There is a dangerous assumption in hardware that “Design” and “Manufacturing” are two separate phases.
People think you finish the drawing in London, hit send, and the factory abroad simply prints the product.
This is how companies fail.
To meet the demand we are facing this year, we cannot rely on cottage industry production speeds. We rely on a global supply chain that can deliver industrial precision at volume.
But the reality of scaling a British brand globally is navigating the Valley of Tolerance.
When we design a lock in London, we are dealing with perfect mathematics. On the screen, the steel is perfect. The gap is exactly 0.1mm. The finish is flawless.
But when that file lands on a factory floor, it meets the chaos of the real world.
Materials expand with heat.
Tooling wears down after 1,000 cycles.
Paint thickness varies by the micron.
The lesson we are reviewing in the War Room this week is about “Industrial Translation.”
We do not just send drawings. We send standards.
We have to engineer the “allowable failure” into the design itself. We have to defend the British standard of quality against the physics of mass production.
If you are building a physical product, do not assume the factory is a photocopier. It is a partner that needs to be managed with military precision.
You can outsource the labour. You can never outsource the standard.
