It's Officially A Streak!

Three absolutely amazing days in a row - that makes it a streak. Not to say we don't have great days every day here at Local Motors, but the last three have been without comparison for the engineering corps when it comes to making great strides in making the shift from "Orders Development and Transition" to Execution, as mentioned by Jay in the Founders Corner Blog this morning.

We're very close to having our house in order - the band saw is now in the shop and assembled, the air compressor is days away from being fully operational and the down draft table is soon to arrive.

Most importantly, the team spent the day today reviewing our schedule to be sure that we're armed with a plan and the confidence in that plan that will allow us to accomplish the several small victories necessary to meet the main objective of building a prototype.

When asked what the two most crucial tools or weapons you would absolutely be crucial to your survival in the field of battle, Jay responded that they would be a radio and a map.

The work done yesterday (and the days leading up to it) was critical in the formation of our plan, which will soon be put on a chart in an easily readable format, and displayed for everyone at Local Motors to see the critical path towards meeting our objective. This is clearly our "map". That takes care of one of our critical tools/weapons.

It would be obvious to say that the radio for us would be email, a cell phone etc. Taking a more abstract approach however, each of those tools is simply a means of communication, which could be far more than email or a phone. It could very well be the scanner and prototype printer I mentioned in my last post. If we have the ability to scan and print parts to show suppliers exactly what we want, this could prove to be a highly effective mode of communication.

However, we may already have that tool in the SolidWorks software itself since we can send 3D virtual models and 2D drawings to suppliers. Of course this isn't the only benefit to the scanner/printer combination as I've discussed previously, so just like when you purchase that all important cell phone - which was originally intended JUST for talking - you want to research the other capabilities of the phone and even different phones entirely to determine if it fits your needs/wants, your budget, the level of service the provider gives etc. More importantly though, you have to ask yourself if you really NEED all that stuff (ie: the iPhone)? Can you still succeed in your objectives with the tools you already have at your disposal?

As we enter the field of battle these are the types of questions we are asking ourselves when it comes to purchasing tools/technology/services like the rapid prototyping scanner and printer to be sure we're armed with at the very least, the two tools that our survival depends on.