2020, Chapter 8
It’s All Thunderdomes Now, Billy
Those of you who recognize the mangled reference to Pennywise are probably snickering to yourselves. And that’s a good thing. Humor, like sunlight, is a great disinfectant. And as we squint into a UV-saturated future, we need to keep things in perspective.
But the reference is also relevant. Please excuse me if I meander a bit, because this is kinda an all-purpose-do-all-cures-warts-and-farts-and-cancer kinda chapter, encompassing info about how the current crisis will change things at Schiit to ruminations about the future of the world.
Grandiose? Maybe. But hey, you can always skip the read. Plenty of stuff to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, etc, etc, ad infinitum.
For those of you who actually enjoy (or tolerate) my blather, read on…
What We Did Last Summer (or, er, This Spring)
As I mentioned in Flubared, the previous chapter, we’ve made a ton of changes around here, including opening an office/warehouse/production space in Utah and starting a whole new company.
Now, before you panic:
- We’re not moving everything to Utah.
- The new company won’t eat Schiit.
- No employees are getting screwed.
Deep breath. Relax. We’re the same company you always knew, we’re just becoming a bit more resilient. And that’s a good thing—for you, and for our employees. After all, if we hadn’t made any changes, if we’d simply sat back and closed up and waited for this to be over, you’d have no support, no service, no sales…
and we would have been eviscerated by direct-ship-from-China competitors with no restrictions on their operations.
Stop. Go back. Read that again:
if we’d rolled over, we would have been prey for direct-ship-from-China companies that had free reign.
But we didn’t. When this went down, we allowed people to work from home, and made the changes we needed to keep shipping. We also made sure everyone knew: if you need to take time off, you’re covered. Take time for yourself and your family. No questions asked. And we had some people who did so…but the majority wanted to keep at it.
And, because we did all these things, we were able to keep operating, supporting you, and paying everyone at Schiit. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through this!
We also did more:
- We set up a business entity in Utah and leased a space, in the same building as our purchasing partner who purchases, warehouses, and kits our parts. It’s a logical setup, one that allows us easy access to our kits, ability to produce, and to ship. We’re in Salt Lake City, and the address is on the site.
- We started a new company, because I’ve been playing with UV for a while (and there are two companies in our industrial center doing UV, which I was familiar with, from working with them as an ad agency for a while.)
“Oh, so you’re just all about business,” someone will say. “You don’t care about people dying, you don’t care about anything except money.”
In short, no. If I’d cared about money, I would have bought a bunch of houses a long time ago and become a passive investor. I (and Mike) care about creating cool stuff.
And we care about our employees and their families. It is in their best interests if we keep going, and everyone is working voluntarily. Some worked from home for a while. Some are taking time to take care of their kids, who are home from school. All are being taken care of. And I firmly believe that we can help them most by keeping things running, safely (hell, we’ve been social distancing/wearing masks/sanitizing before any of these steps were mandated, and we have thermometers, oximeters, and UV sterilization gear in use.) But to keep things running, it means we have to be able to stay open. Hence the Utah facility—which is additive, not a replacement, for California. Nobody is losing their jobs in California so we can staff in Utah.
So what’s gonna happen in Utah? The most likely scenario is that it will be used for production of small products, and shipping. Or it may simply end up being a warehouse. We’re still feeling our way here. We’ll see what happens.
“What about this UV thing?” someone else will ask. “What’s up with that?”
The company name is Schanitize. Yes, it uses the first three letters of Schiit. But it’s not Schiit—it’s a totally separate company. It’s not very exciting at the moment. For now, it’s just an importer, selling masks and UV-C disinfectant wands. But we were working on our measurement and (maybe) output devices, with a 100% North American supply chain, which is more interesting.
UV measurement is particularly interesting. Because, as Alex asked, “How do we know these wands are putting out, well, what they’re supposed to be putting out?”
I wanted to answer, “Well, they’re low-pressure mercury vapor bulbs, which are like, pretty much spot on 253nm,” but we were also working with LEDs. LEDs could be 265, 275, 285nm rated, but who knows, they also might be putting out a broader spectrum too. Or be off-spec. Deep UV LEDs are a relatively new thing.
Aside: primer for everyone confused about UV, nm, etc:
- If you’re looking for sterilization, you’re looking for what various talking heads have been referring to as “Deep UV,” or “UV-C.” UV-C is 200 to 280nm. Pretty much no UV-C makes it through the atmosphere, so nothing on earth has built up any resistance to it. Hence it’s good for sterilization. Low pressure mercury vapor lamps output UV-C at 253nm. LEDs are usually binned by frequency and power output, with 270-275nm being most common, but there are 265 and 280nm rated parts as well.
- UV-A and UV-B are the UV parts of sunlight that cause sunburn, sunspots, wrinkling, and premature aging, but they are not super effective at sterilization. UV-C LEDs can put out quite a bit of UV-A and UV-B.
- UV-C can be nasty. Many raw bulb mercury vapor lights produce plenty of ozone, as well as UV-C. Great for certain applications (I have used one in our pantry to kill ants and to dissuade them from coming back), but something you need to take precautions with.
But back to Alex’s question: how do you know what kind of UV-C output you’re looking at? Or if it is UV-C at all? Heck, it might be UV-A, B, and C, or hell, maybe just a purple LED, right?
I looked around for meters, and yeah, there are some companies making them, but usually you’re looking at a meter for a specific frequency band (like, just UV-C). Plus, they were pricey, clunky, and fairly antiquated.
Hmmmmmmmm….
At the same time, I knew there was a company making specific UV-A, B, and C photodiodes. This meant it would be possible to measure output of, say, three different photodiodes and see what the UV lamp was really putting out.
Aaaaannd, I knew we had an OLED display for the upcoming transport, and a microprocessor for the upcoming transport to run the display, heck we even had the tact switches and various other parts from the display board…so, with a few sensors and Dave’s code, we quickly had a tri-band UV meter up and running.
Yes, you read that right—we made a tri-band UV meter that is essentially 90% the same as a front panel OLED display board. It just has added sensors and totally different code. The microprocessor is a 200MHz, 32 bit part, so it’s insanely overpowered for this application, but it’s also super-affordable, so why not?
Here’s a photo of an early prototype with just a couple of LED sensors installed:
With a little math, we now have it reading in mW/cm2, and a non-borked prototype is coming.
So what are the results like? Not too surprising.
• Mercury vapor tubes are pretty much on-spec and all UV-C, as I expected
• LEDs in general are pretty broad-spectrum, but most of them perform as rated
• However, we’ve seen some UV-C LEDs that are really mostly UV-A, and some don’t meet their power specs, or at least not for long
That’s pretty much where we are today. We have a couple of prototypes, one known as the Schanometer (the meter), and one known as the Schwand (the LED output wand). Both are USB-powered. Both use a ton of common, or soon-to-be-common parts.
Will they make it to market? Maybe. I’m going to take the Schanometers over to the UV companies near us and see what they think. I’ll also see what they think about the LED output side (they just do tubes). And then we’ll take it from there.
“Oh hell you gonna start another company and abandon Schiit?”
Nope. But if we can do something relevant and useful that might be able to help some people out, oh boy howdy we’re gonna do that. And not just because it helps people with UV measurement and sterilization, but because it makes us more resilient. Because it keeps our people employed. Because it can help keep them safe. It’s as simple as that. Even if it’s not as fun as Schiit, it’s still pretty interesting and cool.
Aside: this is my polite way of saying, “Still would rather be doing audio, big-time!”
And I am working on audio stuffs. Lots of interesting audio stuffs. One of the benefits of “everything is a Thunderdome now” is that I’m feeling enabled to take some bigger chances with more niche or one-off stuff. These products will likely be fairly low production, and may only have a single run, but hey, it’ll let us see what you really like.
At the same time, don’t expect a flood of new products this year. We’ve pushed a bunch of stuff out, because we’ve also had to concentrate on getting Utah spooled up, UV stuff, high-value gear, etc. And that’s more important. But, if all things go well, you’ll see a couple of these new statement products this year, including the transport. And maybe one more.
Maybe.
Who knows?
Things are, ah, less certain for lots of reasons. Not necessarily bad reasons. But it’s a good segue to the next part of this chapter…
Thunderdomes All the Way Down
“So what is this you mean about “we’re all Thunderdomes now?” someone asks. “I don’t even understand the reference, plus that sounds kinda ominous.”
Well, it’s really quite simple. But let’s tell a story first:
Last year, we introduced a whole lot of new gear. Some of it was introduced under the “Thunderdome” banner, meaning, “the ones that sell well are the ones that win the Thunderdome, and continue to be produced.”
But the astute will notice that, despite losing the Thunderdome, we’re still selling Saga S and Freya S.
This is because we didn’t treat them like Thunderdome products, as in “one run and done.” Yeah, not all of us here got the message, so they got scheduled. So we got overloaded with products. And, coupled with a very very aggressive product launch schedule, we got overloaded with lots of products. Aaaaannnnnddd…all of that meant a very bad year on the bottom-line side, because we wayyyy wayyyyyy wayyyyyyyyyy overbought.
Not a huge deal, though. So we had a crap year. Not a big deal. Schiit happens. We don’t have stockholders, we don’t have investors mandating a return, we don’t owe banks any money, so we just eat it and move on.
And all indications are that this year will be fine. We’ve reined in our purchasing, we’ve reduced the number of new products on the roster, and everything is running well so far.
But…this year we have additional complications.
Even if our supply chain looks good now, what does it look like in 3 months, when the whole Flubar problem percolates through? Maybe fine. Maybe not.
Furthermore, what do sales look like, in 3 months or 6 months or 9 months or even longer, as the repercussions resonate through the economy? Again, maybe fine, maybe not.
But, the summary is: we don’t know.
Because of this, everything is a Thunderdome from now on. As in, we make one run. If it goes well, we make more. If it doesn’t, we don’t. Yes, even for products that should do well.
This is the reality. We’re now operating in uncertain times. So we’re operating just like a startup again: try some stuff, see if it works, if it does, make more of it.
Sounds basic? Most things are.
Sounds too uncertain? Nah.
I mean, it’s not like we’re gonna kill Magni (either variant) or Modi. It’s not like we’re going to let things go out of stock unless stuff really slips. It’s not like we’re going to stop operating, or doing service, or supporting you—that’s what most of the changes in the last couple of months have been about.
It’s just…well, who knows what’s coming? We’ve done everything to make sure that we can continue to support you through any future roadbumps, but if there are significant supply disruptions, who knows?
To calm you down a bit, right now everything looks good.
- Chassis are running through our same two suppliers, and are getting delivered faster than ever. There don’t seem to be any problems on the horizon as far as their supply chains look, either. No problem with metal.
- Board assembly is running through our same two suppliers, and are also running faster than ever, thanks in part to a closer partnership with our California shop (the other one is in Nevada.) Again, nothing ominous here.
- Parts are doing well too. We started making sure all of our small parts (resistors, etc) didn’t come out of China when the tariffs hit, so we were ahead of the curve there. But it seems China is shipping just fine as well. Critical parts like potentiometers and such are in deep stock, held by our purchasing partner for us in Utah. There are spot problems with capacitors and such, but we’ve managed those before.
- PC boards, argh, yeah, some specialty boards have been delayed. It is what it is. Sorry about that. That affected Bifrost 2. Hopefully those will be back in stock soon. I know we have the boards now.
- Wall-warts, yeah, that’s getting ugly with tariffs and such. Don’t be surprised if they come from Taiwan or Mexico soon. I wish we could make them in the USA, but I’m not sure that’s feasible.
But all in all, we aren’t doing bad. So, finger crossed and the outhouse don’t rise, we’ll be able to make sure we have reliable supply into the future. We’ll see. I hope.
Squinting Into the Future
As one result of all of this, we’ve been made more aware of the importance of local supply chains. It’s fairly terrifying to see how much manufacturing capability we’ve lost in the USA. And yes, I know, it’s a global economy, and there’s no putting the genie back into the bottle, but I gotta ask: do we really just want to be a consumer/service economy?
This is a serious question, and not a trap. Maybe we do. Maybe that path is the way towards the brightest future. Maybe my perspective as a manufacturer is skewed.
Hint: of course it is, because none of us are totally objective.
But, as the COVID thing sunk in, and as we responded to all the national and local ordinances so we could keep our people safe and still manage to operate, I started looking at how much stuff Schiit was buying from the US, and from other countries. Stuff like test gear and benches and soldering stations and consumables. And I started looking at how much stuff Lisa and I were buying as well.
And it was really kinda terrifying.
I mean, we’d fallen into the habit of buying cheap test gear and solder stuff, because we had to outfit so many workstations. None of it was made in the USA. Benches were fine, consumables were fine, packaging was fine, the gear itself was, of course, fine, but…holy moly.
So, one day when I was sick and tired of the crappy solder suckers we were using, having opened a brand new one only to have it break in 2 minutes, I asked Naomi, “Is it me or do these things suck?”
“Yeah,” she said, kinda sadly.
“It’s funny, I had one like this at Sumo that lasted for like 5 years,” I told her.
But at the same time, I realized: what we had only looked like the ones at Sumo. They were not the same. They were a knock-off.
So I went looking to see if they still made the real thing.
They did!
What’s more, they were still made in Van Nuys, California!
Holy crap. Yeah, they were 4x more expensive than the knockoffs, but if they lasted more than a week or two, who cared? I ordered a few to try out.
And, you know what? They were as good as I remembered. I ordered a bunch more. (Edsyn Soldapullt, if you’re interested). I also found that Edsyn made soldering, desoldering, and rework gear. We’re in the process of testing it out as I write this, and it’s looking good.
At the same time, it was time to buy new multimeters for a couple of workstations. I started looking, and eventually found out that Fluke 6.5 digit bench meters were made in the USA. Cool! So I ordered a couple of 5.5 digit versions, figuring they were the same.
Nope. Made in China.
Those went back, and we got the 6.5 digit versions.
Aside: fun fact, it looks like Fluke got the same letter that our audio friends got regarding “Made In USA” (see the chapter “Made No More.”). Their photography shows “Made in USA.” Ours says “Assembled in USA.” Yep.
Aside to the aside: apologies to anyone who thinks all of this locally-sourced stuff is hoo-hah and not very important. Remember that we’re a US manufacturer making things in the USA, so it’s important to us. It may not be important to you.
But the confusion between the Fluke meters and where they were made highlighted a bigger problem: it’s insanely difficult to find out where things are made! Holy moly, just try to find anything made in USA (or France, or Germany, your pick).
No. Go ahead,
try.
- Google shopping returns random results with no connection to the “made in” string. It’s as if they are simply ignoring it. With country-of-origin labeling required, you’d think they couldn’t just ignore it.
- Search in general returns super confusing results due to phrases like “USA company” and “Designed in USA.” I know their algorithms can tell the difference. But no.
- Amazon freely serves up anything they think they can sell, usually defaulting to stuff made in China. No attention paid to country of origin. No way to filter by country of origin. And lots and lots of stuff that Amazon themselves make, apparently using data scraped from their vendors. Woohoo. Good stuff.
And…the amount of stuff that is apparently not gettable except through a factory in China is, frankly, depressing.
I mean, it’s not like the US-made equivalent costs more…it’s just that it doesn’t exist at all.
And, if it does exist, it’s super-hard to find. Hell, finding a USA-made butter dish, shop vac, or meat injector (all three recent purchases, yeah staying at home) is a near-insurmountable task. Did you know some Shop-Vacs are still made in USA? Did you know Anchor Hocking is made in USA? Did you know the SpitJack Magnum (yeah, great argument for not letting engineers name things) is made in the USA?
And yeah, I know, maybe you don’t care. But maybe you’d rather buy something made in Germany or France or Japan or Russia, because you live there and not in the USA. Is it hard to find things made in those countries? I don’t know.
But it’s getting a little scary here.
And so, with that super-long-winded introduction, it’s time to squint into the future. And that future looks…really weird. In many ways. While I ponder the dearth of people making things in the USA, Silicon Valley is starting to wonder if we should be making things again (see Marc Andressen). Will that get any traction? Twitter announces they’re gonna do this work-from-home thing forever. What does that mean for San Francisco real estate? There are a ton of changes coming. I can’t see all of them.
But what I can see:
- There’s nearly unlimited opportunity if you can make something locally, even if it costs more than something sourced from a low-cost global location. Yes, I’m talking about new manufacturing in the USA. And maybe in Germany and France and Italy and the UK and wherever people are. But it’s clear manufacturing in the US has shrunk enough that you can make a go of it…with almost anything that isn’t made here. Start a company—for a reason—stick to your reason—and watch it grow. Expect some pain with supply chains as you get up and running. But when there’s a vacuum, there’s an opportunity. It’s like Schiit. For everything.
- People are gonna re-think the importance of where they live. Living in a tiny flat in the city is fine, as long as you have access to all the cool culture, nightlife, etc that brings you to the city (and as long as it’s safe—ish—to do so). If you’re looking at intermittent lockdowns and disease, hmm, maybe not so hot. Maybe time to do a technorural thing and work remote. Maybe. But in either case, keeping your home safe is going to be super important. UV is part of that. Touchless would be another. Maybe we should be looking at making a lot of touchless stuff.
- The internet of things/apps/smart-cloud-connected stuff may start to look less appealing. If you’re looking at outages (or worse), you may not want those touchless devices to be communicating with your phone and the cloud. You may just want something simple, touchless, and self-contained. This is particularly close to me, as it looks like my PicoBrew Zymatic may soon be a paperweight, thanks to the company going into receivership. Yes, it’s a first-world problem, but I should have gone with a less automated, less cloud-connected solution for my silly brewing hobby. So far so good with our FormLabs 3D printer, but I think that also works locally without an internet connection.
Beyond that…hmm, I don’t know. I do hope everyone gets through this current crisis, and that their families are safe and healthy, because that’s always the most important thing. But at the time of this writing, it looks like things may continue to be interesting for some time to come.
mini stack
