Making more than one
Tips to ramp up production
Friday! As always, I am glad you are here. Today’s essay is on making several or even a lot of something. To do it well takes both skill and planning. Ask anyone who’s been busy making cookies for the holidays! Make on, my friends. ~JRC
For makers, the joy of creating is never better than making one of something. With one, we focus. We have time to scrutinize, deliberate, and refine - we have time to perfect. But making two or more of anything disperses our attention. Unable to entirely focus, our engagement spreads across the whole. And with this dispersed attention, new challenges present themselves. It's still fun, to be sure. But it's a different beast, and if we don't learn to tame it, it'll get the better of us.
Why? Repetitive tasks drag on seemingly forever, and we lose focus. Our minds wander away from the job as we rush steps that demand otherwise.
Overlooked details, random missteps, mismeasures, and even injuries increase as we increase production. And if we aren't diligent, imperfection creeps in. Quality decreases. If we aren't careful, making more than one can end in making none at all.
The question becomes then, not how we make it once, but how we make it all consistently.
Here are six tips for making well while we make a lot.
Tip #1. Invest in planning.
When we make a solo piece, planning too much can be overkill. After all, part of the fun in creating is seeing where the project takes us. But when we are replicating our efforts many times, a plan is vital. We already know where the build is going, and we need to do it several - or many - times.
Planning thus allows us to see how projects come together from start to finish. We can calculate all the next steps - only with a plan. No matter how complex or simple, making many same things begins with planning.
Tip #2. Prep the workspace.
It's easy to let the clutter mount when we make. Our intense attention is on the object we create and less on where we make it. Usually, this results in a better build; letting the mess build up around us is almost a badge of honor for the maker. It shows we are in the flow.
But when we make several of something, we can't follow the same rules. An organized space is needed, one that accommodates all the repetitive steps. In our workspace, tools are arranged and ready for use. Worksurfaces are free of unnecessary clutter. Even the floor around us is open and easy to navigate.
We must allow for smooth transitions between steps to make more than one. That freedom to move again and again, often in the same way, is like a dance. And like a dancer needs an open floor to perform, a maker needs open space to make. So get organized, and your foray into making en mass will benefit.
Tip #3. Safety first - first.
Yes, safety is always paramount. But when we are making repetitive steps, it is doubly important. As we do redundant tasks, it's easy to let our minds wander. And it becomes a bit tedious and sometimes dull. But we can't let our guard down.
Disaster strikes when we mentally drift.
Be extra mindful, especially when using dangerous tools. For instance, the table saw: many injured were thinking about something else when it happened. And often because they were doing repetitive steps. Don't be that person - learn ways to stay forever mindful.
One way that works is to say out loud what you are doing. "Cutting piece one," for example. "Now cutting piece two." And so on. It creates an added level of engagement and helps keep us in the present - steps needed to keep us safe.
Whatever you do to maintain safety at the top of the list - do it.
Tip #4. Create an assembly line.
This is kind of the most obvious part of making more than one - do all of each step together.
It would be slow - and frankly silly - to build one whole thing and then build another, and another. In doing so, one replicates steps that are a waste of time. All that moving around for not. Pulling out tools and walking away, only to pull them out again. It's nonsense. There is a better way.
Do all you cutting at once. And all your painting at the same time. Drilling. Carving. Sewing. Whatever it is, organize the workflow like an assembly line.
Making "several" is a complex of nested steps. Lump the smaller sub-assemblies and tasks, and then assemble these into the ever-larger whole. Like a well-run factory assembly line is efficient. Making a lot of the same thing should be the same.
Tip #5. Adjust standards accordingly.
As makers, we often strive for perfection. And with one object, we have the luxury to do so. But when we make a lot of something, time becomes a limiting factor. All the belaboring over minutia can be self-defeating. Instead, we need to consider diminishing returns when we make more than one.
This is perhaps one of the most challenging steps in creating more than one: modifying what we consider good enough.
Adjusting standards does not mean lowering standards, however. Instead, it's about determining what is needed to pull off a successful build many times over. Does that part need sanding in triplicate, or is twice enough? No one will ever see that inside surface - does it have to be painted? Every step of a process should be similarly questioned.
The goal is not only to make them all well but also to make them all.
Tip #6. Remember to have fun.
Yes, making multiples can quickly start to feel like work. And when it's work, the fun seems to evaporate. But making multiples has so many rewards. Are we doing it to sell? Apparent financial gain awaits. And better still - are we making more than one to share as gifts? Well, the rewards in giving are worth it, no matter what, so the more, the merrier, as they say.
When you make a lot of something, try and remember the good in doing it.
And also don't forget that you're still making! Those steps you are doing over and over might feel like a drain. But you've been doing them repetitively since you started making anyway - only more spread out. Remind yourself of this. And remember that making - even a lot of making- is a joy. And that joy might very well be in the repetition.
Who else gets to do their favorite thing over and over?
Until next time.
JRC
*Spitfire manufacturing facility. WWII Castle Bromwich Aeroplane Factory, Birmingham, England, circa 1940-1946.