often less suitable for the components, resulting in reduced quality and problems in the finished products.

-manufacturing capacity and contracts, and this is one of the biggies. I don't know who manufactures Wiis, but mass production of that scale is not something you can do everywhere. There are a couple of companies specialized in contract manufacturing, and most of their capacity is used by the cell phone companies. The manufacturing negotiations and contracts are not a walk in the park, and asking for quotations is a process that takes probably monts as the contract manufacturers live by a measly 2-3% margin so they really need to make sure they get their price right or they'll lose money. And nobody wants to lose money. To get from asking quotations to negotiating a contract requires a lot of work, meetings and all that, and takes easily a few months even if you're pressing it. And only after a contract can you start ordering molds and toolings, unless Nintendo themselves own the molds which I highly doubt.

-yet another things is that forecasting demand is always something you want to do conservatively, but not overly so. However, given the current sellout situation of Wii, it's hardly fair to blame Nintendo for not upping their production enough. Sure, they have a lot of liquid assets now, but that is entirely thanks to their success in running the company. In a sellout situation there is no reliable way to measure demand, and, given that, upping production from 1,2 million to 1,8 million per month, a 50% increase, is actually incredibly ballsy. Not to mention that they have upped production already before that.

So, to outline what I think of these cries of "N needs to produce more" is that the people crying have absolutely no idea how contracted mass production actually works. Neither do I, but at least I know more than them. I admit that there are ways to cut some corners, but the bottom line is that it still takes months to start new production, and then it takes time for that lot to arrive in the stores. And along that route there are literally thousands and thousand of things that can go wrong and halt the entire process.

^very nice analysis - hope this quiets the ppl criticizing Ninty for being so conservative with Wii production

 One can always hope, though I wouldn't bet my money on it.

Can i join the group too ?

There will always be somebody crying for Big N not making enough Wii's.

It will stop when we meet demand (when, that i don't know)

Statements like these crack me up. The Wii is harder to make than the PS3 or 360?????!!!!!! for starters, the 360 has a customized IBM PowerPC based triple-core processor and a modified top-of-the-line ATI graphics card; also thrown in is 512MB of premium quality GDDR3 video RAM and a few other toys that make the console one of the most formidable media centers on the planet. In other words: way harder to make than the Wii's glorified PS2 processor and GPU. And don't even mention the PS3's IBM Cell Broadband Engine with an ultra-cutting-edge PPU and 8 (count 'em) SPEs and it's built-from-the-ground-up-for-the-PS3 NVIDIA RSX "Reality Synthesisor" GPU; also included is 256MB of GDDR3 RAM and 256MB of experimental XDR main RAM that runs at an insane 3.2GHz. I could also mention the PS3's formidable media center capabilities that put it in the top two (with the 360) most comprehensive and versatile media center computing equipment EVER. (also, don't forget about the PS3's BD profile 1.1 Blu-ray Disc player and it's 1080p DVD upscaler and its full-function Internet browser). And to top this all off, the Sixaxis and DS3 have the same motion sensor as the Wii except for the pointer capability. So yeah, the reason Nintendo is not producing more Wiis is DEFINATELY (as in NO QUESTION about it) not because of the difficulty of building it. Heck, the Xbox probably could have done all the things the Wii can (if M$ had included a motion sensor) and it was launched almost 7 years ago.

@Plaupius

Agreed. I've got to commend Big N for getting 20 mil out last year.

It's actually really difficult to assess the difficult of constructing a product. The complexity of the parts of the product does not necessarily effect the complexity of the final assembly, which is what generally is considered when people say Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo manufacture products. However, highwaystar101's claim is quite far from truth as motion sensing is in now way new technology. The accelometers (and gyrochips) have been around for years already, and it's not like they make the product any more complex to build than bluetooth radio connection. Then again, he did say he doesn't know for sure, so there's no need to fall on him like a ton of bricks.

Although PS3 and XBOX360 have way more advanced processors and memory chips, it is not to say that those things make the products more complex to manufacture. Sure, the processors and other chips and memory are incredibly complex products and require insanely high level of technology to manufacture. But at the same time, that manufacturing process is almost 100% automated and I would be reluctant to say that for example the CELL manufacturing process should be counted as part of the PS3 manufacturing process. If you go that route, then you have to go down all the way, and you'll end up with everything in the world being nearly impossibly complex to manufacture. I would argue that the complexity of the manufacturing of a product is determined by the number of parts assembled, and the size of the product and parts, smaller being more complex.