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Q&A Tuesday: Shield’s product timeline

Welcome to our first Q&A Tuesday—the day when we answer your most pressing questions about Shield. Ever had a question about us that you couldn’t find on the website? Ever wanted to know more specific information about solid surface, digital fabrication or our manufacturing process? Now you can ask! (Scroll down to submit your question.)

Today’s Q&A is related to Shield’s product timeline. Potential clients, of course, want to know approximately how many days it will takes us to build their product. Lucky for them, we’ve got the answer.

Mass production and manufacturing abroad

Often times, when looking into purchasing a product—such as large pieces of furniture—there are two options:

1. You can purchase the mass-customized product that everybody else buys, regardless if it fits your space and style.
2. You can purchase the German-engineered, Italian-designed product that looks great and can be customized but that takes weeks, even months, to arrive at your doorstep.

Take, for example, a bed. You can buy a cost-effective bed that you’re not necessarily in love with but that will at least arrive in a reasonable amount of time. Or, you can buy one that you actually like, that is beautifully crafted and just sleep on the floor for a month or so as you wait for it to arrive.

The result of mass production combined with manufacturing overseas has resulted in longer wait times and very limited options for you, the customer. You now must pick between having the product you want and having the product at all.

Shield does it differently

We changed that. Why should you have to sacrifice design for things like cost or delivery?

We manufacture our products completely in-house. We engineer and design them in our office and then walk five feet to our shop to build them. We’re not in different time zones than the manufacturers, trying to figure out the best time to reach them to discuss design details. We don’t have to worry about solving problems via a computer screen. When there’s a problem, we all get together in the same room and figure it out.

And one of the best parts is that you can customize it to fit your needs—all of your needs. Nothing is pre-built. You have as much say as we do, and we don’t charge you thousands of dollars extra for it.

By building all of our products here, in the U.S., in the same building as our engineers and designers, we greatly cut down on the time it takes to create the final product.

So, how long does it take us to build a product?

While it all depends on the number of the product desired, the number of projects ahead of that product, and other such factors, on average it take us four to six weeks.

That means you get the product you want, the way you want it, at an affordable price and in your hands in a little more than a month.  It’s mass customization realized.

Have a question that you want answered? Tell us. We’d love to answer it in our next Q&A Tuesday.