It's been a long, cold winter and we're so glad to finally feel a touch of summer warmth. During the winter we have been working diligently to prepare for the upcoming spring season. This included extensive preparations in various areas such as production, team, suppliers, logistics, planning and process improvements.
We've taken this time to ensure we're fully prepared to get your Heatle to you as efficiently and as soon as possible, and to meet our schedule of delivering all Heatles by summer.
We understand that you are eagerly awaiting the arrival of your device and we want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to produce as many devices as possible without compromising our high quality standards. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this time and look forward to delivering your Heatle which you will enjoy for years to come. Thank you for your continued support!
What happened so far
We started spring with an even better production line that increased throughput and improved processes and management. This is how we want to make sure that we have finished production by the summer. Thanks to numerous new hires in the areas of logistics, finance, software, customer service and production technology, we have already been able to record enormous improvements in production (for us and our suppliers).
Our warehouse is bursting at the seams. All components for assembly are in stock. The speed of production is still determined by the deliveries of electronic boards (PCBs) built in Berlin. As soon as we receive a batch, we get enough other components from the warehouse and go through with the batch production.
Before March, we not only carried out the final assembly of the electronics produced in Berlin - including programming, quality assurance, test runs and packaging. We also did all the sub-assembly work ourselves. This had a direct impact on our productivity.
Starting in March, we were finally able to entrust sub-assemblies such as the assembly of the heat sinks, which is very time-consuming, to an external service provider in Berlin. This finally enabled us to build a clean and lean production line.
Based on Six Sigma principles, we have optimized our production as much as possible so that we can produce much faster and more efficiently from April on.
We also have our new colleague and production expert Marco to thank for this optimization, shown here on the right.
We now have more space, especially in the logistics area, and can pack and ship faster. The ready-to-ship Heatles will stack in this area before being labeled and picked up.
Every Heatle that has been tested is cleaned and carefully packaged here. The accessories are also being added to the box.
As soon as we receive the finished circuit boards, which are manufactured in Berlin, they are programmed at this new station.
Before assembly begins and the circuit boards are installed, the boards are checked for safety and subjected to several tests.
The assembled devices and rods are tested at the automatic test station. The temperature data is read out and compared with calibrated sensors.
In March some new people started with us, including Anton for the software department. He will take care of the software for production and the backend for end customers so that everything works smoothly even after shipping.
Developments and innovations
Although the production demands absolutely everything from us, we do our best to push the development of new accessories and the optimization of current processes and user experiences.
Albeit we have put a lot of effort into the existing packaging, a few customers still noticed that the delivery was sometimes very rough, which meant that we had to exchange the devices (free of charge, of course). It's been only a handful of exceptions so far, but we take every complaint seriously and act upon it immediately. Since this is certainly not a good experience for our customers, especially after months of waiting, and since it also causes quite high costs for us, we have now started to optimize the packaging. The new design (you can see an insert for the shipping box) protects the contents better and significantly simplifies the process of packing and unpacking.
The development of our moka pot is progressing well and we now drink fresh coffee that we brew on the Heatle every day. There are still a few innovations that we're currently testing before we can share more insights, but the results so far are promising.
The egg cooker prototype is not quite presentable yet as we are still working on the design a lot, but we are now able to achieve the desired results and will present more information in a timely manner before we finalize the design and start production.
In other news
Visitors, like Tobias here, often want to pick up their Heatle in person as soon as it has been produced and is ready for dispatch. This is a special moment that we are very much looking forward to - and of course the customers too, who have been waiting for their Heatle for a long time.
When David went to London in March he delivered several Heatles to clients in London. We like to get to know our customers personally in order to learn more about their habits and wishes, which we incorporate into the development.
By the way, this is what it looks like when customers get their Heatle and are so happy that they create a collage. Thanks to @Balubear1000 for the warm message!
This is what it looks like on the set of Sat.1 breakfast television, a famous morning TV show in Germany. The studio is near our office. A Heatle is waiting on the table there.
Many of you wrote to us when the Heatle was on TV. It was presented as part of "New Technology Wonders" and was enthusiastically received by the moderators.
Many schools introduce the children to various professions at a very early age, which we think is extremely great and we support it a lot - as does the school of David's children. David introduced the students to his job as an electrical engineer, carried out exciting experiments and, of course, demonstrated the Heatle, which is the result of his twenty years of experience, without which our world novelty would not exist.
