"What were they doing?"
as far as i can tell, they were a silk manufacturer...from eggs to cocoon and then, i suppose, to yarn...but i imagine they were using low quality eggs from China...
he must have been approached and shown our eggs, cocoon and silk and given a rundown on the process...as i recall, the guy has been in business for quite some time so he would know if what he was looking at was quality stuff...maybe he was even allowed to conduct some preliminary tests...
at any rate, he apparently liked what he saw enough to stop the production of mundane silk..and cbob is correct that he would have had to pretty much sanitize everything before proceeding forward with our eggs...
i have no doubt, we made all this worth his while...he then proceeded to conduct a pilot production of DS...started somewhat small and worked up to significant production quantity...the quality and results had to be something we liked as we offered him a, i believe, 5 yr contract...and he must have been pleased with the results as well since he signed the contract...
this guy signed the contract stating he could produce up to 200 tons per year...i doubt he would say that if he felt there were any production issues...
im still buying here and there...and im going on the assumption that there are no production issues...the info we have says so...when you have a disinterested 3rd party like the contractor who can walk away but instead signs up to get on board the DS train, that tells me a lot...
if there are any issues delaying the launch, they would have to be on the other end of things...distribution, transportation, delivery, accounting, marketing etc....there can be glitches and thats ok...as long as the product is solid...and i dont see any reason why it wouldnt be...
i have been a doubter for many years...always liked the science and product, but not much else....i could be wrong and i have my reservations, but im pretty much all in...i think we are very very close...i think even if the whole thing bombs, it will at least get to .20 before it does....but if it hits, the reward could be phenomenal...
but what do i know?...i got to get some sleep...got an early shift tomorrow...those burgers wont cook themselves...