DogTag Update #4 - Production Samples
August 20, 2021Time for another DogTag update;
Our production tools are complete and final testing underway!
We've been working with our manufacturing partners every day, and we're now at the point of testing our moulding tools and quality control checking every part of the DogTag product, to ensure it meets our high standards and your expectations.
Our first step is complete - we've received first samples from the moulding tools to check that the tool works, the dimensions are correct and that there are no strange outcomes from the moulded plastic. This first version is never pretty, finished or polished in the way our products are when they're on the shelf - but tell us a lot about how the end product will be. And thankfully - the parts are great!
Our engineers have been scrutinising every detail of the parts under a microscope to confirm our design has been realised and that the product can be the best it can. The process is almost surgical at this stage - sectioning parts, poking, prodding and measuring every aspect we can.
Cutting the parts in a cross section allow us to check fit and clearances.
That's a nice snug Airtag!
Right on target.
And it's not only the plastic case that we have been checking and testing, but the silicone cover to attach to your dog collar which adds further protection. These parts we are fine tuning the 'Shore Hardness' of (in this application - how stretchy it is). There is a fine balance between making a silicone part too soft so it stretches too easily and falls off, or too hard that you can't install it and it tears.
We'll be dog park testing these samples next week on different collars to decide exactly what hardness goes into production, and we're confident that we'll get the results we've been looking for.
The final step after functional testing will be confirming the colour and finish of the parts before we start the mass production. Getting the colour perfect and the soft texture of the parts takes a lot of communication and testing - however our suppliers are fantastically efficient!
Our first volume production will be Grey / Black to fulfil orders and get product on shelves. These neutral colours have always been a favourite of our customers across nearly all products - iPhone cases, iPad cases, but we do always wonder how optional colours might play out...
The exciting news is that we're very close to signing off everything for mass production to start. And thanks to the advanced technologies we can access through our suppliers - mass production itself only takes about 1 week.
We certainly appreciate your patience through this process, and we hope you've enjoyed a little insight into the steps that we go through to make each and every part of every product, and the effort required. We're proud to do all of our design and engineering in-house, and in Australia.
So much so we made our own badge.