Good News, Bad News, and a Look Into the Dice Manufacturing Industry
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 12:22:43 AM
Hi everyone, I hope this update finds you well. This is the kind of update I hate giving, because I have to announce a delay in shipping.
The Good News: According to my factory rep, the Healer's Dice molds are done.
The Bad News: The factory has not started production yet (which was supposed to be done, with the dice arriving with my receiving company 24 days ago), owing to the Christmas rush.
First, I'll go into my understanding of the dice manufacturing industry in China, from my experiences there and what I've learned from other sellers/manufacturers in the industry.
When doing dice manufacturing, you typically choose a broker/design firm - Companies like Udixi, HD, Top Imprint, Bescon, or SueGao Craft are all examples of this kind of company. For the most part they don't have their own factory - they instead work with one of the dice factories in China (and are frequently the only way to get dice exported from China). Most acrylic dice are made in a small factory in Foshan China - almost everyone uses it, and thus far I haven't found evidence of another acrylic factory in China. I believe there are 2-3 different resin factories that everyone uses, and 2-3 metal diecasting factories that do dice in China. Chessex is a unique case because they do their own design work and manufacturing in the UK, but they are large enough and have been established long enough to be profitable even with the higher costs that entails.
A standard production run for acrylic dice takes at least a week - dice are churned out of the injection molding machine, then are cooled and snipped from the sprues. They then go into an enormous tumbler for a few days, after which they're removed and inked. The factory I visited does not dunk them in ink, but instead uses an enameling machine similar to ones used to ink enamel pins or coins - each face is aligned on a tray, then the machine inks all the dice on the tray rather quickly. The dice are then rotated, the machine's alignment is adjusted, and the process is repeated. This process can take several days depending on the number of dice in the batch being inked. It's several hundred times faster than inking by hand, however. Once inked, the dice go back into the tumbler for final polish.
Once the dice have undergone final polish, they're added to a sorting machine which packages them in shrink-wrapped plastic, and they undergo a final factory QC. In many cases, this is a perfunctory QC - some of the broker companies provide their own post-factory visual QC, but some do not. Although nearly all acrylic dice come from the same factory, there can be wildly different quality results from the dice received, depending on the broker's QC process. There have been some recent issues making their rounds on Facebook between one of the brokers and one of their customers due to this issue.
If I had known what I know now, I would have had the Healer's Dice made in resin instead of acrylic - it's considerably faster to set up a resin manufacturing run and the mold cost is much lower. This comes at a cost - consistency is more difficult with mass-produced resin dice (as a few wildly successful dice companies have been learning), particularly as most resin dice are manufactured in molds that are open on one face which then has to be engraved with a laser or router after casting (and alignment can be very tricky on certain dice - though with the simple d4 shape I've been using this shouldn't be as big a problem as it is with a d12 or d20). Resin dice are also considerably more expensive than acrylic (in the case of the Healer's Dice, it adds up to around 5x as expensive per die, which with a 40,000 dice production run is definitely not trivial).
Having already spent the majority of the Kickstarter revenue on supplies and the production run, I cannot afford to have another company do a production run in resin so that I can start shipping dice while I wait for the acrylic dice to be completed - if I do I will not be able to afford to ship the dice produced. I can scale up my own small dicemaking operation in the USA to produce healer's dice here, but that will take significant time - as long as 2-3 years to deliver all the dice in this Kickstarter. Right now my own operation is really only capable of making 500-600 dice/month, as I'm operating it solo while doing everything else to operate the company. I plan to scale up when I can afford to do so, hiring people to help with the administrative/fulfillment aspects of the company so that I can focus on dice prototypes/manufacturing full time. I have plans in place to establish a small/medium scale factory here in the USA, but that is a very expensive, complicated, and time-consuming process.
I'm continuing to operate the Arcanist's Armory's Etsy store, producing prototypes and acquiring inventory out of the company's own revenue from the Etsy shop - if I can scale it up enough, I may be able to hasten the timeline to fund a replacement production run if the company I've been working with vanishes. I am hoping that the dice will be delivered soon, but I've had to plan for worst-case scenarios just in case. If I don't hear anything from them by December 1st I'll start scaling up and making small batches of Healer's Dice myself so that I can begin fulfillment while I look for other options. If I have to go that route fulfillment will take considerably longer than I promised, but it will happen.
I'm very sorry to have to deliver this news. I wish I had known what I do now back when I launched this Kickstarter. I promise future Kickstarters/product launches will be far smoother, as I've learned a great deal about running a dice business from this experience.
November Update!
over 4 years ago
– Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 12:36:55 AM
Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Starting a dice business is a lot more work than I anticipated. I've brought my brother in to help manage finances and the business end of things (he's way better at that than I am - I'm a product person).
The dice molds are, according to my manufacturer, almost done - it would have been much faster to make resin molds, but I opted for acrylic to improve the regularity of the design (and because we had to make about 40,000 dice). They should be testing the molds this week, then delivery will happen shortly after that. As soon as the dice are delivered to me I'll begin fulfillment. After gaining more experience through my Etsy shop, I feel comfortable stating that I can complete fulfillment on 40-50 orders a day. Unfortunately, this means that some of the orders may arrive a little later than anticipated, as the dice are getting to me considerably later than I anticipated.
If I had known what I do now, I would have brought my brother in at the beginning to help set out the timeline for everything, and I'd probably use resin molds (which can begin delivering in ten days instead of three months) - they're more expensive overall, but considerably faster.
Thank you all for your patience! I'm working hard to get these delivered ASAP!
State of the Kickstarter! October Update - Giveaway Announcement
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Oct 07, 2019 at 02:16:51 AM
Hi everyone! I've been a bit quiet lately, but I've been working my tail off.
First, the deposit on the mold is with the manufacturer, and I'm expecting it to be done in a few weeks - as soon as I get the announcement I'll send out an update to you all! We're on track for fulfillment in December.
Second, I have an announcement on the Healer's Dice themselves - the initial production run of these dice is it - 4,000 sets will be made, but after that this mold will be retired per my licensing agreement. I'll likely create another mold in the future - a different design for Healer's Dice, but these 4,000 sets will be the only infinity-edge Healer's Dice ever made for the Arcanist's Armory. More than half of those sets have already been sold through the Kickstarter.
Third, I've been working hard to expand my product selection while I await the Healer's Dice arriving in my shop. I'm happy to announce Aurora Borealis dice in my Etsy shop as well as a perfect companion to the Healer's Dice: I call it Cleric's Panacea. Because I'm a huge fan of presentation, I've created a customized tin for these complete with laser cut foam inserts. They retail for $50, with custom engraving available on the bottom of the tin for an extra $5:
Because of how happy I am to finally have more items in my shop, I'm doing a giveaway! I've been working on full sets specific to D&D classes, starting, of course, with clerics. The giveaway is for a full playset of Cleric-related items - a dice set, a spell template circle, a set of spell tokens, and a handmade pentagonal dice tray. To enter, follow me on Instagram - @thearcanistsarmory. Instructions are there!
Thank you all again for being awesome supporters! I'm excited to get you all your Healer's Dice!
Steven
Back From China, Cards Charged on Backerkit, and Updates!
over 4 years ago
– Sat, Sep 07, 2019 at 11:08:59 PM
Hi everyone, sorry about my radio silence the past bit - I ended up overstressing my body a bit while in China and ended up with one of the worst colds I've ever experienced. Trust me, flying 12.5 hours with a cold is not a fun experience at all. On the flip side, after meeting with the factory I got to see my wife and daughters, who I haven't seen in person in over a year (visa issues have kept them in China for the past two-and-a-half years).
Meeting with the factory was great! We worked out production for the Healer's Dice in depth and I signed the contract. After that we planned out the next Kickstarter in a fair bit of depth and I was able to build a good relationship with the factory staff. I feel confident that they'll make some awesome dice for you all! I also had a LOT of ideas for future projects, and am looking forward to receiving some prototypes in the very near future - stay tuned for pictures.
I've charged cards on BackerKit at this point - we had a few cards declined, but you've got time to fix that. I'm still waiting on 38 of you to finish your surveys - if you haven't, please check your email, or use this link to request a new survey.
Thank you all for your support! I'm looking forward to getting your dice to you soon.
EDIT: Enjoy this pic my wife took of my daughter Maire and myself.
Manufacturing Update & Final Survey Reminder
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 01:44:27 AM
Hi everyone! First, if you haven't yet, please finish your backer survey. If you need it resent (or a new link to it) click the following link:
https://healers-dice.backerkit.com/
Second, I'm currently in China meeting with the manufacturer I ended up selecting. We've been negotiating production of the Healer's Dice as well as future production for a few more Kickstarter ideas I've been playing with, including some metal dice concepts and some particularly pretty acrylic and resin dice. I'm actually importing some Aurora Borealis dice sets (they are seriously gorgeous, and I couldn't pass them up), which I'll be selling in my Etsy store starting around 9/7 or so.
The factory was very interesting to see! Dice manufacturing is a moderately complex process, with each die going through a number of processes during manufacturing. I wish I'd taken some video of the inking process - it was particularly interesting to me. They have several machines which automatically go and ink all the dice very rapidly.
Your Healer's Dice will be manufactured from translucent acrylic. I'll be manually repackaging them from their plastic manufacturing containers into the final packaging I'll be shipping you, as I want each die I'm sending out to pass through my hands for now.
Thank you all for being a great group of people! Stay tuned for the next Kickstarter, coming when I start fulfillment for this one:
