Ok, well the day was interesting to say the least.
It started well by catching the delivery guy with the last of the chemicals we needed for out Foam In Place Machine for packaging. We thought we would have everything last Friday, but it did not arrive. I called to check on the status of the delivery but did not hear back, happened to be driving through the complex, the driver saw our truck and whistled.
A few hours later the technicians came over to revise the settings on our machine so it could run the new material that is better for the environment. Because this is a new product and it turns out we were the first order in the region the techs did not know how to set it up. An hour of messing with it, then an hour to wait for the guy who knew more to arrive, then a little more time and we were all set to go.
I ended up having to tear down one of the pumps, clean it up before switching to the new stuff. That took a few hours because the stuff had crystalized and was very hard. So now that most of the day was burned we called it a day around 4:30Pm. Hopefully we will be able to package all 100 units tomorrow.
The other thing that we found this morning was that the 50 RocLoks we stained yesterday looked a little purple or blue. We had just purchased more stain and apparently it was not mixed perfect... so we had to fix the mix, then touch up 50 then stain the remaining 50.
Overall we made some good progress at work today but it seemed like two steps forward and a step back all day.
The real kicker was when we got home, I noticed that someone had stolen the fenders and exhaust from my donor truck (for the 39 build). Melanie went inside while I was looking around to see what else was stolen. Our dog had puked on the floor and she cleaned it up (what a way to end the day). She grabbed her laptop to finish her blog post and the hinges snapped off, the screen fell back on her lap. It was not a cheap laptop, it was a Sony Viao and was over $2,000 when we got it. Well my opinion was that Sony had great marketing and ok products... I guess I was right their products are not as good as many others on the market they just make everyone think they are better.
There were loads of other fun moments throughout the day, including a terrible experience with the Fed/Ex Kinkos near our office... Melanie will tell you all about that when she has access to a computer again. I will just say that at least with that office of Kinkos customer care is dead, buried and has maggots running through it.
Well thanks for following another day in the life of us, trying to Make It In America
-Ryan
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Murphy's Law
On Wednesday this week I had the perfect blog update figured out in my head. How we are trying to do our part for the environment, choosing vendors who supply good products that are environmentally friendly, and riding the motorcycle to work to save gas.
Well Murphy’s law went into effect on Thursday. Riding the motorcycle into the office because we did not have a lot of orders to ship out, we felt good that we were saving fuel and being earth conscience. Later in the day we ordered new chemicals for our packaging machine, and found out that our supplier now offers a foam with a higher percentage of soy and additional environmentally friendly materials. Although we are still struggling we decided that spending an extra 10% to do our part for the environment and to support companies who are investing in reducing our reliance on petroleum was worth it. Talking with our supplier further, we also found that they make the products we use for the USA in the USA. Additionally they have plants that create zero waste manufacturing; any scraps created are re-ground and used again.
After that I was feeling great about what we are doing to help everyone and the environment. We finished packing up the order put it into a back pack and headed off to Fed/Ex. We were only at the entrance to the business park when we were stopped at a stop sign and a red light came on, on the motorcycle. We have had little issues with it before so I figured it was nothing. When there was finally a break in traffic I started to drive off and the rear end spun out, as I looked down I noticed oil was everywhere. The motorcycle then died and I got to walk back to the shop. On our way back I started to realize what had happened, the Oil Filter bolt snapped off and the plate that holds all of the engine and transmission oil fell out. The oil gushed out of the engine over the next 400 feet before I came to a stop. I am just glad I was stopped when the motorcycle shut it’s self off, and that I did not crash from the oil slick I created. In the end no one was hurt, just another case of bad luck I guess.
After all the good things we had tried to do for the environment that day, a bolt breaks and I spill oil all over the road. I hate Murphy’s law. I have another brand new bolt on order and will keep trying to ride to work on production only days so we can reduce our carbon footprint. Our Employee rides the transit system into work. So we are all trying to do our part and provide the best product possible in the world.
Well Murphy’s law went into effect on Thursday. Riding the motorcycle into the office because we did not have a lot of orders to ship out, we felt good that we were saving fuel and being earth conscience. Later in the day we ordered new chemicals for our packaging machine, and found out that our supplier now offers a foam with a higher percentage of soy and additional environmentally friendly materials. Although we are still struggling we decided that spending an extra 10% to do our part for the environment and to support companies who are investing in reducing our reliance on petroleum was worth it. Talking with our supplier further, we also found that they make the products we use for the USA in the USA. Additionally they have plants that create zero waste manufacturing; any scraps created are re-ground and used again.
After that I was feeling great about what we are doing to help everyone and the environment. We finished packing up the order put it into a back pack and headed off to Fed/Ex. We were only at the entrance to the business park when we were stopped at a stop sign and a red light came on, on the motorcycle. We have had little issues with it before so I figured it was nothing. When there was finally a break in traffic I started to drive off and the rear end spun out, as I looked down I noticed oil was everywhere. The motorcycle then died and I got to walk back to the shop. On our way back I started to realize what had happened, the Oil Filter bolt snapped off and the plate that holds all of the engine and transmission oil fell out. The oil gushed out of the engine over the next 400 feet before I came to a stop. I am just glad I was stopped when the motorcycle shut it’s self off, and that I did not crash from the oil slick I created. In the end no one was hurt, just another case of bad luck I guess.
After all the good things we had tried to do for the environment that day, a bolt breaks and I spill oil all over the road. I hate Murphy’s law. I have another brand new bolt on order and will keep trying to ride to work on production only days so we can reduce our carbon footprint. Our Employee rides the transit system into work. So we are all trying to do our part and provide the best product possible in the world.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Slow Growing Pains
Yesterday was a good day for sales. Definitely made us feel better after a painfully slow sales stint this last long holiday weekend. Our year long relationship with Amazon.com is continuing to grow and they ordered 8 RocLok's of varying styles which we shipped out to 4 of their many hubs throughout the United States. Our new relationship with a mcuh smaller .com shop is also proving itself producing a new sale every Monday for the last month. To top it all off our partnership with Brookstone.com has finally come to fruition and we are officially available on their site as well.
All of the excitement from yesterday made for a busy day at the shop today. We were able to have our part time helper come in early and we knocked out the orders in a record 3.5 hours including making another 8 RocLok's which we'll demold tomorrow. When we hired our very first employee in May we had high hopes of having him work 3 days each and every week. Unfortunately things aren't growing quite as quickly as we had hoped and for now he is happy to help out whenever we need an extra hand.
We could not have been more fortunate than to find our team member Bert. When we placed an ad for minimum wage ($8.50/hr) we feared we would never find a responsible, detail oriented person who would be willing to work for such a low wage. Obviously we'd love to have hired someone for a lot more but it's difficult to pay anyone anything when you can't even pay yourself! In today's poor economic climate I was shocked that a couple people actually wrote in on the ad angry that we were only willing to pay $8.50/ hour. We even interviewed a few people who openly admitted that they would rather milk their unemployment benefits over taking a job for such low pay. Ultimately we received well over 30 applicants for the job, interviewed 16, chose 6 more to participate in a 2nd interview and fortunately decided on our new friend Bert, a former Marine who is studying towards a degree in Geology with the help of his GI Bill.
One of the things that impressed us with Bert is his willingness to stay busy and build his career goals. I've often wondered what kind of person works twirling a sign on the street corner for business promotion. Honestly, I always assumed that the people standing on the corner were either high-school drop outs, homeless or people with some criminal record that impeded them from getting any other job. I was beyond wrong! You see Bert also works as what he calls the "Advertising Specialist" at a local firearms dealer in the area. He initially took that job to get a foot into the door with the hopes of becoming a salesman at the shop. So far he has been disappointed by the lack of upward mobility still he diligently shows up for his duties each and every time he is needed. The poor guy often comes back to our place beat red from standing in the blaring heat of the summer all day long.
If all goes well in the next few months, we pray that we can bring Bert in on a more permanent full time basis. To loose such an amazing asset to our company would be a travesty to say the least. For now we'll continue to play it day by day and shoot for a brighter tomorrow. Good night everyone.
All of the excitement from yesterday made for a busy day at the shop today. We were able to have our part time helper come in early and we knocked out the orders in a record 3.5 hours including making another 8 RocLok's which we'll demold tomorrow. When we hired our very first employee in May we had high hopes of having him work 3 days each and every week. Unfortunately things aren't growing quite as quickly as we had hoped and for now he is happy to help out whenever we need an extra hand.
We could not have been more fortunate than to find our team member Bert. When we placed an ad for minimum wage ($8.50/hr) we feared we would never find a responsible, detail oriented person who would be willing to work for such a low wage. Obviously we'd love to have hired someone for a lot more but it's difficult to pay anyone anything when you can't even pay yourself! In today's poor economic climate I was shocked that a couple people actually wrote in on the ad angry that we were only willing to pay $8.50/ hour. We even interviewed a few people who openly admitted that they would rather milk their unemployment benefits over taking a job for such low pay. Ultimately we received well over 30 applicants for the job, interviewed 16, chose 6 more to participate in a 2nd interview and fortunately decided on our new friend Bert, a former Marine who is studying towards a degree in Geology with the help of his GI Bill.
One of the things that impressed us with Bert is his willingness to stay busy and build his career goals. I've often wondered what kind of person works twirling a sign on the street corner for business promotion. Honestly, I always assumed that the people standing on the corner were either high-school drop outs, homeless or people with some criminal record that impeded them from getting any other job. I was beyond wrong! You see Bert also works as what he calls the "Advertising Specialist" at a local firearms dealer in the area. He initially took that job to get a foot into the door with the hopes of becoming a salesman at the shop. So far he has been disappointed by the lack of upward mobility still he diligently shows up for his duties each and every time he is needed. The poor guy often comes back to our place beat red from standing in the blaring heat of the summer all day long.
If all goes well in the next few months, we pray that we can bring Bert in on a more permanent full time basis. To loose such an amazing asset to our company would be a travesty to say the least. For now we'll continue to play it day by day and shoot for a brighter tomorrow. Good night everyone.
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