More insight into production

Here are more details about our production process for Vestaboard, divided into three key parts. We look forward to sharing more details soon including shipping schedules!  

• the Vestaboard "Bit"
• the overall Vestaboard
• the Vestaboard App

 

The Vestaboard "Bit"

The "Bit" (as seen above) is designed to land at the right letter, number, punctuation or color every time, in a gorgeous size and format unlike anything done before. This is where we have spent over 75% of R&D time to bring Vestaboard to life. When friends asked me in ‘16 and ‘17 why we hadn't yet created a fully mechanical prototype Vestaboard, I explained that it would be like building a car without wheels -- and in fact, the Bits do contain wheels!  

When we first showed Vestaboard at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2018, we had already begun testing mechanical prototype Bits that validated we could create Vestaboard. At that time we did not yet know how much each "Bit" would cost to produce at scale, whether the parts we used were fully suitable for production, or, how the "Bit" would interact with Vestaboard including exactly how it would connect and communicate with the rest of the product, stay secure during shipping, and be easily swapped in case of a maintenance issue.

I am pleased to say that we have fully completed the design process of the Bit, and are ready to move to production parts with our chosen partner!  

Referencing the schedule I shared with you at the beginning of the year:  

• Finalizing design changes on the Bit  -- complete

• Finalizing a relationship with our partner manufacturer for the Bit -- complete 

• Tooling parts for the Bit and ordering 1st run production materials -- starting now

• Building and testing the automation process for flap insertion -- this summer

• 1st short production run (aka Engineering Validation Testing / EVT) of Bits -- we expect the first production run parts in June. The EVT process will carry through summer for testing, evaluation, and incorporation of the Bits into Vestaboard
• 2nd short production run (or design validation testing / DVT ) of Bits -- proceeds after EVT
• Production validation testing (or PVT) leading to mass production of Bits -- exact dates to be finalized after we complete EVT and DVT

 

The overall Vestaboard

The overall assembly of the Vestaboard includes the housing of all the Bits, the beautiful frame and mask of the Vestaboard, the backplane PCB and micro-controller / wi-fi module, the power supply and the mounting mechanism.

We completed our first build of Vestaboard in December and took it on tour for customers in London, Zurich, New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle, as well as demo’ing it for many visitors at our office in San Francisco. (Contact us if you’d like to come by in person!) The version we built did not yet include every aspect of our complete production design, for example the nifty method to make the Bits swappable as shown in the photo above.

We have now completed all critical design elements of Vestaboard -- and they look incredible! (Thank you to the award-winning, local team at Bould Design who we have worked with on Vestaboard since our first set of mock-ups.) Referencing our schedule that I have already shared with some customers for the overall Vestaboard:

• Finalizing design changes including a removable frame / mask and a secure, swappable method for the Bits -- complete
• Selecting our partner for final assembly -- estimated completion this month
• 1st short production run (or EVT) of Vestaboard -- this will shortly follow the EVT process of the Bit as described above
• Ensuring EVT units meet all required third party safety, regulatory and technical standards and passing our own internal tests -- this summer we will test around 30 units to ensure we understand all aspects of how Vestaboard will perform under a variety of conditions from sunlight, to heat, to cold, to humidity, to when it is dropped, to how it is secured; the results of testing and the issuance of regulatory approvals can affect schedule
• 2nd production run (or DVT) of Vestaboard -- this will follow the EVT process and include beta units for our earliest customers (our "First 50" group) including replacement of all digital prototypes mentioned below
• Organizing logistics and shipping (primarily for US, Canada, UK, Western Europe, Australia as well as all other international shipments) -- we have already been investigating all aspects of logistics, and we'll share details soon including shipping costs and estimated customs. Our shipping estimates are looking very reasonable!
• 3rd production run (or PVT leading to mass production) of Vestaboard -- this includes shipment group 1 (for which we have estimated Fall 2019) through current shipment group 8 (for which we have estimated Spring 2020).  

 

The Vestaboard App

As we mentioned in another update here in the Customer Portal, we have deployed the first generation web version of the software to approximately 25 customers. If you are interested in becoming an early reviewer of the software, please indicate this in the Preferences section of the portal.

When you receive your Vestaboard there will be a mobile app to use to activate and control your Vestaboard. This will include the following features, many of which are already reflected in the current web version of the software:

• Basic input with an arrangement algorithm to ensure what is typed looks great
• A WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) editor so that you can put any character at any position of the Vestaboard
• A color pattern editor
• The ability to input and edit messages that recur (such as quotes, sayings, phrases)
• Integrations with Slack for work and IFTTT for home control
• Calendar integrations for scheduled messages with Outlook, Google and iOS
• Voice integrations with Google Assistant and Alexa
• Many, many more! If you can imagine a feature you’d love to see in Vestaboard, please let us know.

In addition, we plan to publish specifications for an API for Vestaboard by the end of May so that you or a developer you know can simulate third party application control of a Vestaboard too.