I'm at nearly full "stuck" for filling neck rest orders. 

The PVC I use for the CURVE neck rests has been back-ordered, and the latex fill is no longer available except in mattress-sizes the wholesaler will no longer cut.  In a way the latex really isn't a loss since the manufacturer couldn't control its density and the variations were definitely noticeable. 

So last week I picked out some really nice medical grade memory foam that'll definitely be a great upgrade.  The down side is it's three times as expensive as the latex.  They didn't have samples of a large enough size to be able to choose the right density so I came home for the long weekend without fill material...another delay.  

I'm going back to Tacoma mid-week to check out the different foam densities, choose one and get some foam cut, and then to pick up the PVC material.

Clearly this is venting and a not-so-subtle hope for customer patience while I sort this out.  All materials should be in my shop by mid-week and I'll be back in production.  Then it's off to visit fabricators to see about automating production of the brackets and bases. THAT will change my life.

It's definitely springtime.  The garden, re-making the pond with new plumbing and bentonite, laying down a patio, rewiring and remodeling the laundry room, re-wiring my shop, finishing fabricating two steel gates, building some stone walls and a myriad of other projects all compete for my time.  Plus for the moment I blessedly have an abundant amount of consulting work taking the bulk of my day time.  And then there's trying to squeeze in a weekend trike ride with Pen and filling Finer recliner orders.  There just isn't enough time in the day.

Then in every spare nanosecond Travis is always up to a game of fetch (he's even willing to play in the dark.)  He's always got a ball in his mouth, and no matter what I'm doing he'll push the ball under my feet with his nose and then sit patiently staring at the ball...for hours...until I pick it up and toss it.

So I'm having a tough time making shop time for the neck rests, and I'm finding myself out there in the middle of the night.  Getting bids from fabricators is momentarily stalled...I just need the time to meet with them, and I just found out the latex I've been using for fill is no longer available.  I complained about the lack of consistency in the latex density from batch to batch, and it turns out I wasn't the only one.  Plus the supplier said cutting it was a nightmare.  So I've got to work with them to find a suitable replacement which will probably be a medical grade closed cell and unfortunately more expensive.

Even though all this juggling is making me nuts it's clear that all the competing projects and the fabricating challenges are a learning opportunity.  Learning more about manufacturing is really exciting.

The good news is that neck rests continue to leave the shop.  Here are a couple of the latest...a ROLL and a CURVE for Jim Artis and his new quad, and a very cool tiger CURVE for Tony Geraci.  

 

And people continue to say nice things about their neck rests.  " I wanted to let you know I got your neck rest and just love it.  I have ridden with it today on a 50 mile ride and absolutely love it."  "Neck-rest received, installed and test-ridden today on a 26 mile ride. Your design is like night and day compared with Catrike's stock component - well done."  Now if I can just do them faster.