Made To Order [MTO] Batch Update

• When your Made To Order Batch has entered production
• When your Made To Order Batch is being packaged
• When your Made To Order Batch is being fulfilled, and waiting on pickup!
  
  MTO Expectations are still 4 weeks or more depending on supply chain factors.

Whew. 2022 still hitting hard, and supply chains still be... really delayed. At this point we’ve kind of gotten to assuming that we need to add a minimum of 35% of time to any particular quoted time on supply lead times, and then add additional days on trucking/delivery as well. Any delivery schedule seems more like a suggestion rather than a rule, and even paying for “guaranteed deliveries” don’t help.

We receive our supplies in batches as well, which makes it difficult when there’s enough for some orders, but not others, which can then cause errors in the fulfillment program we’re using, which leads to more time spent on correcting those errors, and then hidden errors, and...

Well, let’s just say that systems designed a while ago aren’t keeping up with the agility needed for the modern era. While we can’t modify the source code of the fulfillment program, we certainly can make internal system checks and changes to compensate.

That’s where the Made To Order (MTO) process gets an update: If our materials are now arriving in batches, and we produce flavors in batches, then attempting to keep a continuous flow process just leads to inevitable frustrations for everyone involved.

Instead, we’ll be changing our backend system to a batching process instead, which allows us to more effectively manage and communicate the status of everyone’s order, and keep weekly updates to everyone. We’ll be temporarily suspending LQ from all currently sold normal products to facilitate this process as well.

As much as we wish we could get everything on time, the hard truth of today’s reality is that nothing is predictable. While we can’t change the consistency of supply chains, we want to do everything we can to try and more easily communicate exactly what’s going on with orders, and so we’ll be implementing this proactive Made To Order Batch process so that everyone can be informed when their orders enter production, packaging, fulfillment, and more!

-Tim Zheng, CEO/Founder