February 2023 Manufacturing Update

As per our last update, during the mass manufacturing process, we found an issue with our reservoirs in which pins were getting stuck in the mold. Luckily the fix was addressed relatively quickly. Our partners sent us images of the fixed reservoirs for initial look over and samples of the revised reservoirs for final approval before mass production continued.

The reservoir issue was fixed but when we received the parts we found unacceptable scratches that were consistent between samples, suggesting there were new marks on the mold. We realized that tiny bits of metal from the machining process had scratched the mold.

Typically these minor scratches aren’t an issue with extraction, but because of the shallow draft of this mold, it can catch on even the smallest of deformations. As a result, we insisted they re-polish the molds for the reservoir.

Because we didn’t plan for this additional step, Ralf is now curled in a ball crying.

New Timeline

Now that Ralf has stopped crying, here is the new timeline: The missing reservoirs are expected to be completed by approximately April 15th. 4-5 days after that, we expect them to be shipped to Mexico (where final assembly occurs). The expected arrival date to arrive at the factory is May 11-12th.

As this is the first production run, we’re going to be testing the initial units rigorously. Usually, in the rollout of a brand new product, there would be a small batch, maybe 500-1000 units, sent to customers. The customers would have time to use the product and any issues that crop up would be addressed before a larger run is implemented. But we know that so many of you are so excited we intend to go straight to full production.

We want to ramp to 250 units/day by the end of May, and expect to fill a container with the first shipment of Instafloss to the USA sometime in the week of June 5th.