Monster Scale Production

The Amp Hour · 28 Oct 2016 · 1h 16m · Episode 321

What this episode covers

Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss Gammell's new pro bono engineering initiative, the extreme low costs of components in Shenzhen's markets, and the massive scale of Boeing's 737 production lines. They analyze the security vulnerabilities of IoT devices, the rapid copying of Kickstarter products by Chinese manufacturers, and the VC funding logic behind the failed UBEAM juicer startup.

Mentioned

Companies
Boeing, UBEAM, Alibaba, Jabil, Flextronics, Wired
Products
Keurig, Keyboardio
Chips
MediaTek
Tools
KiCad

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Hardware Entrepreneur · 36m

    #032 - Why manufacturing in USA vs China is becoming interesting, with Scott N. Miller of Dragon Innovation, USA

    Scott N. Miller, co-founder and CEO of Dragon Innovation, discusses the shifting landscape of manufacturing between the US and China, highlighting how rising Chinese labor costs and the rise of crowdfunding are making US production viable for lower-volume hardware startups. He details Dragon Innovation's new software tool, Product Planner, designed to help hardware companies manage bills of materials and unit economics, and announces a partnership with Kickstarter and Avnet called Hardware Studio to support creators. Miller also shares a critical failure story from his time at iRobot involving the first 15,000 Roombas, where a design flaw caused optical encoders to fail due to rubber dust, illustrating the importance of testing and quality control.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 17m

    140: Physics Is the Same Everywhere

    Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang, creator of the Novena open source laptop and author of Hacking the Xbox, discusses his new book, The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen, which he funded via Crowd Supply. He explains the cultural and economic differences between prototyping in China versus the US, noting that Chinese factories use manual assembly with higher defect rates but lower upfront costs. Huang also reflects on the value of open hardware for privacy, the challenges of self-publishing physical books with unique features, and his desire to use his engineering skills to help society.

  • Thoroughly Considered · 48m

    39: Made in China

    Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt of Studio Neat discuss their decision to manufacture the Mark One pen in China, addressing backlash from Kickstarter backers who assumed a 'Made in USA' origin. They explain that US manufacturers were unresponsive and expensive, while Chinese partners offered better materials, lower costs, and the ability to run affordable production test runs. The founders also reflect on their poor initial communication regarding this shift and the importance of managing backer expectations around pricing and origin.

  • The Builder Circle · 55m

    S3 E7: Building Bootstrapped Hardware That Sells with Christian Reed

    Christian Reed, CEO of Reekon Tools, explains how he bootstrapped the company from a side project to an 8-figure business without VC funding, validating the idea with a $1.2M Kickstarter campaign. He details the manufacturing lessons learned at Formlabs, including how a supplier's factory fire forced a mid-cycle component swap, and describes building a 3M+ social media following through consistent, raw content creation. Reed emphasizes the importance of engineers thinking like entrepreneurs, focusing on product benefits and brand building rather than just invention.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 10m

    186: Sleeping on the Factory Floor

    Indrek Rebane, CTO of Build It Hardware Accelerator and engineer at Hedgehog Engineering, discusses the realities of building physical products, from garage prototypes to mass production. He explains why Arduino-based prototypes often fail in manufacturing due to cost, reliability, and component availability issues, and emphasizes the importance of user testing and finding product-market fit before scaling. Rebane also shares insights on the Estonian tech ecosystem, the Garage48 Hardware & Arts hackathon, and the critical need for founders to avoid 'stupid money' and focus on making what customers actually want.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.