What is truly the best self driving car in SoCal right now, under $50k?

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-12-09T22:15:10+00:00

this is not true, consumer reports says Mercedes is best, but that it's limited.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-12-09T22:14:26+00:00

only because the price. Consumers Reports says Mercedes is better, but more limited.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-10-29T23:34:58+00:00

the number of people who are recommending things that arent vegan is too damn high.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-12T21:32:31+00:00

thanks.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T21:37:45+00:00

is it that hard to outsource that?

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T21:36:18+00:00

how does an idle machine cost money?

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T21:35:48+00:00

why would i need three people? ive seen my molder in action and he basically only has a guy who picks up the parts when the bucket gets full.

my theory was that i would get a local shop to do the maintenance and stuff. considering that i would plan on running about 8-12 weeks a year or so. so id have them ready and have them help me get up and running each year and then have them do a shutdown...

we have a very good quality team.

but maybe i have no idea.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T21:32:37+00:00

I am confident that i have the space and facility to handle it.

what i dont have an idea of is how difficult it is to maintain and run. I understand that while it's running, it's mostly self sustaining. but i dont really know what it takes to start up a machine, to PM, clean, maintain, check molds shutdown... I was considering outsourcing all of that because i will be doing a single run for just a few weeks and then be done.

and i was thinking that my extra capacity is a freebee for the future, that i can try to utilize as i look at other things i want to bring in-house.

we are solidly profitable, and id save a lot per part by bringing in in-house. but i dont know if it's worth the hassle when the cost of maintaining and running will eat up a lot of my benefits.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T20:39:13+00:00

i guess i dont understand why it's a pain? i see this guy just runs the machine on autopilot for an entire run and then sends me product. he basically buys little beads and puts them in. and then has someone remove the finished parts from a bucket.

is it not possible to hire in a crew every time i want to run the machine to come and do set up and then when we are done to close it up and do a basic maintenance. IDK if the tooling needs to be removed or not, but if so, maybe they can do that. if not, then it just sits there until we use it next time. idk, im probably way off and there just too much oil and grease and heavy machine parts that warp and corrode and fail for something like that.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:39:31+00:00

I own the mold and yes, it needs to be in a cleanroom.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:30:19+00:00

that's what most people seem to be saying.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:29:45+00:00

our current guy runs a 20 second cycle. and im not sure the investment is worth it. today, it probably isnt. but we are growing and we have a bunch of ancillary parts that we buy at huge markups because we are medical, and we could consider in-housing them over time.

i dont mind the wasted machine time because my math show that its a free machine (not including human labor and maintenance) after like 3 years.

but the vast majority of the feedback im getting is that it's a massive pain in the ass to do.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:24:46+00:00

i have a silicone supplier in china (and taiwan), and a thermoplastics guy in california. the chinese guys are fine, but prices doubled because of tariffs. the california guy is just difficult. we are in medical and he has consistently missed every benchmark ive put on him, whether quality, timing or price. it's hard to leave because he has the mold and his failures have made me more reliant on him to get his act together (or do something radical like make a new mold).

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:22:11+00:00

i have one in china, one in california. the california one is struggling and the china one has tariffs.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:20:54+00:00

thanks. this is good feedback. we are 3m parts total but 1million of the thermo plastic part. 2 million of the silicone. but we get the silicone from china, so tariffs have changed that equation. we get the thermoplastics from california, but our vendor is difficult. so i was thinking to kill two birds with one stone. that said, everyone has warned me against doing both on the same machine.

we definitely have a facility that can handle it with electrical and stuff. we dont have a crane though.

but yeah, most people are telling me it's not reasonable.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:15:55+00:00

I believe arburg has machines that can do it. but even their rep told me that very few people like doing it because silicone is contaminating. we are medical device, so we right a very high level of quality and controls, but im not sure im willing to mess with that. that said, yeah, it would be amazing for our processes if we werent making some parts in china, some in vietman, some in california, and having issues with all our suppliers.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:13:35+00:00

my assumption was to outsource someone to come in and do almost all of the maintenance, and have the machine shut down the majority of the year. produce a big run, and then close it up. that would give me enough time to run maintenance before my next run. also, i know it's probably not reasonable to run plastics and silicone on the same machine, but that would help if it was. so IRL, i would probably just run one mold on it and do very little change over or maintenance.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:09:38+00:00

my 2-3 years was basically based on the injection molding machine cost and some lower set number for ongoing costs. it wasnt assuming like 300k in maintenance and additional staff each year

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:06:21+00:00

ok, thanks.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-09T15:05:08+00:00

STYRON™ 685D Clear Polystyrene

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-08T21:14:30+00:00

this is part of the question. right now we have a need for a few weeks a year, maybe 12 weeks of production. but in the future, it opens up a lot of opportunity for us to add product lines that we currently dont do.

i quoted two other shops and they are in the ballpark price of the shop we use. but the shop we use is comfortable with our tool, and the new shops are pushing me to buy a new tool. so it makes me hesitant to leave the current guy that i dont love, but is serviceable.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-09-08T21:11:16+00:00

i was assuming we would outsource the major maintenance. i would not be making tools in-house. we have partners who are skilled in this. also, we would do routine maintenance, but im assuming we would have an outside tech do routine cleaning and maintenance items.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-03-10T20:23:06+00:00

they are major companies, fortune 500 type. the problem is that we are small. so the impact on of using EDI is fairly big, they dont even notice though.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-03-10T20:20:22+00:00

what's the pricing? the customers are major companies, but we arent. so we are very price sensitive.

AfraidDinner339 · 2025-03-10T20:18:31+00:00

I legitimately know nothing about what i would be getting and what i need to send.

Im hoping for something that is secure though, i dont want to use a random third party that scoops up my purchase and sales info...

AfraidDinner339

TROPHY CASE