August Summary

Hard to believe that August is over and summer is nearing an end. The last few weeks have gone by fast, and while not much has changed here on the website, I’ve continued to work behind the scenes to improve our quality and reliability, and also improve our ordering, manufacturing and shipping workflow.

It took much longer than expected to get set up, but we finally have a workshop where all the 3D printers and other machines live. It’s so nice to have a space dedicated for printers separate from everything else so we don’t have to deal with the noise and fumes from the printing.

We’ve recently installed solar panels too so now all the 3D printers are running on “sun power”!

We’re also now getting custom boxes for shipping — every Strum Fix Plus now has it’s own little box to keep it cozy and safe during shipping. The boxes are made from recycled and sustainable materials.

The biggest change has been to our workflow and we’re now building parts “to inventory” instead of building “to order”, meaning that we should now always have parts on the shelf, ready to ship, so that we can avoid part shortages in the future.

Getting parts is sometimes still a challenge, and everything always seems to take longer to ship than expected, but I’m getting better at tracking inventory and keeping things in stock.

An unexpected consequence of the record hot summer we’ve all been having is that we’ve had a few parts get warped from the heat during shipping. Some of the parts for the Strum Fixes are printed in PLA plastic which can get soft and warp if exposed to high temperatures (such as inside a delivery vehicle in the sun) for too long. As a result we are making the transition to PETG plastic which can withstand high temperatures better, but it does require some changes to the printing process that are ongoing.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support we’ve received, and feel so lucky to have such great customers!!!

Warm regards,
Scott P (owner, Byte Arts)