Hey all, a quick update, or Business Philosophy 574: Build Great Things and Always Have a Backup Plan
In my last update, I did the unthinkable. I said, "You know, things seem to be getting better on the emergencies and craziness side of things." And of course, like washing all your cars because the weather looks good, or like kicking Mr. Murphy in the figurative nuts, that changed everything.
About a week ago, Alex said, "Hmm, our purchasing partners say we may have...additional parts problems in 2022."
"Continuing parts problems I expect," I told him.
"No, they, ah, mean, new parts problems."
Alex's hesitancy finally sunk in. That meant something was bad. Some really important part was going to be taking a powder for a while. "So what is it?"
Alex sighed and named three things we really didn't want to lose. I'm redacting the actual parts, partially to keep anyone here from freaking out, and partially because warning was of a "this could be a problem," variety, rather than a "this is a problem" variety, and, finally, because today it doesn't look like it might be as bad as anyone thought. But that is also preliminary information, and things can change. So we'll see.
But the three things that Alex named were bad. Realllllllly bad.
But....the warning was kinda vague, and didn't tell me which of the three things were going to be most problematic. So I had a choice: I could sit back and wait for more info, or design one product that would eliminate one key shortage, and therefore preserve its use on literally a dozen other products.
Of course, I started designing the new product immediately. It couldn't hurt. But it was a decent amount of work, in the middle of other stupid things happening, like our old 3D printer breaking (right after we got the new one in, of course, but that doesn't help as much as it should, as the new one is about 1100 miles away now), and other product development follies.
Now, the design is done, and the prototype boards are sent out for production, and now we hear the shortages may not be a problem. But does it feel good to have a "Plan B?" Absolutely.
Especially when it still may be a problem.
In other news, we're finalizing the processes needed to get some consistent silver products on a more continuous basis. This is grained, anodized silver, not a spray finish. That's the good news. The bad news is that the price of silver will need to go up. I expect we'll be adjusting the pricing late this week or early next. It'll be probably a 5-10% bump, with the higher percentage being on the less expensive products. Sorry about that, and we will work on alternatives in the future.
Hopefully I'll be doing a new product chapter soon. Everything is just slow. But we'll get there!
Thanks again for your patience.
All the best,
Jason
