Update end 2015

Oops, long time since last newsletter…… This newsletter will update you on the general evolution in Katanga and a next newsletter will focus on all latest changes in the WAW.

The almost 2-year period since WAW@2014 was introduced has been very intense. Optimizing the production process and increasing the quality, performances and durability of the WAW@2014 in every detail, has absorbed all of our time. The to-do-list is getting shorter and soon we can pay more attention to other projects, like creating manuals to help WAW owners with maintainance and basic repairs.

The challenging switch from previous model to WAW@2014 had it`s impact on the sales level in 2014 but graph above shows clearly that 2015 was a record year. Whereas before 90% from the WAWs were sold in it`s home market (Benelux and France), demand from other regions increased significantly last year, stimulated by David’s wonderful video and by enthusiastic dealers.

Our biggest source of motivation and inspiration are shared experiences of customers and partners, for which we are very grateful. By rethinking and redeveloping WAW parts we often find important room for improvement. It pushes us to invest more in engineering activities using modern tools and skills, develop ways to simulate and to measure accurately and apply this in our services and products. Financial means, time and infrastructure are today still limited and we welcome cooperation with any person/company/organization who can help us progressing faster into this direction.

A nice example of this is the work of László, who chose to make a finite element analysis of the main body part as his MSC thesis and propose solutions to increase the shell rigidity and efficiency of pedaling. The model is still far from completed and results can not be trusted yet but the output is already promising:

The Katanga activities are growing and so is it`s team. Veronique replaced Petra in administration and Xavier reinforced the team. Next to participation in production, his tasks are setting up a customer support service and building out the website.

Today workshop and offices are in seperated and far from ideal locations. This low-cost start-up solution is becoming an obstacle to growth. We are negotiating with a building company and hopefully we can move this summer in a new, professional location in Brno.

Also this year Katanga will be on SPEZI but this time in the outdoor section. You are welcome there!