LooBlade - a revolution in toilet-cleaning!

Shipping update
over 9 years ago – Thu, Dec 22, 2016 at 12:24:19 AM

We've had several enquiries regarding the delivery of your LooBlade rewards.

We can confirm that they are shipping and some of you will have already received your LooBlades, while others will not. We have tried hard to get everything shipped before the holidays, but unfortunately some of you will not receive your LooBlades until the new year. Our apologies in advance for this.    

With several thousand LooBlades to ship, we are trying to get them out to you as fast as we possibly can. Our shipping partner is under a lot of pressure due to the surge in online buying this Christmas.  

Rest assured – if you have ordered a LooBlade, they will be shipped to you and may already be on their way. Chasing us for delivery updates will not accelerate the process and we also ask for your understanding regarding any failure to respond to your enquiries – we are a very small team and are fully focussed on getting the product out to you.  

As we move forward, we aim to improve dramatically in all areas of our business, especially shipping and customer service.  

Please remember, this is a brand new product with each stage producing the usual set-up and process refinement challenges that every new product experiences. It has been a long journey to achieve the quality and consistency we wanted.  It is however now a real product, and we were honoured last week to have received a ScottishEdge Award and the commendation of its founder Sir Tom Hunter, a billionaire entrepreneur, for a product with 'significant global potential'.

We've made that journey with your tremendous help, and continued support for which we're profoundly grateful.

We'll circulate a survey in the new year to check which backers would like to have their names recorded on our website to reflect our gratitude and the contribution made to the project.

Best wishes for a happy festive season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!

Shipping begins!
over 9 years ago – Wed, Dec 07, 2016 at 01:04:53 PM

Sorry we've been concentrating on solving a final glitch.

Assembly and packaging took a week and a half longer than estimated. It's complete. 

Our partners at Augustinum disability workshop have been superbly dedicated to the task and have been flexible all the way with us, given the production refinement delays. 

Our global shipping partner however was not able to accommodate this further slippage. Being a smaller emerging customer, and with the busiest period of the year beginning we can understand that, and they'd been accommodating to date, much as though it left us with a formidable task.  

We've worked constantly over the past three weeks to formalise and engage an alternative partner, and now have a great UK based firm. A young dynamic and fast growing company, run by two Cambridge graduate engineers. We have now handed over to them.

We are aiming at dispatch over the next two weeks. All units ex. UK will go Air and be delivery recorded but not tracked.  

Thank you one final time for your immense patience and support.

A trio of freshly minted LooBlades!
over 9 years ago – Sat, Nov 12, 2016 at 09:47:52 PM

 We hope you like these, we think they are looking fabulous, and they feel great to use too! Kudos to the teams at Sauba and Prover for acheiving this for us.

Bamboo is a little behind as regularly reported but we're hoping to get them out before the Holidays. We'll update Bamboo backers individually. 

The road's been long...but worth it!
over 9 years ago – Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 11:56:22 PM

Hey folks,

Sorry for the delay in updating. We feel it's better to update with next steps and solutions, rather than enumerating bumps in the road without answers.

Your LooBlades are partly being made by leading-edge robots that are normally used in automotive part manufacture. In fact they are being run on machinery that creates parts for automotive brands that you know from Bavaria to California, and the expertise behind the production is pretty well unmatched.

That doesn't mean it's all plain sailing, and over the last three weeks we've faced a minor development hurdle after discovering that 24/7 automated robotic production was too challenging for a small but important part of the handle tooling. We'd run numerous units successfully but the problem gradually started to appear. Our partners were quick to react, solve, test and prove the solution, but that has taken a number of days. In addition, we had some small challenges with the supply of raw materials.

We are delighted to report that both issues are now fully resolved and the production process robust and complete. The next stage is to assemble and package the LooBlades, and this is being handled by our specialist partner, Augustinum, a fantastic organisation that recruits people with disabilities. Finally, shipping is planned to begin week after next. Depending on where you are in the world you should see your LooBlades within November, or first week December.

We think it's worth observing that we've taken 'the road less travelled' in bringing you our innovation. Nothing new is easy, and we've learned even more on our journey than we foresaw. It's been longer than predicted and at times pretty hard... but we believe it has 'made all the difference'. We have pioneered forms of molding, materials combinations and additives, and it has created challenging but ultimately successful outcomes.

And we genuinely appreciate that you've stuck with us. We don't say that lightly, because we think our product will make a real difference environmentally; in bleach, water and materials usage. Never mind convenience and hygiene during use.

That has been marvellously reflected in the fact that the world has also come to us to embrace it, and we have distribution partners in every major market now, which you've helped create.

LooBlade is finally ready to meet the whole planet and reflect our vision, and we're profoundly glad you all came along on the journey, because without you it wouldn't have happened!

As a frog once said, 'it ain't easy being green', but it's worth the battle! Thanks again for your patience.

Getting a handle on it...
over 9 years ago – Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 11:32:44 PM

The handle tool was back from the workshop yesterday and has been running beautifully. The solution was perfect and all kudos to Prover and Sauba for their skills, care, and attention to detail.

We are definitely on the home straight!

We will complete backer production next week, then will be on to assembly and shipping. As previously noted, we'll firm up on that during the course of next week.

Many thanks once more for your incredible patience and support!

Attached are shots of both handles and Space Grey heads rolling off the line...we think that octo-helix looks great...