# Ep. 36 - Keeping Up With Orders

- Show: [Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast)
- Published: 2025-01-24
- Length: 1h 10m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders
- Listen: https://opulo.io

## Summary

Stephen Hawes and Lucian Chapa of Opulo discuss the operational challenges of keeping up with orders for their open-source hardware products, specifically the Lumen and feeder systems. They detail their in-house manufacturing process, explaining how they use dynamic lead times, labor allocation, and a custom Google Sheets dashboard to manage production queues and avoid stockouts. The episode highlights the trade-offs between hiring full-time staff versus using flexible part-time labor, and the importance of maintaining strong vendor relationships to mitigate supply chain risks.

## Chapters

- [0:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=24) Introduction: The Challenge of Order Fulfillment
- [4:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=273) Calculating Product Lead Times and Assembly Speeds
- [7:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=435) Dynamic Lead Time Management and Shopify Automation
- [12:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=730) Labor Availability, Efficiency Factors, and Part-Time Staffing
- [23:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=1434) Order Queue Visualization and Google Sheets Dashboards
- [41:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=2462) Supply Chain Management and Avoiding Stockouts
- [52:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders#t=3143) Lessons Learned: Buffers, Communication, and Scaling

## Topics

- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Hiring & workforce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/hiring-and-workforce)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Opulo (company)
- Lumen (product)
- Shopify (tool)
- Live Split One (tool)
- Andy (tool)
- Inventory (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [What's In A Name?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2010-08-07-whats-in-a-name) (The Amp Hour)
- [A Benchtop Pick and Place with Stephen Hawes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-01-21-a-benchtop-pick-and-place-with-stephen-hawes) (The Amp Hour)
- [21: The Way it Goes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/thoroughly-considered/2016-12-08-21-the-way-it-goes) (Thoroughly Considered)
- [Episode 068: Love Handles and Bald Spots](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2016-04-22-episode-068-love-handles-and-bald-spots) (Making It)
- [AI Tooling with Matt Liberty and Luke Beno](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2026-04-23-ai-tooling-with-matt-liberty-and-luke-beno) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-01-24-ep-36-keeping-up-with-orders. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast.