July Summary - refining the manufacturing process
/Process Improvements
It’s been a month now since I’ve started working full-time at Byte Arts, and while not much has changed here on the website yet, a lot has changed “behind the scenes”. While I’m not as far along as I’d hoped on a lot of things, a lot of progress has been made. The main accomplishments have been:
Refined the 3D printing process for making Strum Fix Plus 3 (SFP3) strum bars. The final results are now a lot more consistent, with very little post-processing required. The surface finish also looks better. I’ve installed upgrades on all the printers and spent a lot of time refining and tuning the slicer and printer settings.
I’m now printing a more parts using a “3d resin printer” and a resin that is very strong without being too brittle. Resin-printed parts have a smooth finish and the dimensions of the finished parts are VERY accurate (about +/- 10 microns).
Both the axles and the “hinge blocks” for the Strum Fix Plus 3 are now resin printed, insuring that the dimensions are always accurate and everything is properly aligned when assembled.I’m getting custom boxes made for packaging the strum fixes — no more cardboard tubes! This will streamline the shipping process and protect the product during shipping better.
I streamlined the entire build process so that I can make larger batches of strum fixes — I’m working to always have inventory on the shelf, ready to ship.
Implemented a customer support tracking system so when someone has an issue, I can keep track of it and get reminders when I need to do something.
Price Changes
Back in June I had thought I was going to have to raise prices — I haven’t raised prices in years despite the fact that our shipping costs continue to go up. In the past I’ve been able to refine the manufacturing process to reduce the cost and labor and so haven’t needed to raise prices.
Because the SFP3 required so much labor to build it was looking like I would have to raise prices to make up for that, but I’m happy to report that the last month of improvements to the process have drastically reduced the time and labor to build the SFP3 and so I don’t think I’ll need to raise prices very much, if at all.
I do think the days of “free shipping” will be over soon and I’ll need to separate the cost of shipping from the price of the Strum Fixes - the net price will be similar to what it is now, and may actually be a little lower than before when you buy more than 1 item since there will just be one shipping charge instead of the shipping costs being built into the item price.
More to Come
There’s still a lot to do to improve our ordering and shipping workflow, and the website is being redesigned to make it easier to order and pay. I also have several new products in the works, but the highest priority for now is to make sure the products we are shipping are as good as possible.
Take care,
Scott P
