Hi guys, we have just had our festive holidays here in Kenya and had a fantastic time, seeing almost the whole country and relaxing at the beach. Right now we are back to work as usual and we have decided to mix things up from our previous plans. But first let’s tell you what we have been up to until now.
We have finished the second double stand prototype and discovered that accidentally we did a lot of things right the first time! In the second version for instance the base was not as steady as in the first version due to the outer parts being higher than the middle parts, something we accidentally did right the first time… This might sound like abracadabra but what is important to know is that we found many small improvements to be made which we all incorporated into a manual. So now CooP can manufacture as many double stands as they need!
After we finished the manual we started working on the front carrier. When we went to The Green Hub however, we discovered that they had already made their own front carriers in the past which were up to production standards as available. So we started thinking, why do we need to design stuff for these guys if they are already able to make almost anything themselves? This led us to believe that maybe instead of helping them in the design aspects, they might need our help more in the business aspect. However as we mentioned previously we wanted to incorporate a crate from the Relive Plastic group into the design, this is something they had not done before so we decided that it would be the last designing we would do. We are also still working on a business plan for the front carrier. Together with the guys from The Green Hub and their practical knowledge of the production methods we designed a front carrier which is compatible with the crate. Then we started thinking about the business aspect of The Green Hub.
The guys working at The Green Hub are incredible craftsmen. With the limited resources at their disposal they still manage to do quality work and having us designing products for them did not really feel good. However, although they can make almost anything, they do not necessarily sell much. In other words they need help with the marketing and making an actual shop of The Green Hub instead of a closed building were people do occasional bicycle repairs and accessories production.
Luckily there are more people in the organization who think this way so for the continuation of these plans we need not worry too much. So we decided the best thing we could do was to make a start on a website on which people can buy the products that The Green Hub has to offer as well as making a start with a brochure.
This was it for now! Happy 2017!
