Why do we assemble every walking pad ourselves in Berlin?

TL;DR:

• Production of the side elements and slats is about to start. 50 sets of side elements should be finished by end of month
• The durability test in Nuremberg is holding up well (40,000+ cycles and counting)
• The team has grown: two marketing people and a production hire are now on board
• The handlebar design concept is done and being implemented (plus a surprise optional desk attachment)
• A couple of parts-quality issues cropped up, but they're being handled and it's exactly why I keep final assembly in-house

It's been a while so lots of good news this time. Production is right around the corner, the team has grown, and there are some exciting product developments to share.

Durability Testing Update

First, some encouraging news from the test lab in Nuremberg. I got a short video showing the Office Walker mid-test. At the point the video was taken, it had reached 40,000 cycles and by now it should be considerably higher. On top of that, it had already covered several thousand kilometers on a different test rig beforehand. This time around, it's holding up really well.

Interestingly, my own prototype here in Berlin has just started to squeak. It looks like the same issue that showed up on the test rig in Nuremberg before so I already have a solution for it.

Side Elements: Ready to Roll

Production of the wooden side elements should start any moment now. I received the color sample parts and went with a slightly lighter brown tone.

Before running the full batch, the manufacturer will send me the first five parts straight from production so we can double-check that everything is right. We made a few small changes recently and I want to be sure they fit perfectly. Production will keep running in the meantime, and the plan is to have 50 sets finished and delivered by the end of the month.

Slats and Other Parts

Production of the slats should also be kicking off any time now (if it hasn't yet), and many of the other parts are already finished and on their way to me.

The protective shields for the front and back are done. But after receiving a few samples, I noticed they stick out a little too far over the walking surface. So they're being reworked to be a bit narrower (for a relatively small fee), which should look much cleaner.

I also had the first logo stickers made by a neighboring company at our office to test them on the frame. Honestly, they don't look great yet. We'll need to experiment a bit more to get it right.

I don't have the final delivery times for everything yet, but those should firm up right around the time production actually starts.

A Quality Hiccup With the Crossbars

Not everything is going perfectly smoothly, though.

The first sample pieces of the crossbars (the bars that hold the side elements together and form the frame) arrived from production via air freight. Unfortunately, there were a few problems. The end pieces weren't mounted symmetrically, even though I'd asked for that repeatedly. The manufacturer suggested the parts might have twisted during transport but some of the screws were loose, and even the tight ones were twisted, so I'm fairly sure this was an assembly error rather than shipping damage.

I've asked them to just send the parts over quickly so we can correct them here ourselves. We'll likely have a bit of downtime anyway, so it's not a big deal for us to handle it.

These are exactly the kinds of issues that are a little unsettling because they aren't visible at first glance. With the distance to China and the long shipping times, catching them is more annoying than it would be if part of this production were closer to home in Germany or Europe.

But this is also a good reminder of why I'm glad to be doing the final production and assembly here in Berlin. Having an issue like this slip into a finished product would be genuinely bad. By keeping assembly in-house, I can inspect everything myself, keep full oversight of the quality, and fix problems before they ever reach you.

The Team Is Growing

The first two employees have started, and it's made a huge difference already.

Saeid has taken over marketing full-time. He brings a lot of experience (including his own background as a founder) and over the coming months he'll be building the foundation for a proper own shop, email marketing, SEO, and everything that goes with it. Meanwhile, our freelance marketer Chris keeps doing a fantastic job. Videos keep going viral, with one hitting it big last week across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

On the production side, Malik has come on board. He's an old friend I've known for about ten years. We'd lost touch for a while, but the moment I told him I was looking for someone in production, he was in. He quit his job on the spot, and now, a few months later, he's had his first day.

There isn't a ton to do yet, but we've started setting up the workshop. I'll be honest: I'm a bit chaotic, and the workshop looked exactly like that. Malik brought order to the whole thing within half a day. We mounted tables and shelves, and got the test rig back up and running.

In this early phase, Malik and I will be assembling the Office Walkers together.

Product Design News

I brought on a product designer to develop a design concept for the handlebars, and I really like what he came up with. I've handed it over to the engineer, who's now implementing it. I think the design looks genuinely sharp.

As a nice bonus, the designer also came up with an optional desk attachment — a clever solution I hadn't even considered. More on that down the line.

Setting Up Production

Marvin, my engineering consultant who's helping me set up production professionally and get the processes right, is coming by next week for two days. Together we'll look at the space, test out the production line layout he's developed, and actually build an Office Walker ourselves to see which steps and processes can be optimized.

A Personal Note

Stepping into a leadership role is very new for me, and it's been an exciting process to grow into. Even at this early stage, having a small team to share tasks with has been a huge help and honestly a bit of a relief.

That's it for this round. Thanks as always for following along.

Johannes

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