When I first interviewed for my position at Nanolumens I was given a tour of the building. One stop was the warehouse and assembly areas where there was a flurry of activity, most of which I didn’t quite understand. I do most of my work online so it all looked like a bunch of wires, metal pieces, bolts and screws to me. Nate Remmes explained that we do all of our design, manufacturing and assembly in America and the Nanolumens corporate headquarters is the heart of those operations.
As a writer and marketer I recognized the buzz factor in that sentiment. Many companies make similar claims to great effect. I quickly learned, however, Nanolumens takes it very seriously. The manufacturing and assembly of our digital visualization products is one of the many things that set Nanolumens apart from our competitors. When we say ‘designed, manufactured and assembled in America,’ it’s really a compliment to the teams who work tirelessly – often overtime – to get our displays built to spec and shipped on time. They’re really the backbone of our business. Everyday the warehouse and showroom become lessons in skill and teamwork as new displays are put together and tested. It really is a site to see. But I never fully considered their vital role to Nanolumens until the marketing team spent an afternoon doing some assembling of our own – new office chairs. Lesson learned.
The task didn’t seem that difficult when I unpacked the first box and looked at the instructions. Each piece of the chair was impressively illustrated and marked. The several different sized screws were easily identifiable. How hard could it be? Flash-forward two hours – and many bad words – later. With piles of plastic wrapping, shreds of cardboard, extra screws, allen wrenches and power tools piled around us, we all agreed convincing people to buy these chairs, to sit in these chairs and to share these chairs with a friend would be A LOT easier than assembling them.
At the end of the afternoon, we’d finished assembling a whopping TWO – and wouldn’t recommend anyone getting too comfortable in them. The test came when the Nanolumens’ owner and CEO sat down in one. We collectively held our breaths, expecting a cartoon-like collapse. Fortunately, the chair held. But we did agree the experience and resulting group picture would make a great blog post. We are marketers, after all.