No more waiting for Decent Espresso
Throughout the 3 years we've been making espresso machines, every buyer has had to wait. It's never been less than a month, frequently 3 months, and some waited much much longer. In South Korea they called us “the genius machine that nobody can buy”.
Finally, FINALLY! this won't be the case.
Even though our monthly sales have been increasing, my team has been getting better and better at their jobs. We did double the staff count in August but this had only a modest effect on machines shipped per month.
The real shift came from human factors. I had long ago figured out that Western-style management doesn't work here. Hong Kongers do not want to be “bossed”, and by extension, none of our employees would accept a promotion to be a manager. What I had learned about Management in California didn't work here.
I tinkered with the workplace culture of the company, and I finally have found a good fit.
There's an opposing tension between individualism and communal-spirit here. Some of the workplace experiments I tried, such as having small teams, were actually a productivity and HR disaster, and actually promoted conflict. It's difficult to figure out the right structure and balance.
What has worked best, and REALLY worked, is copying the French restaurant's “battery de cuisine” concept. In a “battery de cuisine” kitchen, everyone has a speciality, and there's always work to be done in that job. There's no “boss, what should I be working on?” And when it's mealtime, the pressure is on for each person to produce in their speciality. Everyone knows how they fit into the whole, when they're expected to perform, and they feel both individual pride in their contribution, as well as in the output of team.
I adapted the “battery de cuisine” system to the Decent factory.
Keith, for example, is responsible for fully testing every DC PCB (the “computer”) that will go inside the espresso machine. Every day, he plugs temperature sensors, LED and motors into a board on his desk, and painstakingly tests it. Each takes about 20 minutes. That's a long time, but thanks to the extensive prep work, when it's time install them, Keith can put 50 computers into 50 espresso machines in just 2 hours. And rarely do any have problems that need later fixing, when it'd be quite a bit harder to do so. Like a restaurant dish with a frozen-in-the-middle steak.
Decent Espresso is now run like a professional kitchen. Everyone has their own “prep station”. And when the 50 machines on the line need their part, they're “in the kitchen” installing their part, so they don't slow anyone else down.
Initially I started with 2 lines (a “kitchen”) of 50 machines each, with 1 actively being built, and the other being tested. As the testers got faster, after 1 day they finished 25 machines, we squeezed the remaining machines down, and started a 3rd line of the next 50 machines. Thus, most of the time we're actually running 3 “kitchens”.
This puts more stress on good prep. But as each person is totally responsible for their part, they know what is expected of them, but also they are empowered to improve how they work.
And that's how we managed to go from 23 machines per month, to 69, to 108, to 213 and this month: to 291 machines *shipped* in one month!
It's quiet in the factory (no more radio playing), except for power tools pulsing. There's an intense concentration on people's faces. Most have earbuds on and are listening to their favorite music. Come Friday, they're mentally drained, but happy. Everyone can see the success of the week.
Tomorrow we're testing 50 DE1XL 220V machines we just finished, and in a few days we'll have the same quantity of 110V DE1XL done. That has us almost wiping out the queue that has been a weight around our neck https://decentespresso.com/queue
I had hoped (dreamt!) to be at this point before Christmas, but it looks like we'll be there by the end of November, a month early.
That also means that if you buy a DE1 before mid-December, there's a good chance we can get it to you in time for Christmas.
. . .
Am I worried that we're now building much much faster than we're selling?
Yes, of course I am.
However, I'm also aware of just how many people have said “no thanks” to a Decent Espresso Machine, because they didn't want to wait.
People are used to getting instant satisfaction from their purchases, and a several-months-long wait doesn't cut it. So I'm hoping that “ships within 24h” will have a positive effect.
And finally, we're getting a tremendous number of inquiries from small cafes. I think that now that the COVID vaccine is in sight, planning has started on the orgy of travel, restaurant, and entertainment spending that is likely to follow.
#factory #improving #growth #DE1history
Updated 2020/11/18