Once a year, everything stops.
Well, not everything. The Haas machines are still there. The 3D print farm is still humming. But the making pauses for a day while we do something far less glamorous. We count it all.
Every electrode. Every power unit. Every component we've machined here in our Watford workshop. Every. Single. Thing.
Stocktake day has been part of the calendar at E-Stim Systems since 2004. Twenty-two years of making things means twenty-two years of counting things. That's just how it works when you actually manufacture what you sell.
The coffee went on early. The cake, generously provided and gratefully received, lasted until mid-morning. It is gone now. We are mourning it appropriately.
There has been talk of rum. Captain Jack Sparrow has been invoked. We are holding firm. For now.
Here's the thing about stocktake day though. As tedious as it sounds, there's something quietly satisfying about it. You look at what you've made, what's ready to go out the door, what needs machining next. It's a snapshot of the business in a way that a spreadsheet never quite captures.
We'll be back to making things tomorrow. Today, we count.
If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a small British manufacturer, this is it. Coffee, cake (RIP), a spreadsheet, and two people who really should have known what they were getting into twenty-two years ago.
We wouldn't change a thing.
Wayne
