Hello from China!
I’m in China right now for the first time since 2019. I used to come here quite a lot for prior jobs. I love being on site at factories and working through problems alongside the vendor teams. Nobody knows the technical details as well as the people actually making the parts.
I’m here to drive the “DVT” (Design Validation Test) build for my first mass produced product (a head unit mount… but with a bit more under the hood). Here is a good primer on what DVT means as part of a “phase gate” process. In summary, I’m in between “EVT” (Engineering Validation Test - picking a production-intent design) and “PVT” (Production Validation Test - stress testing the production line with sellable units). In DVT, I’m using mass-produced parts (extruded + machined, injection molded) and doing a smallish build of full products.
No development build goes without hiccups. For example, I thought we were going to be building assemblies shortly after I arrived. We have instead identified issues, implemented changes, and kicked off tooling modifications to every single injection molding tool I’ve opened (okay, one set of the modifications is just the mold texturing, but “almost every tool” doesn’t have the same ring to it…). We’ve also had to do some last-minute rework to a couple of the CNC machined parts to resolve a few little clearance issues. All of this work is valuable and better to do before DVT than after, but not all of it was planned.
The Garmin receivers were not fitting well. I’m glad I brought an actual bike computer to test fitment, but I wasn’t expecting to do a significant design modification at this point to a tooled part. Here's a close up of some rapid prototyping we were doing to figure out what we needed to change.
Starting my own company - and doing it alone - is harder than I could have imagined. It’s not just that there is a lot to do. It’s more so that I really want to make good - well, great - products. I care a lot, I work a lot, and I think about the products incessantly, but it’s still just me here. I’ve got a few early prototypes out in the wild, and I’ve logged a few hundred miles on one myself. Each time we solve a problem here, I build a bit more confidence that people are going to like what I’m making. If these DVT units pass quality and functional checks, there’s a real chance I’ll be selling them at a discounted “presale” price in the very near future - so stay tuned!