The first round of Yaw2 simulators have been manufactured and we are continuing the production. The production team is growing with new colleagues and machines so manufacturing processes are accelerating and we are happy to announce that we are starting deliveries.
Shipping
We started production at the end of last year and although that was a big step, it was still not the same as starting shipping units to you. We have manufactured the first batch and started testing them. This included the expo in the US but also a long and thorough test of the simulators that were left back in the office/testing station. But the real news here is that now they are considered to be ready for shipping, so the first Yaw2s units were packed in a FedEx van yesterday and they are on their way to the first backers.
This is a big moment for us and it was a big moment 3 years ago, too, when we packed and shipped the first Yaw1s to our Kickstarter backers. Thank you for the continuous support and trust in our work. There are always new obstacles coming our way, making our life just even so slightly more difficult than it could be, but we are testing, trying and making progress. As the result of that here we are being able to post this:
Every device that gets sent out is first assembled here in our testing station. They are tested and then we take them apart. To make assembly easier for you, we only disassemble the bigger pieces so that they fit into boxes that can be shipped.
Production, testing and deliveries are all done in low scale for now but we are working on scaling up in all of these steps. We are also doing our best to be able to keep up with a continuous shipping, this means that yesterday we sent out 2 units and in the coming weeks we will only be able to ship just a slightly higher number of devices per week. But in 3-4 weeks time, we will start to receive the custom made parts that we have ordered and that will result in the numbers growing. Our goal is still to get to a 300 units/month manufacturing capacity.
Some things that we're doing in order to be able to do that are
outsourcing some of the work: For certain parts of production we are working with local companies. Although we are able to manufacture all parts except for some motors and electrical components here, we have only so much capacity. These partners that we're working with now can help us produce higher number of parts. We will continue working with them until we are able to boost our own manufacturing capacity.
getting new equipment: We bought a new laser cutting and a laser welding machine at the end of last year and those are on their way to us. It's a big investment but it is necessary and it helps us significantly, if we have two machines running simultaneously. It is expected to arrive in March this year.
hiring more people: Our team has grown from just a handful of people to a proper size and we're continuously looking for more people. Now the manufacturing team almost doubled in size and along with the new equipments arriving, we will continue hiring.
Support materials
Once the first units are shipped, someone will have to assemble the main parts, so we have been preparing different materials to help the process. The star of the show is of course a video guide, but we are also sending a list of items that are in the box, a list of tools that you need for the assembly and a written assembly guide with detailed descriptions and photos of the parts (pointing out the little things to pay attention to). Everything will be described about assembling the device and putting it in operation. Of course we’ll be there to help if you have any questions in the future and based on your feedback we’ll add more things to the support materials later and modify whatever needs to be modified. We appreciate all feedback, but for this one we find it extremely valuable if you can share your experiences with it.
Here is the first version of the assembly video:
There are some further steps to be added to the guide, but it's a start and we will share new and updated versions of the assembly video as soon as we get ready with them.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at support@yawvr.com.