FEATURED VIDEO
ExFog System Design and Manufacturing
Frustrated by quality and delivery problems with its first contract manufacturing partner, Battlewear Components turned to Z-AXIS to manufacture its innovative new ExFog anti-fog system for full-seal goggles. Z-AXIS found ways to make the ExFog system quieter, increase the battery life, and eliminate cosmetic defects – in a matter of weeks.
“Z-AXIS solved a lot of problems… that we didn’t even know we had,” said Aaron Bennett of Battlewear Components.
Video Transcript
About the company and product
The company is Battlewear Components, the invention is the ExFog anti-fog system.
In short the ExFog anti-fog system is a small lightweight 2.9 ounce fan driven system designed to move air basically from the outside in to full sealed goggles – any type of full-sealed goggle – to help regulate the temperature in the goggle and get rid of goggle fog.
So we wanted to have something that was really really versatile that could move very very rapidly from either head wear to no head wear to different head wear. It’s a fully self-contained unit, it’s made out of lexan polycarbonate so it’s designed to take a beating – it’s same stuff they use in bulletproof glass.
The current manufacturer that we had, they just weren’t equipped to deal with the actually quite large-scale volume increases that we were seeing as a business that was coming out of the gate. So we started running into some issues. We started running into some variability in the quality. We started running into certainly demand issues in terms of them being able to keep up with product.
And there were some others that actually came out later on that we didn’t even realize were problems at the time, it’s just that Z-AXIS solved a lot of problems, once we started working with them, that we didn’t even know we had.
One of the things that I like they really want to know everything about the product. They want to know what are we using it for, what are our intentions, what do we want to do as far as making it better? You know we had talked about some variability in quality but where did those issues lie? And how did they affect our end customers?
And really got in depth enough to know that we felt that they were taking a very very serious look, almost from a customer standpoint, on how to make this product better.
The design process from that point was really good in that – number one it was fast – it was quicker than we thought it was going to be. And when we had received the prototype and got it a back and tested it – they had exceeded really in about all areas.
We wanted a product that was … that was quieter; they found a way to make that happen. Through their expertise in electronics and understanding how to program it properly had actually found a way to not only extend the overall life of the product so that they weren’t hammering the fan so hard with power when it was turned on, but they had also found a way to increase our battery life – and in no small way.
We had actually had to do some work to hide or mask some aesthetic issues that were just part of the manufacturing process – we kind of had to clean that up a little bit before. They completely eliminated that. So the sealing of the lid to the body and how they sealed the manifold of the body – with the same stuff, with the same sealants – they had done it in a way that was so clean that there were absolutely no aesthetic issues with the product at all. At it looks cleaner, it performs better.
To have a product that’s 2.9 ounces and seeing such a vast increase in battery life, to see such a decrease in sound, to see such an increase in the overall aesthetics, and to do it all for a significantly less investment from our end across the board – even now it’s just hard kind of putting words to that.
That was not an expectation, they exceeded anything that we wanted on this product. And because of that, once we received that final prototype it was absolutely no question moving forward. And I will say this, the products that we’ve gotten since then have been easily as consistent as that original prototype, which is also normally not a common thing as well, as we all know.
Their lead times from the beginning – it arrives at our door when they say they are with… again the same quality and certainly meeting our expectations across the board.
So one, very happy with that and again to be able to say that… is one of the biggest things I could say about Z-AXIS and again that’s because I’ve never experienced that in my 18 years of manufacturing, I have never experienced that.
And I will tell you our customers were so happy to know – the ones that had been waiting for product to come in – to get that product earlier than expected and to be able to get that product out and in time and in their hands – I remember those conversations, that just felt like a million bucks because we just plain wouldn’t have gotten that done before.
We also saw just from a personality standpoint that Z-AXIS was very easy to deal with. They were extremely responsive, and they were very interested in taking on the product, and they were very interested in seeing what they could do to help. And over several follow-ups that that customer service level really never changed; we always continued to have really good service levels and responses and follow-up from them.
And we also didn’t realize that you could have the kind of positive non-combative relationship with a manufacturer until we started working with Z-AXIS. I would definitely encourage anybody, whether looking or not, to look at getting a second opinion and give Z-AXIS some time.