Fri Aug 23 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 12:45:18 AM
Software Update
Recap
After the team decided that the iOS app was working well enough based on user testing and feedback, Tom started on the Android app at the beginning of July.
As we have detailed in previous updates, both iOS and Android apps were a complete mess and we decided to break the relationship with the development company we were working with. Tom worked with the really bad iOS code to bring it to a decent working condition. From this experience, we realized that the Android code was completely unusable and our best bet would be to start from scratch.
With the iOS code still being hacky and of bad design, we also decided that it would eventually be replaced by a new well designed app on React Native. React Native allows us to use the same code that is developed for Android and use it for iOS too with some slight configuration. There are some tradeoffs with choosing this option, but we now understand that those tradeoffs are well worth it.
Tom Learns React Native Android Development
Hopefully we are all continuously learning from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. Tom certainly learned a lot through the experience of getting the iOS app in working order. Now it was time to learn how to avoid so many of those problems.
Tom started with a clean slate, very carefully defining the objectives for the new app and problems that needed to be solved. He conducted just enough research necessary to choose a solution for each problem while trying to execute as swiftly and lean as possible. The learning curve was still quite steep. We are confident that a lot of problems that were experienced during iOS will now be resolved with the new techniques and methodologies.
Android Progress
Tom first learned to utilize a Test Driven Development approach and industry standard software architecture principles. Then he learned React Native development. Login and Session management of the Android app is now complete along with a basic UI for these features.
At this time he is now starting to feel comfortable with the new development environment and methodologies. Development should begin to move much more rapidly. Testing and debugging should also be exponentially faster than with the iOS app.
Android Login Feature
Android Delivery
We have also changed our app delivery strategy. We’ll first deliver a very basic beta version of the Android app to begin getting immediate user feedback. This is expected to be ready at the very beginning of October.
The first version will be missing features, but will include basic status information of Mu tags. This is no reason to be concerned, because app features will be added, improved, and delivered on a weekly basis.
We will be communicating with you a lot during this process to deliver your most immediate needs and improve your experience with the Mu tag continuously. Even once there is a high level of satisfaction with the Mu tag and app, we will not stop improving the experience. This is why we will include customer support directly within the app itself so that you can talk to us easily.
Feedback Required
For those lucky backers who already received Mu tags and Mu chargers, please provide us needed and communicate with us over the same email thread.
How To Update My Shipping Address?
To update your address, go back to your BackerKit survey by inputting your Indiegogo email here. If you are not able to update the address through the link above, or need any additional help, please email us at [email protected] for the fastest response.
WARNING:
We still have over 100 backers who didn't fill out their shipping addresses through Backerkit Survey. If we don't have your shipping addresses, we can't ship out the rewards to you. Please fill the shipping address by inputting your Indiegogo email here: https://mu-tag-world-s-smallest-loss-prevention-device-travel.backerkit.com
Fri Aug 23 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 12:38:13 AM
Hi Kickstarter Family,
We apologize for the delayed update. As we mentioned in the last update, we were undergoing a robust engineering prototype unit testing phase. Initially, we had an amazing yield of Mu tags with unpainted plastic parts. We thought that we were all good and ready to push the button of the 11K unit production. We understand, empathize and appreciate the patience of all our backers throughout our journey, for this is not a news that makes them happy, and neither of us. We want our product out as bad as anyone else, but we want to make sure the quality of our products is up to user expectations. Even with such necessary delays, we want to make sure to convey our message to all people who believed in us that no matter what, we will never give up!
Once we got our UV oil painted plastic parts from a credible spray painting factory, we went through the same process of assembling Mu tags, ultrasonic welding. We found several units had cracks always occuring at the same weak location during ultrasonic welding due to the vibration force. The damages region was a thin plastic lining on the top plastic cover that would be encircling the Mu Tag button (there was a circular cutout in top cover to fit button piece). This is something we never encountered previously and were shocked by the low yield rate.
After discussing with our vendors, we quickly formed an action plan to solve this unexpected issue. In the last two weeks, we have modified our Mu tag injection mold design, produced many more plastic parts, shipped to our spray painting factory, and waited for them to modify their spray painting tools as we changed our plastic structure design.
ACTION REQUIRED: Please fill out your device survey if you have not done it yet. You should have already received the device survey to your Kickstarter/Indiegogo email address (same as your backerkit survey email address) from [email protected]. With over 2000 backers, we only received 1014 responses so far.
Production Process
As we found out that so many plastic parts had the same weak location being cracked, we inspected the issue at a deeper level.
The UV oil paint will make the plastic stiffer and more sensitive to vibrations and cracking. We tried questioning our spray painting factory if there is anyway to reduce the UV oil’s negative effect. Our spray painting factory was also Apple’s vendor, where they produce the Beats headphones for them. They told us that it’s not possible to reduce the UV oil effect on plastic, unless we are willing to sacrifice the Mu tag looks. We hit a dead end on that side.
We decided to take a longer route: changing the Mu tag structure design. It required us to change our existing steel injection tool. It’s certainly not an easy process to modify the Mu tag injection mold. It may even come with a downside of damaging the mold and reduce the life cycle of such mold. It takes at least one week to finish. In the new design we removed the thin plastic part on the top cover and moved it to bottom cover for added strength, such that now the button will be encircled by edges of both top and bottom cover and not just top cover like before.
After a collaborative discussion among all teammates and vendors, we decided to take the route of changing the injection tool. We are glad that the injection mold came out to be in good shape.
We produced 800 units of Mu tag plastic parts, shipped them to the spray paint factory, had them redo the decoration process, then ship back the painted plastic parts to our assembly factory.
We are confident that we solve this plastic crack issue with the changes we made.
We have already kickoffed the Mu tag PCBA process with 2000 units finished so far, and only 4 defective. It’s a big win and high achievement from last year’s 60% defect rate.
All Mu fobs are in our factory warehouse. Mu charger production process is going smoothly.
If we don’t encounter other unknown manufacturing issues, we will be able to have all Mu tags shipped to USA on Sep 22th 2019. We will keep you all updated along this process.
Our CEO Lang Mei, will literally be sleeping on the assembly factory floor to ensure the quality of all 11K units.
Check out the Mu tag colors below:
A Naked Mu tag
Sat Jun 29 '19 Announcement
almost 7 years ago
– Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 07:59:07 AM
Hi Indiegogo Family,
We are back to share what we have been doing the last month and a half! First of all, we finished building injection molds and engineering prototype units. It’s a huge victory and validation of all design files.
We are undergoing a robust engineering prototype units testing phase. Furthermore, Tom fixed two major iOS bugs: huge data consumption and phone battery consumption.
ACTION REQUIRED: Please fill out your device survey ASAP. You should have already received the device survey to your Kickstarter/Indiegogo email address (same as your backerkit survey email address) from [email protected].
Production Progresses
Here are the newest produced Mu tags along with Mu chargers, Mu fobs, and Mu holders. Mu tag is truly the world’s smallest loss prevention tag on the market, and it weighs only 3 grams!
The final product which you will receive will be even better than what you see here. We found a few very small improvements needed on the Mu tag UV oil paint and the logo paint. We are working with our vendors to solve those issues.
Our Mu tag and Mu charger’s bluetooth functionality and charging functionality have been tested respectively. During our engineering prototypes reliability testing phase, we gave this list requirements to our manufacturer.
Here are a few pictures of the assembly process.
Despite of the UV oil paint issue on Mu tags, we are still confident that all of you guys will receive the Mu tag in August at your home regardless of your location or nationality.
Once we finish the engineering prototype testing phase, we will enter the final engineering prototype phase based errors discovered during the engineering prototype testing phase.
Fulfillment Process
In order to avoid the international shipment issue which we faced with our previous fulfillment partner and any potential fulfillment issues, we decided to do the pick and place, print the shipping labels by ourselves for all our crowdfunding orders. Then, we will ship out through USPS network to around the world. We will mark the package as reward/samples, no commercial/resale value to avoid any potential tax/duty charges for our international backers.
ACTION REQUIRED - Device Survey
Please watch out for an email from [email protected]. Within the email, you need to fill out a 30-second survey on Google form. Please only fill out the survey once!
We still have many backers who doesn't have any charging device in their orders, no Mu charger or Mu hub. As we mentioned in our previous update, we provided $5 credit for those to buy a new Mu charger through their Backerkit Survey. For anyone has a Mu hub in their pledge, he/she will receive a free Mu charger.
Furthermore, we had already emailed to all those backers a personal email to remind them to add a charging device into their orders.
How To Update My Shipping Address?
To update your address, go back to your BackerKit survey by inputting your Indiegogo email here. If you are not able to update the address through the link above, or need any additional help, please email us at [email protected] for the fastest response.
WARNING:
We still have 112 backers who didn't fill out their shipping addresses through Backerkit Survey. If we don't have your shipping addresses, we can't ship out the rewards to you. Please fill the shipping address by inputting your Indiegogo email here: https://mu-tag-world-s-smallest-loss-prevention-device-travel.backerkit.com.
Thu Jun 6 '19 Announcement
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, Jun 06, 2019 at 09:29:03 AM
Hi Indiegogo Family,
If you have installed the iOS app, please read this and take action immediately!
iOS bug may use HIGH amount of your mobile data plan
It has now been reported by two of our backers that the iOS app has used over 25GB of their cellular data. Please disable cellular data on the Informu app immediately so that you don't risk overage charges on your data plan.
Once you have disabled Cellular Data you can continue to use the app and it should still be mostly functional.
We are currently fixing this bug as well as a few other bugs that have been reported. We are also drastically improving Left Behind notifications and app battery consumption. The new version of the iOS app will be out within the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.
I would like to give a big shout out to all of our backers that have provided Mu tag and iOS app feedback! Thank you very much. Without your help we cannot create a truly mind-blowing Mu tag experience. We aren't quite there yet, but we WILL get there.
Don't forget to keep the feedback coming!
As always, thanks for your support,
Tom
Fri May 3 '19 Announcement
almost 7 years ago
– Fri, May 03, 2019 at 11:17:49 PM
Hi Indiegogo Family,
As we promised to many of you, we are sharing the final product delivery timeline in this monthly update! It’s been a long time coming and here we are! We didn’t want to share any sort of timeline until we were very confident in the estimates. A bad mistake we have made in the past is sharing faulty estimates and we want to learn from our mistakes.
We will receive the entire production batch to fulfill all backer pledges at the end of June from our contract manufacturer in China. The entire bulk shipment will arrive at our US warehouse in 10-15 days. Then we will ship out from our US warehouse to all of you in 69 countries around the world. After adding a 2-4 week buffer to account for any problems, we expected all complete pledge packages to arrive at your house in August 2019.
Here’s some more great news. We shipped out all of the 400-unit batch to our selected backers! We are thrilled to hear hardware and software feedback from all of you in the next few weeks. We are determined to make the best product possible! Thank you!
Customer Interviews
We need your help. We are scheduling phone calls to learn more about your Mu tag experience. Companies do not build amazing products alone. It requires the company and customers working together.
How to book a meeting with us?
For those who have received the product, we’ll send you an email that includes a link for scheduling and a link with a pre-interview survey. We’ll make sure you have had the chance to use your Mu tag(s) for at least one week before sending you the scheduling email.
For those who have not received the product, we will definitely want to schedule interviews with you after you have received your pledge in August. Continuous improvement is the name of our game and your feedback will be extremely valuable.
Fulfillment Progress
After having a bad experience with ShipBob we are searching for a new fulfillment option. We’d love to hear from any of our backers that might have any fulfillment recommendations. Please send us an email to [email protected] with any recommendations, why you recommend a particular company or reasons we should avoid a particular company.
Currently, we are exploring these options:
https://www.easyship.com/
https://fulfillrite.com/
https://sales.getwhiplash.com/
https://www.floship.com/
https://www.sselect.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/epic-fulfillment/about/
https://www.chinadivision.com/
https://redstagfulfillment.com/
Newest Production Plan and Status
We signed the formal manufacturing service agreement with our contract manufacturer on April 9th. On April 13th, we signed off on all of the final versions of
- electronic files,
- mechanical files,
- product functional requirements,
- product colors,
- materials & finishing requirements,
- product mandatory certification requirements, and
- the purchase order.
Immediately, our contract manufacturer started to place orders for long lead-time components including Bluetooth ICs purchased from the USA and rechargeable lithium batteries. At this very moment, the Bluetooth ICs are being shipped from our American vendor to Shenzhen, China.
Started of Making Injection Mold
Our contract manufacturer started new plastic injection molds back on April 11th. The raw tool is NAK80 steel made by Daido from Nagoya, Japan. NAK80 is a 40 HRC pre-hardened, high performance, high precision, mold steel. Here’s the tool progress below.
Mu charger tool preliminary step
Mu tag tool preliminary step
Based on our current production plan, our nearest production target is May 29th for 50 EP units of Mu tag. It will have the exact functions as the final finished product. This ensures that we have found any potential flaws or quality issues in the production process before pushing the button on mass production.
In order to do that, we have to receive all electronic bill of materials and mechanical parts like magnets in the middle of May. We will update you all on the status of hitting this goal in the middle of May.
Here is a summary of the production timeline.
- By May 10th
- All bill of materials arrive at the contract manufacturer facility
- BOM: Bluetooth IC, battery, PCB, switch, LED, USB, Pogo pin, magnets etc.
- April 11th - May 15th
- Injection Mold tooling completed
- May 16th - May 20th
- Injection Mold plastic T0
- May 20th - 27th
- Plastic T0 paint process and optimization
- May 27th - 28th
- Engineering prototype: 200 units of PCBA and injection mold plastics T1 run
- May 29th - June 5th
- June 10th - June 14th
- Final engineering prototype
- June 14th - June 21 th
- June 22nd - 29th
Improved Mu charger & Mu tag connection
We have greatly improved the Mu tag charging experience by making the connection to the Mu charger way better. Check out this demo video.
Testing process and testing fixtures
We are currently working with our contract manufacturer to design the testing procedures to meet all production requirements. Here’s our current draft.
Lang will be on the factory floor during the final assembly and fulfillment process. He will personally ensure every single unit being shipped to you meets our high quality standards. Additionally ensuring all backers color preferences, product quantities, and shipping addresses are correct.
We will keep a very detailed update on the production process. We want all of you to be part of the Mu tag story!
Thank you very much for your continued support. We truly hope to amaze and please you with your final product!
Footnotes
Refund Policy Update
As mentioned in the last update, we are very sorry to inform everyone that we no longer have the ability to process refunds. We allowed refund requests for one year and a half, keeping it open for as long as possible. All funds, personal credit cards, and loans have been allocated to manufacturing production. We are extremely low on cash and have no other choice moving forward to ensure backer delivery and product success.
How To Update My Shipping Address?
To update your address, go back to your BackerKit survey by inputting your Indiegogo email here. If you are not able to update the address through the link above, or need any additional help, please email us at [email protected] for the fastest response.
