Protolabs ˟ Hone interview

At the end of last year I did an interview with the Protolabs Network Amsterdam office - formally Hubs. As they are the manufacturing buyer/network that I use to source my machining.

The collaboration has been great, and working with them saved Hone after a disastrous situation where my previous machine shop went into administration half way through a production run I had already fully funded. They were able to deliver the quality, tolerances, and finish I was looking for, and I felt they treated my one person company as if I was any other client.

I only have positive things to say about our interactions. If you are looking to get some manufacturing and you need some support I would check them out.

Type 15s Production, positive progress - Jan 2022

Some positive progress on the production of the stainless steel version. New supplier is up to speed. Samples are signed off. And production is well under way! After the positive reception of the last video I decided it was a nice (if still scary) format to share the latest update, and also to answer some questions on the finishing and quality check that I do on the razor. I tried to keep it short and to the point. I hope you enjoy.

Type 15s Production. Changing Supplier - Aug 2021

This isn’t the updated I wanted to send.  After some difficult discussions, unfortunately today I had no other option than stop the contract and close the relationship with the current supplier as they have not been able to deliver to the agreed specification and I need to start the search for a new supplier. 

Considering this I will be refunding all the pre-order customers immediately, today. In addition, I will give all pre-order customers a discount code to keep the 10% saving for use in future with Hone on any order they wish with no expiration date. I will also make sure any pre-order customer will get priority to place an order if they wish when I have the Type 15s complete.

I know you would have all preferred to receive your razor, and I am truly sorry. I feel frustrated letting you down but I think compromising the quality would have been worse. I have already reached out to new manufacturers and started looking for a new machine shop; But until I have a manufacturing contract in place again I wouldn’t be comfortable holding onto any customers pre-orders.

I made the video below to go through how and why I made this decision, I thought a video might be a better format to tell a complete story. As always please get in touch with any questions or comments.

Andrew.

Type 15s Production/

August 2021 Update

UPDATE: August 13th 2021

I was excited to get the V3 sample razors after the production shutdown delays caused by COVID. I did my usual thorough inspection on them and while there are improvements, there are also areas I was not happy with. Details called out in the last samples were still not 100% addressed.  These parts passed tolerance and geometry tests and shave very well, smooth and no irritation whatsoever! Even more so than the brass. I can only put that down to the subtle surface difference.

But I was hoping for more when it came to the final finishing quality of these parts.

I was also upset to see minor inconsistencies and small handling errors and there are still some possessing improvements to be made. I provided all this feedback to the manufacturer in my usual detailed report. This week they have been identifying actions to fix the outstanding issues and they are creating planning to implement tooling improvements and other fixes.

There were some strong improvements such as to the branding which now looks very crisp and sharp.

Early next week we will have a briefing session where they will provide me with a timeline and specific details for when they would be able to provide these fixes. Based on the outcome of this discussion there are some tough questions that need to be answered; I will make a call if I think it is sufficient to get these parts to the expected level of finish, and if they are still the right supplier for this job.

I will be sharing more next week! Kind regards, Andrew.

Type 15s Pre-Order Update April 28th 2021

Due to a delay in starting manufacture I have paused pre-orders to prevent any uncertainly until I have a firm date to start production. In the spirit of full transparency below is the mail that I sent to all pre-order customers to let them know what the status is, and putting special options in place until I have a confirmed start date on production. Please reach out with any questions you might have, kind regards, Andrew.

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Type 15s Production/

April 2021 Update

UPDATE: April 3rd 2021

Sample updates and timing!

I promised to have a date for the next round of samples on the 1st of April. Talking to the machine shop they had not progressed far enough on the feedback to offer a date. My apologies for that, as I can only relay the information that I get from them in terms of timing. The timelines we set out at the beginning of the projects appear to have been too ambitious but they are making progress and have expressed their commitment to reaching the quality standard I have set out.

This production cycle has been one of the most challenging I have encountered on any product. A mixture of working with a new partner, the global situation, and challenging parts to make. I want all the pre-order (and potential) customers to know that I totally understand your frustrations with the delays. I mirror those feelings completely, I am doing what I can to move it forward. I want reiterate that I am pledged to getting this launched, but will not sacrifice on the quality of the outcome to get it finished faster. I want to give you the best product I can, and for me running a pre-order for the first time and doing this process publicly is certainly something new, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Open product development

I was really keen though these updates to share behinds the scenes insights and bring you along on the journey. I have selected some of the feedback from my quality report that I fed back to the manufacturer for the latest round of samples so you can see the progress and attention to detail, but also see how close the parts are to being finished. I have to caveat this by saying these parts are challenging to manufacture. The geometry and accuracy demands a high level of skill.

It’s also important to say that the items highlighted here are the expected process tweaks and dialling in for manufacturing and why samples are so important. This is also something most manufacturers won’t show their customers but I think it is important to see how much work goes into getting a good result. And I hope an interesting back story to the razors you will receive. These are also very small details; we are talking microns for instance to make a small line disappear on a part.

I want every batch of razors to be the best batch I have ever made. So I am always looking for improvements. These feedback items are the last couple of percent on parts that are very developed, so these details are final hurdles.

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Explanations

From left to right:

1) Surface finish. Surface finishes are an art. This is about tweaking the settings on the finishing to get the perfect balance of texture whilst leaving a quality feel on the parts. The finish needs to remove the witness marks from the machining process but without compromising the definition of the part. It is a thin line to walk. The first set was a bit over textured. This set was too fine. The next set will hit the mark perfectly.

2) Surface transitions. There are a couple of optimizations to remove tangent lines and surface transitions and edges on the parts. These are small adjustments needed to get those as minimal as possible, and involves a bit of trial and error to check how these changes come off the machine. Any design with tangent surfaces like this means any small line is very visible, but is also important to making the Type 15 design unique.

3) Branding execution. Putting the brand on is a final step, and I don’t take it lightly. I ask for a very fine engraving so it is a matter of figuring those tool paths and which tool bit gives the correct result in stainless steel. Worth noting these images are very magnified and showing details that are <1mm in size. In fact the width of the lines that make up the letter are only 0.3mm thick. We are exploring if for stainless it makes more sense to laser etch the branding in place.

Updated Brand location on the stand.

One change we have agreed on is relocating the branding location on the stand. Moving it from inside where the razor sits to the side of the stand. This should make the quality of the branding execution much more repeatable and also more visible in practical use. I was a little hesitant to relocate it because I don’t like to over brand my designs, but I think this is smart, appropriate, and looks complete.

I hope that gives some insight into the process, and also the work going into it. I hope that as well as explaining why there is another delay, it builds excitement to see the product taking shape, and coming to life. I hope you are as excited to see these going to manufacture as I am.

As always, please reach out with any questions. Kind regards,

Andrew.

Type 15s production/

March 2021 Update

UPDATE: March 30th 2021

A series of ups and downs this month. I have already e-mailed all the pre-order customers so they are aware what is happening. This is just a summary of the months activities towards the Type 15s launch.

Sample challenges

The plan was to have the last set of production samples ready and signed off as I am already behind. I was really excited to see them. The machine shop had some additional challenges with a COVID case in their staff which was an added complication and added some days to the process. But when the parts arrived there were some points on the surface quality that I wasn’t happy with. I also found some inconsistency’s between the samples that I received. These issues weren’t present on the previous sets of samples so it was a bit of a surprise. I was not comfortable signing these off. Even if it means further delay!

I detailed what I found against the quality specification that I have in place, and asked for clarification and to identify where these issues had arisen from. The the supplier is taking this very seriously, and I have the input below from them:

“Sunday / Monday  we had a meeting internally with our specialist machinist and technical team. [We] Have gone through the inspection report in detail / every point.

We clearly understood client expectations / requirements and have identified the gaps & incomplete processes.

We added into the project team a third party independent Quality Advisor, an industry veteran with more than 45 years of experience. He has been associated with BOSCH for more than 30 years especially in export engineering components, his addition certainly brings great value addition to steer the team from Quality point of view.

 Our next plan of action is to start processing the next batch of samples for client approval.

Will share the delivery commitment / schedule on or before Thursday
We recognize the areas of improvement and we will work to deliver to the expectations”

I will only deliver a product I can stand behind.

This is obviously another delay, which is difficult to communicate. I have created an updated process chart to communicate the steps still required. The samples are the last part to step from the product refinement phase, to the production phase. I am committed to this being the best razor I can make. So on the one hand I am sorry for the delay, but I would rather delay than ship a product I am not happy with. I am also pleased that I can bring the community and customers along on the journey for production.

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On Thursday I will get a date for corrected samples, and will update this story with that date. Thank you all pre-order customers for your understanding. And I hope you are enjoying the insight into the production.

If there are any questions please get in touch contact@hone-shaving.com I will update any popular questions here too. Many thanks, Andrew.

Type 15s Production/

February 2021 Update

Delayed…for the right reasons?

I was looking forward to sharing the shipping deadline in this February update. Unfortunately I need to share that there is a delay. The manufacturer has asked for some time, and to go through another sample round, which means this delay is for the right reasons, and maybe perplexingly I am happy about it… To explain I need to tell a bit of history.

I started to make a stainless steel version in back in 2019 and into 2020 but the manufacturer I was working with at the time went into liquidation part way into the job. At the time this was simultaneously the biggest challenge I had faced running Hone, but also quite the opportunity. It gave me the chance to seek out a new machine shop and hopefully a partner with more capabilities to support me in growing my product line-up and build a more stable and reliable process. I reached out to a well established (70+ years) and very high quality manufacturer in the south of the UK who I had spoken with previously. After some phone calls and online meetings we agreed to work together and started to scope the production of the Type 15s, created timelines, quoted the parts, made agreements and I submitted my PO. Lift-off! Only then would I set-up the pre-order and share the 15s was happening with customers.

Working with a new manufacturer involves a lot of learning in the first production run. They haven’t made my exact product before so they need to get to know the parts and the best way to handle them. So you go through sample creation to check the tooling, process. Making sure the outcomes match the agreed product and quality spec’s. Well the pre-production samples were spectacular as I shared in my last update; Tolerances, fit, part quality, all top notch. Just a couple of small minor details to iron out with the finishing which we were comfortable were easy tweaks. I was ready to push-the-button on the full batch run... “So what’s the hold up?”

The manufacturer asked for a call in which they requested some space to review the production process on their side. The Type 15 is a deceptively simple design with it’s compound faces and non-planar surfaces that flow together between parts but it can be tricky to make. Even more so in a tough material like stainless steel. And while they had met every spec to the number in the small sample runs, these first attempts had been heavy on time and tooling for them. Having made the parts for real, they asked for some time to find optimisations in the way they run the parts to help deliver them consistently and to maintain that standard. This is something no supplier likes asking their client, especially when they know that I have customers waiting. Doing so requires integrity.

And this explains why I am happy for this delay, this is exactly why I wanted to work with this company. The respectful way they communicated the challenges, and clear communication were exactly the maturity I was looking for. On the one hand I don’t want to have to share a delay with you. But on the other side this delay is for exactly the right reasons; To make sure we deliver the best razors Hone has ever made! I’m not looking for the cheapest place to make my razors. I want somewhere that knows what I am aiming for and shares my values. I am also looking for a partner that helps me do it in a viable and repeatable way and that is exactly why they wanted extra time to develop the process for my parts, so going forward we have a great basis to build upon. And I am confident that this delay will let me reach my goals, and deliver the best razors and shaves possible.

What is the new timeline?

I will be hearing about the timeline of the new sample round this week. As soon as I know I will share. I need that to make the projection for the production.

What else has been happening?

With the delay it means that all the supporting parts are ready to go. In the background all the packaging and materials secured for the shipment of the razors is ready and waiting. So it’s just the main event.

All the packaging is waiting for the Type 15s

Our Signature box made by the Tiny Box Company in the UK. Black foil on matte black.

Type 15s

Production /

January 2021 Update

UPDATE: Jan 16th 2021

Things have been progressing nicely on the ramp to production for the Type 15s. First question; when will your razors be ready?! The timeline has slipped slightly, things are about 3 weeks behind from my estimate. But thankfully not for anything too concerning. There are additional challenges at the moment with movement of people and goods. The supplier is having to work with reduced staff in their facility to maintain safe working conditions. Where I would normally just visit them to view samples and provide immediate feedback that has not been possible. Instead we have had to ship those parts with reviews via online meetings which has added some more lead-time than expected. So thank you for your patience as I get these perfect. (There is an updated timeline below with new dates, please e-mail with any questions you have)

So onto the parts themselves; What can I say, the change of supplier has been worth the effort. These parts are dimensionally accurate and consistent, it’s seriously impressive. The geometry, surfaces, split lines and overall part quality is superb. Maybe the best I have ever achieved on anything I have had made. Some photos of the work in progress;

What is left to do?

The parts themselves are ready, the last outstanding thing is dialling in the finish. This is always a tricky part of the process; depending on the materials, the quality off-the-machine (which is excellent), and the goals for the parts there are a number of variables in the finishing and sequence of operations to achieve the desired outcome. It comes down to tweaking some variables to get the finish where it needs to be, then it’s full steam ahead for production. I need to wait for the latest versions of the parts to arrive with what will hopfully be the final finish to approve them and we will be making the full batch. I can’t wait to ship them and hear your reactions to these because I think they are stunning.

Latest timelines

Below is the updated timeline and status. I’m always happy to hear any questions and I will do my best to respond to them as fast as possible but please forgive me if there is a slight delay. I will share another update when the final production starts as that will set the shipping date all being well. Many thanks, Andrew - Hone.

Type 15s

Production/

December 2020 Update

UPDATE: Dec 22nd 2020

Some great news, the pre-production sample run is almost ready.  

The manufacturer has completed a set of samples and they are almost ready to send over for inspection. This is about a week behind schedule at the moment, but more on that below. The samples are still with the supplier in the UK at the moment so I have only seen images they sent but I can’t wait to get my own eyes and hands on them. The progress they have made is excellent. They have the tool paths, fixtures, and order of operations defined, and the parts are looking spot on. Below are some images of the parts fresh off the machine, and the surface finish for this stage in the process looks spectacular. These parts are still awaiting the finishing process’ and some final tweaks but I wanted to share the progress.

The next step is to finish these parts to final spec, then ship them over to the Netherlands so I can inspect them, sign them off or make any necessary adjustments with the machine shop, and we can move on to making the full batch. I will keep you fully updated.

As you may have seen in the news there are some unique circumstances unfolding at the moment with COVID situation in the UK,  and the new UK and EU relationship still creating some uncertainty. I think it is expected that this will have some impact on my planned timeline, and as soon as I know more I will let you know. At the moment we are managing to stay more or less on track, but as soon as parts need to move then I think the real impact on the timeline will become apparent.

I look forward to sharing more high quality images of the final parts once I have them in hand. Please get in touch if you have any questions, and have a great December. Stay safe and healthy.

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Pre-Order Opens

Thank you to everyone that placed a pre-order for the Type 15s. I have created this post as a central place to keep you informed of the steps, and to provide updates. Below you will find the expected timeline. If anything is to change then we will inform you via e-mail and update this post.

We are planning 3 e-mail updates

1. To share the pre-production samples and status.

2. When the production starts, to update you on the delivery window and if there are any changes to the timeline.

3. Two week prior to shipping so that there is a chance to update any information on your order if needed and to start getting excited for your new Type 15s.