Development: Lessons learned

At the Flipflopi Project we have learned a lot of lessons through trial and error. When things don’t go as expected, we don’t give up! We use it as a valuable learning lesson to help us improve. Then we try again.

Here are some of the most valuable lessons we have learned along the way… and we are sure there will be many more to come in the future.

1. Beware of confirmation bias
   • Customers might say they’re interested but never actually buy. This is a common confirmation bias, where people say what you want to hear.
   • Lesson: Use pre-sales, prototypes, and real purchasing behaviour to measure actual demand. Keep testing assumptions and be willing to challenge initial ideas.
2. Customer validation
   • Engaging with customers early ensures your product meets real needs.
   • Lesson: Use iterative testing, surveys, and feedback loops to refine the product and confirm its value.
3. Material properties vary more than expected
   • Even with the same polymer, recycled plastics behave differently based on previous use, additives, and recycling cycles.
   • Lesson: Test small batches first before scaling up to identify processing challenges.
4. Handcrafting with recycled plastic requires skill adaptation
   • Traditional woodworking or metalworking skills don’t always transfer directly to carving, cutting, or assembling plastic pieces.
   • Lesson: Train artisans to work with the unique properties of recycled plastic.
5. Not all plastics are equally workable
   • Some plastics, such as HDPE are easier to process with recycling equipment and afterwards for post-processing. Plastics shrink as they cool and are different molding pressures and temperatures can have impact on the quality of the product. Post processing with cutting tools can blunt the tools more easily than with wood.
   • Lesson: Choose polymers carefully and test different techniques.
6. Colour consistency is difficult to achieve
   • Recycled plastic often comes in mixed colours, leading to unexpected shades in final products.
   • Lesson: Sort plastics by colour before processing or experimenting with masterbatches and pigments and try making it a feature not a bug.
7. Hand tools and basic machines can be limiting
   • Artisanal methods may struggle with precision, consistency, and finishing when using tools not designed for plastic.
   • Lesson: Invest in appropriately scaled equipment like extruders, moulds, and heat presses to improve quality.
8. Product durability can be unpredictable
   • Certain plastics weaken after multiple recycling cycles, affecting strength, flexibility, and longevity.
   • Lesson: Stress-test new products to understand their limits and reinforce weak points.
9. Moulds are a major bottleneck
   • Without properly designed moulds, production is slow, products don’t de-mould easily, and products may lack consistency.
   • Lesson: Plan for good-quality moulds early on, even if it means outsourcing their design.
10. Market demand doesn’t always match production ability
    • Some products may be easy to make but hard to sell, while others are in demand but difficult to produce reliably.
    • Lesson: Balance production feasibility with market needs, ensuring products are both sellable and scalable.
11. Heat control is critical in shaping plastic
    • Too much heat causes burning, bubbling, or excessive shrinkage, while too little leads to poor bonding, mixing and weak structures.
    • Lesson: Monitor and control temperatures carefully using tools and settings suited to the plastic type.
12. Scaling up takes longer than expected
    • What works at a small scale often needs redesign and process adjustments before mass production.
    • Lesson: Refine small-scale production first to ensure consistency before scaling up.