Happy Holidays Everyone,
Great news, we’re finally getting into a groove! Both of our full time hires started last week and we were able to get 21 machines out the door! Some end up shipping a little out of order if they get caught in QC but we’re up to 91 total machines shipped which equates to order 00164. We’re currently on track for 25 this week with several people out for the holidays and next week we should be up to 30.
Staffing:
All of our new hires have started and are picking things up quite quickly. Onboarding is a difficult process when there’s still so much to figure out and optimize but we’re excited to have everyone taking ownership of their respective areas.
Hardware Updates:
All new builds have been receiving the new style of LED. We will continue doing our internal flicker testing on the next 50 machines to ensure there are no issues with these before sending out.
Now that we have a full time packaging and order fulfillment person, Kayli will be able to start sending out pre-flicker tested LEDs of the original style to any current customers who have run into issues. We’ve also got some people who ordered additional piston assemblies yet did not receive a second set of piston splash guards, and cone washers. We have not forgotten about you and will get these all out in the mail next week.
During testing of the new restrictor valve parts, we found that one of the parts was made to an old drawing that was not supposed to be used. We had these remade and sent out to us last week. Those parts just arrived today. As long as everything works as expected, we’ll start incorporating these in all of our builds and send the parts out to existing customers to install. We’ll have a YouTube video that goes over the installation process.
As a reminder, this restrictor valve is to improve the workflow of the Argos by removing the need to have the lever precisely positioned in order to air bleed the grouphead to get the maximum yield. Please check out the following video of a direct lever configuration shot pull where Ross goes over the air bleed process.We’ll work on getting an updated video specifically on the current bleeding process out this week.
YouTube - Odyssey Argos Direct Lever Pull
Also here are some of the videos we’ve shot on the Argos and we’ll continue to grow this content to ensure everyone gets the best experience out of the machine!
YouTube - Odyssey Argos | Pulling a Spring Lever Espresso Shot
YouTube - Installing the Pressure Gauge or Transducer on your Odyssey Argos
YouTube - Odyssey Espresso Argos Unboxing and Set Up
Future Planning:
Unfortunately, any early batch 2 pre-orders were estimated to ship out 6 months after ordering. Since it took us so long to hire appropriately and figure out our shop operations, Batch 2 is delayed slightly to start shipping at the end of Q1.
We’re currently working with suppliers on getting batch 2 parts ordered by the start of the new year. Typical lead times for us are 30-60 days + 30 days shipping by sea. With Chinese New Year taking up most of February, the goal is for parts to get on a boat by mid March and arrive in mid April. We’ve got extra inventory in Batch 1 which will carry us over until Batch 2 parts are received to allow a smooth transition in building and shipping with minimal to no delays.
Over the next few weeks we’ll have a better idea of our new consistent build and ship rate once all hires are up to speed which we’ll continue to optimize and improve where we can.
Founder Ross with Serial no 00076.
Working on shop organization to allow us to better protect and stack parts for optimized shelf space.
Stacked Grouphead Assemblies
Feedback:
We’ll work on getting some more formal customer reviews up on our site. The general consensus is that dialing in for the first time can be difficult while also learnign the nuances of the machine. The biggest thing that customers struggle with is the air bleeding which should be a null issue soon.
While we cannot guarantee that everyone will love using the machine, most customers have expressed positive feedback on the taste and tactile workflow being more enjoyable than an automatic machine.
Sincerely,
Ross & William