This production schedule covers some of the major points for manufacturing and ordering parts. This schedule may change due to
- Volume of machines
- Unforeseen delays and issues
But we’ll try to stick to things as best we can.
*Update* Due to the high number of backers (thank you!), backers who pledged for a LongMill after April 7th should know that their machines may deliver into September. This is to help provide reasonable expectations and timelines. We have already started production on these machines to give ourselves a head start and ship machines as early as possible.
March 26, 2019
We launch our Kickstarter campaign! The first day or two after the launch of a Kickstarter campaign is the most important and can determine the outcome of the rest of the campaign. Some of the design and manufacturing choices will be determined by the number of machines we have to build, which we’ll make depending on how our launch starts out.
April 2019
Our Kickstarter will end on April 25, 2019.
At this point, we’ll know how many machines we need to build for the first batch. We’ll start by ordering parts overseas. It’s important for us to do this step first because it can take 4 weeks or more to ship via sea.
*Update (April 6, 2019)* Due to the high volume of orders, we have already started ordering parts from overseas.
We’ll probably start 3D printing parts during or right after the completion of the Kickstarter, just so that we have a head start on that. Depending on volume, we may choose to make some of the parts from sheet metal instead.
*Update (April 6, 2019)* Parts will start printing on Monday. At some point we may need to grow our print farm (currently 5 operational printers).
*Update (April 18, 2019)* Lots of news here:
https://sienci.com/2019/04/18/another-production-update-for-the-longmill/
We can also order aluminum extrusion to start manufacturing rails at this point and arranging for our manufacturer to start drilling. It takes about a week for materials to be shipped from Cambridge ON, and about three
May 2019
Laser cutting the gantries typically has about one to two week turnaround
*Update (May 9, 2019)*
https://sienci.com/2019/05/09/kickstarter-progress-update-1/
*Update (May 21, 2019)
https://sienci.com/2019/05/21/kickstarter-progress-update-2/
We’ll have a lot of things in motion for the manufacturing, and we should start to see things trickle in, which we can sort and pack as they come.
Some other things we can order at this point are
- Fasteners (1-2 week lead time)
- Boxes and packaging (1-2 week lead time)
These are things we typically hold off last in the production since they have short lead times, but also because it takes up a lot of space.
June 2019
At this point, we should have the large majority of inventory packed and ready to be sorted into kits. I expect that there will be some stragglers for parts (there always are), but we’ll do what we can to keep things moving.
July 2019
We should see the first handful of machines get shipped out. We’ll ship out based on when you backed and your region.
Manufacturing should be done and we’ll be packing the rest of the machines throughout July.
August 2019
The remaining machines will be shipped out going forward from July.