80HE Batch 3 update!
80HE Batch 3 update!
(Originally posted to Discord on the 22nd of November)
With the second batch (mostly) behind us, it's time to start talking about batch 3! Production for this batch is well underway, and the expected timeframes for deliveries are starting to come into focus. For this third batch, we're going to tweak to how we handle batch allocations in our system.
Scaling Batch Updates
Previously, all orders within a batch had a single batch name to reference one purchase order with the manufacturer, and split per fulfillment center. For example, batch 2 of 80HEs was split into Bridge, Brug, and Qiao. Two reasons why this needs to be improved.
- Manufacturer ready dates
- Freight shipments
Manufacturer ready dates
Previously, a "batch" would have a single ready date when all of the products would be completed. Because the 80HE has so many different versions, the factory will finish all of the keyboards from one type before moving on to the next type. At this scale, it could be weeks between the first version being completed and the last.
For example, the factory may first produce all of the ANSI-US preassembled black plastic keyboards. Then they'll start working on ISO and JIS black plastic. Once all three layouts of black plastic are completed, they'll start working on assembling the ANSI-US ghost plastic. And so on and so forth, until all the versions and layouts are completed.
There's no reason to wait for the last version to be completed before we start the freight shipments of the first version!
Freight shipments
Getting the keyboards to our various fulfillment centers is much more complex than it used to be. Back in the day, a batch would get one freight shipment per fulfillment center.
These days though... Well, the second batch of 80HEs heading to the Dutch fulfillment center needed eight(!!) airplanes to get delivered!
If, for example, the black zinc keyboards experience a delay, that doesn't impact the rest of the batch being ready to go.
With the previous system, we had to either a) delay everyone's shipments until the last freight shipment delivered or b) start the fulfillment process, and hope that the last freight shipment delivers in time to slot into the fulfillment process without issue. Neither of those are great options!
What will change?
Orders will get reassigned to a "mini batch" based on the specific version of the keyboard in their order.
Some of these versions will be ready sooner than is currently listed in the Wooting Hub. Some of these versions will be ready later.
Then, once the freight shipments are booked, if any of the "mini batches" get sent in multiple freight shipments, we'll again split those orders into micro-mini-batches.
How will this be better?
The biggest benefit to these changes is that your order's delivery estimate will be much more accurate for your specific order.
Another benefit to this change is that we can spread out the fulfillment of the overall batch, instead of flooding the fulfillment center with tens of thousands of orders at once.
No more waiting in queue for a week or more!
When will this be completed?
Orders will get reallocated to the mini batches over the next two weeks. It's important that we take our time to do this reallocation carefully, so that we can honor the first come first serve system we've created.
You will see on your Wooting Hub when you've been reallocated to the mini-batch. Once that is completed, you will need to "refresh your rewards" on the Wooting Hub so that your discord account gets the right mini-batch role.
After everyone has been reallocated, I will make sure to ping each of the mini-batch roles and the overall batch roles so that everyone knows to update their Wooting Hub discord connection. From then, batch updates will tag the mini-batch roles for updates.