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Monday, May 28, 2007, 01:30 PM - All About THE MOVE
Well, we're getting there. The office, electrics, soft goods (including the dye room), props storage and the spray booth are already in the new building. More comes in every day... We have a lot of stuff! And it's amazing how much we've gotten rid of. Everyone is saying how great it is to have a chance to clear up, clear out and update their stuff. From old catalogues to old paint to old documents and so on.
It's hard to get prop people to throw stuff out -- you never know, you might need it someday -- but everyone has embraced the house cleaning.
We're less than 2 weeks away from the official Out Day (out of Westgate Rd) and everything is going really well. Even relocating the booth (a big job) was quite painless. So far, the thing that gave us the most grief was moving the Internet -- we were offline for, like, 5 days! That's crazy in this day and age!
I'm hoping to have some photos up soon but here is some important information in the meantime:
As of June 7, 2007, we will be fully set-up in our new shop at:
2342 Wyecroft Rd
Unit G1
Oakville ON
L6L 6M1
2342 Wyecroft is located in an industrial complex called Village Auto Care. We do not have any street frontage -- we're at the back (the south end) of the complex. Village Auto Care is on the south side of Wyecroft between Westgate and Pacific Rds.
Stay tuned!
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 02:11 PM
Be sure to check in on theThe Shop Dogs page . We have some new additions to our family.
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Tuesday, April 17, 2007, 02:36 PM - All About THE MOVE
I know -- it's hard to believe! We've been here at Westgate Rd for nearly 10 years. Hundreds of projects -- thousands of props -- were built under this roof. But it's time for a fresh start in a fresh place. And we've found a really great new building.
First of all, it's right down the street, on Wyecroft Rd -- barely half a mile from where we are now. It has exactly the amount of space we were looking for (same production capacity, reduced office space) and for the right price. Plus a bunch of other things: it already has a hole in the ceiling for our spray booth extraction fan, level loading, a mezzanine level over the office... and more.
In terms of timing, the majority of the move will happen throughout May. Our goal is to be up and running in the new building by June 1.
Production will not stop at any time. We're going to stagger the move of the shop based on our prodution schedule so that there won't be any down time. What will probably happen is we'll have two shops running simultaneously for a couple of weeks. We're making arrangements to link the phone line to both buildings so you will always be able to reach us. And, of course, there are always cell phones.
We've employed a whole separate team of people to manage and coordinate the move. This is great because it allows us (management and administration) to stay focused on projects, clients and day-to-day running of the shop(s).
There will, of course, be obstacles to overcome, as with any move. We'll do everything we can to make it as smooth a transition as possible but we ask for your support and patience. We feel this move is critical to the long term sustainability of the company and we're looking forward to creating new memories and experiences.
More details, new contact info, and photos to come soon!
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 12:59 PM - On The Floor
... or at least it has been for the last few weeks.
As promised, here are some photos of the fish with their lovely copper finish. Don't they look great? Now, imagine about 250 of them hanging from a ceiling, all swimming together, properly lit -- it will be stunning! (As soon as they're installed -- all 500 pick points of them -- I'll let you know where they are in the world. I don't want to ruin the element of surprise for the client of our client's client).
We'd like to say a very special thanks to Vacuum Metalizing in Toronto who helped us out in big way on this project.
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Thursday, March 8, 2007, 04:29 PM - On The Floor
We're in assembly-line mode, at the moment, trying to pump out a couple hundred plastic fish by tomorrow.
It's a pretty intense process: once the liquid plastic has been measured exactly to the amount that they need per fish, they pour it into a mold (we've got 9 molds going) and then -- as fast as a NASACR pit team -- they bolt the two halves of the mold together.
Then, the fun part: they have to keep the mold in motion, so the resin slushes around on the inside of the mold evenly until it sets. It's a slow, controlled movement... kind of like Tai Chi. The whole process only takes a few minutes, from mixing the resin to pulling the fish from the mold. (There are actually roto-casting machines that do the same thing but that's so impersonal, don't you think?)
When the fish are hatched, they get a little bit of sanding and will be treated with a faux copper finish. Photos of finished fish to come soon. In the meantime, here are some shots of the fish team members in action.
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