November Progress

Bit of an inside joke with this picture. (My finger is on the touch strip for controlling the XOOT braking system.)

Earlier this year I cut the end of my finger off and otherwise uglyied it up quite a bit. In the Emergency Room the Doctor and I joked this was the end of my hand modeling days. Surprise Doc! I’m putting those fat little sausages back to work.

Still trying to solve the XOOT cost problem…

Working with Manufacturer to Refine Quote Pricing

The last few weeks were spent writing up our response to the last manufacturing quote, (the quote was a lot higher than we were expecting). Everything else was put on hold. In short, we’ve been caught up in the worldwide supply chain fiasco. However, it’s looking like prices are starting to come down in Asia. This should get XOOT back to a more normal footing.

One of the largest price increases from the previous quote was the “cost of assembly”. Over the last weeks we put a lot of effort into defining XOOT: assembly, testing, inspection and packaging. We updated documents and made videos of every step in the process. This should allow the manufacturer to more accurately estimate of costs.

We’ve studied “manufacturing processes” and identified improvements to reduce costs that will not affect quantity. We’ve asked the manufacturer re-estimate the parts based on these process changes.

Waiting for their reply…

Assembly Video

While waiting for the reply… I shot a “rough draft” video for the “XOOT Assembly Instructions”. This video goes over the steps for unpacking and assembling a XOOT unit.

Take a look at the video. Go ahead and add comments if there are questions or any steps seem unclear. Your comments help us make better “final version” of the assembly video.