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Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

simonberens.com

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Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#281

Post by ebonnafoux »

jasonkester wrote: post #226
ggm wrote: post #132

This is the second article about hardware supply from China I've read and it reads very much the same, albiet in a different niche (the other one was about SBC construction) -Anything you don't specify will be done least cost, and there is no amount of "least" which cannot be chased in manufacture. The other one noted if you don't specify the density of plastic for bags, or paper for bags and packing, you get clingfi…

That's the thing that drives me nuts about buying stuff manufactured in China. They'll make this amazing Remote Control Car, with good suspension, a battery that lasts half an hour, plenty of power, and just all around amazing. But then it'll break after a day because somebody saved 1/20th of a penny by speccing this impossibly thin wire the thickness of a human hair to hook that powerful battery to the powerful moto…

China is a 1.4 billion people country, more than US + Europe, so it is expected that there is a wild gap between high end product and low cost there.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#283

Post by morbusfonticuli »

This reminded of the YouTube guy of "Smarter Every Day" who tried to manufacture a a grill brush completely in USA and still be competitive in the marketplace (i.e. China) [0].

It turned out that USA / "the west" lost the engineering knowledge to manufacture "stuff" (in this case injection molding and other procedures): Nowadays, we simply create the plans and schematics (e.g. CAD files) and let the Chinese do the building.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZTGwcHQfLY

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#284

Post by n4r9 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #242
Maxion wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone living in the Nordics my experience already with central Europeans and especially so Americans is that these cultures are already much more high context than the Nordics. I guess up here we're all borderline autistic?

I am entirely convinced that the entire country of Germany suffers from Asperger's. Denmark is a bit better, maybe because they drink more ? Dunno.

As someone who's visited both countries a few times, Germany is more of a drinking culture. Wikipedia agrees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_c...

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#285

Post by accidentallfact »

Nition wrote: post #88
eek2121 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a fun random fact from me: We do need more lumens. Not for normal (non-production) indoor lighting in most situations, however, I always want a bright light for my outside lights, and I find that most 100w-equivalent (1500 lumens) are just not quite enough. 2,000 lumens is almost there, however, 2,500 lumens would be beneficial. Both 2,000 and 2,500 lumen bulbs either don't last in temperature extremes, or are s…

Have you seen the Philips TrueForce Core 40W LED bulbs? Not sure if they're sold in the US, but they're 4000 lumens, "last up to 15,000 hours" (whatever you make of that phrasing). They're quite huge but fit into a normal light socket. Not very expensive either.

It's a literal streetlight. It has the bigger E40 screw, not the standard E27 screw. It has an awful spectrum, it's basically blue + yellow, with a massive gap inbetween.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#286

Post by aemerson_ »

Well done on shipping. Reading this gave me PTSD of shipping our first hardware product at a similar scale. It was a tough experience but you'll have learned a huge amount and be much better equipped for the second time (if you choose to keep going). I found the biggest takeaway is planning for things to go wrong in advance and building enough slack into the process so that you can accommodate some setbacks.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#287

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

ggm wrote: post #132

This is the second article about hardware supply from China I've read and it reads very much the same, albiet in a different niche (the other one was about SBC construction) -Anything you don't specify will be done least cost, and there is no amount of "least" which cannot be chased in manufacture. The other one noted if you don't specify the density of plastic for bags, or paper for bags and packing, you get clingfi…

A lot of it comes down to differences between “ask” cultures and “guess” cultures, where if something is unknown we in the west may expect the person to ask for clarification, where as other cultures prefer to just guess, because doing _something_, even if it’s incorrect, is seen as better than not doing.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#288

Post by bartlettD »

lylejantzi3rd wrote: post #275
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #208

I would not advise jumping to mass production for your first deliveries, i think your story would have had less stress and more lower risk of failure of the first n (maybe 10?) units was bespoke, made lovingly by hand in a machine shop somewhere. I don’t think this is unusual advice, it matches the ethos of the lean startup, and pg’s “do things that don’t scale”. We made our first hardware by hand, i believe we did 1…

The product in question has a cast part. How do you do that in low quantity by yourself? Sand casting?

I'd CNC machine that part, which is much more expensive in-quantity than the casting option but for a handful of prototypes gets you there quickly.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#289

Post by rxt_ian »

XRG wrote: post #278
rxt_ian wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really curious how they handled certification of a design that was changing apaprently up to the minute it was delivered...

My first guess was that they used an external brick for the power supply with a relatively low output voltage--that would eliminate a lot of the CE test load. However, a cursory glance at the product photos suggests the power supply sits within the base of the lamp. Maybe the product developer can shed some more light on this. ;-)

That would certainly make certification easier, but as I suspect you understand, wouldnt achieve it alone.

Even if every component was CE qualified, the combination would have to pass its own testing, plus there are a lot more to the standards than just not electrocuting you immediately upon contact.

I can't see any of the energy efficiency labelling that would be required in the UK or EU for example...

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#290

Post by rxt_ian »

andershaig wrote: post #165

I have one of these - it's awesome, I love it and I think it's an incredible success for a first hardware product. My takeaway from reading this is that caring about building a great product made a huge difference in how your first 500 units landed. Now the next batch gets to come with all those learnings. I'm sure there will be more challenges as well but as long as you keep focusing on the experience you're deliver…

Would you be able to post an image of the labelling/markings on the unit?
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