The Move Pics and Updates!

[fsn]

Hang on ... where was the Throne Room, the Punishment Wing, the Casting Dwarf Pens, Milady's Dimple Emporium, and the gaunt wretch that used to be Dave? 

Looking very snazzy.

[paulr]

All that and 222 orders

[Orcs]

the gaunt wretch that used to be Dave? 

I think you must be mistaken FSN. Every time I have seen Dave at a show he is either eating Pie and chips, or drinking a Latte while "networking" (well thats what he call skiving off for a coffe every 10 mins) 

So I hardly you can call him either gaunt or a wretch.

[fsn]

Every time I have seen Dave at a show he is eating Pie and chips,

It's the only time he's allowed to eat.


On another matter Leon, aside from having extra elbow room, do you think the new premises will increase productivity? Better workflows etc?

[Leon]

On another matter Leon, aside from having extra elbow room, do you think the new premises will increase productivity? Better workflows etc?

Definitely, on several fronts as well. 

- The laser machines used to be crammed down a 6x15ft strip in the old place so it was a pain trying to get up and down to empty them.  With a new 20x15ft room there's plenty of space to spread out and make it more efficient.
- The casting stations used to be in the corners of the workshop with the moulds sticking out from walls and inbetween the tables, so it was quite disjointed.  The new layout with all 4 stations in quadrants in the middle, with moulds in chronological order along the walls is much easier to get around.  The new tables also have shelf space for several ranges, so each caster is able to put their most frequently used ranges on their own table and remove the walking/carrying about.
- The packaging room is about 3 times the size with all of our stock storage in there.  As well as the obvious space improvements, it's also now dust-free which keeps the stock nice and clean for sending out.
- The office has gone from an 8x10ft box with no space for filing systems to a 27x15ft proper office space with room for two full desk setups, filing cabinets, book shelves, etc.  I'll be able to set up a 'Design Wall' where we can hang all of the various projects we've got on the go, I can make a permanent photo-booth area for taking pics, a permanent 'figure cleanup' station for getting new releases prepped, etc.  There's even space for a couple of tub chairs and a coffee table to have mini-meetings at!

We've seen the efficiency already as we've posted out over 200 orders for two weeks running now and we've completely caught up on all of the orders placed during the move. We've currently got about 50 orders pending in total, which is something that we usually only manage around Christmas/New Year when things go quiet.  About a dozen of those orders are waiting on various stock to arrive as well, so it's not a delay at our end of things.  The pre-20th century casting guys actually ran out of orders on Thursday, which doesn't happen very often!

It'll take a while for us to get everything running properly and for me to implement a lot of the processes that I'd like to have in place, but within a couple of months we should be running pretty smoothly I think.

[fsn]

That's good to hear.

I've put three orders in during May, and they've all been despatched within 3-4 days.   




In Middle-Borough, pre-C20 casters are standing idle as their machines cool. You know what will happen next, we've seen it before. They will idly start discussing Hegel's Dialectics, or the merits of abiogenesis and panspermia, and the next thing the whole workforce will have downed tools and started debating weighty matters. That leads to a massive consumption of custard creams and The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Before you know it the pre-C20 will be entrenched in their support of String Theory and the packers will be convinced in their lived experience of padded bags and there will be a breakdown of order as the C20 team will have formed an anarcho-syndicalist cabal and will be disrupting the means of production by providing Pz IVa turrets to PzIVh hulls, whilst the despatch team will be randomly assigning packages to based on cosmic ordering and the language of flowers. Meanwhile, Milady in a strike against the patriarchy will reject the notion of sorting moulds in chronological order, in favour of a pseudo-order approved by Simone de Beavoir, whilst the tub chairs will be appropriated by the number crunchers in a shockjng misinterpretation of the principles of Confucius.

For just £5.50, you can order a pack of SC5 "Mahdists - Shaven Head". By this simple act, you will keep a pre-C20 casting dwarf from dabbling in C19 German philosophy, and so prevent the ultimate disintegration of society as we know it.   

[Westmarcher]

 ...... oh, no ...... he's forgotten to take his pills again.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Nah -p they have never worked 

[Techno II]

The pre-20th century casting guys actually ran out of orders on Thursday, which doesn't happen very often!

Well.....I trust you sent them to find my 'dollies' mould and spin it oodles of time, if they had nothing else to do......Bloomin' slackers.

Cheers - Phil.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Bit impatient there Phil 

[Techno II]

Well.....you keep telling me to work faster.

At the mo' I'm recycling old masters from the Falklands' and Korean Wars ranges.
They take far longer to 'strip back' than fresh dollies....and the old figures are far more fragile.

Cheers - Phil.

[fsn]

...... oh, no ...... he's forgotten to take his pills again.

You'll be sorry when you can't place an order without a 2000 word essay on the Permian Extinction!

Casting dwarves have to be kept busy. It's not well known that Stephen Fry was employed by Minifigs to cast their Ancients ranges until there was a delay in the supply of raw materials and he picked up a copy of the Mabinogian. He had to let go after an altercation with a colleague who was incapable of reciting the lineage of Amphitryon.

[Leon]

Well.....I trust you sent them to find my 'dollies' mould and spin it oodles of time, if they had nothing else to do......Bloomin' slackers.

I think Ian was on with that on Thursday, I'll have a check and see.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I think Ian was on with that on Thursday, I'll have a check and see.

No Thursday I was invigillating at All Saints in Kirby 

[Leon]

Another update now as we have some carpets!  The carpet fitter came on Friday and got them all sorted for us, so we quickly got the office furniture up there and into place. 

OfficeCarpet1 by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr

OfficeCarpet2 by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr

StairwellCarpet by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr

OfficeFurniture by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr


We've also framed out the office and workshop doors.

OfficeDoorFramed by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr

WorkshopDoorFramed by Leon Pengilley, on Flickr


And we've got another update video for those who prefer their updates in moving pictures.