Monday, July 13th, was the birthday of the late Steve Hed, co-founder of HED Cycling. It’s also the day his wife and company head Anne learned they were one of 10 winners of the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest. They were awarded $7,500, which will toward the purchase of a new CNC machine, which will further expand their in-house manufacturing capabilities. We fired off a few questions to see what they had in mind once it’s ready to start cutting…
BIKERUMOR: What products do you currently manufacture in house?
HED: About 99 percent of our carbon fiber rims are made in house. Jets, stingers, discs, Big Deals. We have two CNC machines that cut all of our molds as well as texture the black series rims.
BIKERUMOR: What do you plan on producing in house that they’re not making now?
HED: Our carbon rim line will expand (you’ll just have to wait and see)! We know carbon so it is an easy transition to other products.
BIKERUMOR: What’s the timeline for starting to crank out these new products?
HED: Very soon!
BIKERUMOR: What’s the benefit of moving more production in house?
HED: The benefits are better quality control and reduced lead times. The other side effect of in house production is that new product development moves a lot faster. It also gives you the opportunity to innovate processes to make the product better or less expensive without worrying that you have shown a supplier how to make everyone else’s product better as well.
The 2016 FedEx Small Business Grant Contest was open to U.S.-based for-profit small businesses that have less than 50 employees and have been operating for six months or more.
