Hello All,
Shipping Updates
We’re currently up to 31 units shipped! I was out last week which meant no machines shipped but progress was still made with QC. I’ve got 7 more machines on the bench being tested this morning.
CE Cert
The certification lab has finally finished verifying that all of our parts are in compliance with RoHS and REACH material requirements which is necessary to achieve CE certification. We’ve received the final documentation and will now start shipping internationally. This is a huge milestone that took 6 months to complete and we’re glad it’s out of the way!
Patent
Our utility patent US20230284817A1 has reached the next stage of the process as a published application in the USPTO database. It can take anywhere from 6 months to over a year to be reviewed before being granted.
Part Updates
Our new steam valve needles have arrived and we’ve been installing them on all units immediately before shipping. Any previously shipped units will be receiving them free of charge and we’ll have video instructions on how to swap the parts correctly.
Staffing
We’re taking a new approach with staffing. I’ve come to realize that I was expecting too much out of my 2 assembly technicians, expecting them to keep up with minor design or assembly changes on machines as well as the many sub assemblies and QC requirements all while I move things around to organize the shop. Ridiculous, I know! Instead, I’ve brought on 2 new part time people.
One is dedicated only to bonding parts including magnets into side panels, plates, and drip trays, as well as all of the wood parts onto metal. This allows us to really dial in our bonding best practices to ensure no steps are skipped or forgotten as it’s their only focus.
The second role is focused on sub assemblies. I’ve found it’s difficult for my machine assembly technicians to keep track of our slight changes in sub assembly parts and maintain the attention to detail required on these smaller builds when they’re not done every week. By having someone dedicated to sub assemblies, I can guarantee higher quality while also improving efficiency.
While these roles do not directly improve the QC bottleneck, they play important roles in addressing some of the issues that lead to the slow QC process. Since QC is the current time consuming task, I have hired someone dedicated to helping me with this role. In all actuality, the QC process itself is not difficult or time consuming. What slows us down is the fact that we have many already built machines that need to be partially disassembled to incorporate the latest updates as well as perform small finishing touches before packaging, such as bonding on serial plaques and temperature dials. I’m still working out methods to appropriately incorporate these steps earlier in the process but that doesn’t help the current backlog of built up machines. Having an additional person help perform these tasks should speed things up.
Air Bleed Valve Improvement
The new addition to our team in the QC department will also be able to leverage their technical background to help with prototyping and testing the new Piston air bleed design improvements. Myself, along with 1 other customer have been testing a restrictor orifice in the inlet tube combined with a modified bleed valve for improved flow. This works great for the first 2 shots, then has trouble sealing with the lower mass flow at reduced boiler pressure. To overcome this, we’re working on a variable flow restrictor that will change with boiler pressure to maintain a near equal flow rates across all boiler pressures.
Loving this White and Walnut!
Stacked minibar!
Sincerely,
Ross & William