It all started in 2009 in the hay loft over our stable, where my 60-year-old mother and I built a fully modern, well-lit, and insulated production hall. It was too much work lifting and lowering tons of net material to and from the second floor, and when the personnel left for the day, I moved all the sewing machines to the sides to clear enough floor space for cutting the nets we would need for the next day. Everything was cut by hand, with scissors. We endured one winter, but after that, we moved to a 20 times larger facility down in the village. Even though that changed everything, we made sure to bring the “family-feeling” with us. We were very lucky with the layout of the new facility; it could not have been better even if we had known what we wanted. We managed to create a workflow so extremely efficient that when I went to Beijing to discuss the outsourcing of the cutting job, they declined to bid against our Swedish production after having seen our cutting times. No, nothing was cut with scissors anymore. The long cuts were done walking and the short cuts standing, but before we could start cutting, the net had to be stretched out on the floor, 500 square meters or 5000 square feet, for perfection control. When the net was flat on the floor, small groups walked over the entire net to visually inspect every single mesh. Small issues could be corrected right away, and more serious ones were marked with red yarn to be handled in cutting. Most work was done with different kinds of sewing machines, but each person had the right to schedule one hour per day at the cutting benches, where work was done standing up. We cut 17 differently shaped pieces with an average size of just below 1 square meter = 10 square feet, so there was a lot of stretching and waving when putting them in place for sewing. I was the “big boss” for the production, but that part of my job was just being there if someone wanted to ask me anything. All questions, like when to do what, for the whole production to run smoothly was handled by the group themselves. No middle management. The business grew with 300% per year for 4 consecutive years, and the profit was so good that my accountant asked me if I was aware of our profitability (of course I was).
In 2016 we started production in the Czech Republic, and we started small here too, before moving to a much larger facility.
Next time, I hope we can start bigger from the beginning, with a much larger facility, reach 50 sewing machines and 100 employees on two shifts, as fast as possible. 100 employees might sound like a lot, but that is based on the assumption that TSC would sell one unit of my flagship model per week at each store. We should be able to do much better since the world is a big place.
I don’t think anyone knows more about SlowFeeding and the production of my complex products, but that is just a small piece of the whole cake, and all the rest I need help with, and that is why I want to do this as a Joint Venture together with someone who already has all the rest up and running.