From the diary of H. Harris:

Dear diary,

The final chapter of 2017 has brought strong promise and headstrong demand for Northwest Rapid Manufacturing in the coming year. A small business with big business clients has led us to an undeniable fact: we need to buy a new printer. This is a big deal. These bad boys aren’t cheap.

Some history for you, diary: we were created out of pure necessity for Northwest UAV (NWUAV), our parent company. (They’re now referred to as our sister company, which has all sorts of incestual undertones.) The problem: they were purchasing “prototype” parts from the open market. Part quality was hit-or-miss, delivery was unreliable, and the weak knowledge base to solve problems would bring production to a standstill. We couldn’t believe that parts were often held together with glue instead of being fully bonded by the laser. (Why?!)

With these consistent issues, our parent/sister company decided to purchase their own equipment. Their new EOS P390 printer became a workhorse, pumping out strong, thin-walled parts with no post-processing. With successful, economical part production down pat, Northwest Rapid Manufacturing was formed in late 2008. And now, here we are, at the end of 2017, looking to bring our printer count from three to four. We’re excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time because buying a new printer is no small feat. There are many things to take into consideration, and my head hurts.

As this telenovela develops, I’ll be back with more to share, diary. Until next time.

- h.h.