XPC by Home-Fix

If you categorize XPC’s users, you’ll find:

• 60% of enthusiasts and professional craftsmen. Enthusiasts are mingled into the community and enhance their skillset by working on new projects. Professionals work full-time at XPC and use the space and the equipment to run their own business.

• 30% are hobbyists who use the space on their spare time to develop their project,

• And 10% are new users who want to start their maker journey by learning how to use the machines through trainings and workshops.

As a corporate makerspace, all Home-Fix employees are free to enter the lab and use it freely. Some work projects can even be led at XPC.

Word-of-mouth is the main communication channel. Thereby, monthly, 50 people step in the lab to use the machines and 80 makers participate to workshops and trainings.

The retention ratio ranges from 20 to 30%. According to Lev, Singaporeans lack of time and as XPC doesn’t operate after 6.30 pm during the week nor on Sunday, it can be a hindrance for the general public.

Most of the Singaporeans come at XPC for woodworking, creation of items for their homes (wardrobes, picture frames, …), and electronics, development of basic prototypes.

Enthusiasts and professionals are most commonly invested in XPC’s day-to-day life. As it’s almost their second home, they take initiatives to maintain and improve the space, teach freely new users if they feel they need help or animate some workshops.

Started 5 years ago as one of Home-Fix’s department, XPC has to deliver monthly financial reports.

For the 1st two years, the model was based on membership and workshops which wasn’t profitable enough.

Then, step by step, they enriched their offer. First with the co-working space, then with learning journeys for corporates and schools, makerspace consultancy, events, storage, DIY kit and wood material retail and a wider diversity of workshops.

Today, 60% of XPC’s revenues come from workshops, 20% from DIY kits retail, 16% from co-working space and 4% from the rest of it.

The main cost come from rental, salaries and utilities.

In the future, XPC plans to broaden its community and get a more sustainable model. To do so, first, the corporate makerspace aims to focus on trainings and products sale (microcontrollers, …). Then, to reach out to communities in Singapore, XPC wants to target more than 100 out of the 150 existing community centers in Singapore by the end of the year. They’ve already provided makerspace consultancy to 60 of them.

Monthly, XPC’s team assesses key figures such as the number of workshops and learning journeys provided, of products sold and the outreach.

Currently, 11 people work full-time at XPC:

• The Director,

• 2 business people in charge of partnerships with corporates, schools and governmental agencies,

• 2 product designers,

• 1 course manager coordinates events and workshops,

• 1 engineer is in charge of the electronics and IT support,

• 2 technical instructors run workshops, prototype and prepare materials,

• 2 teachers manage the curriculum.

A 25-person external team punctually facilitates and train users during workshops and training according to XPC’s needs. It can be enthusiasts or professionals for making workshops or students and previous interns for electronics classes.

Several times a month, XPC offers 6 sorts of ½-day-workshops:

1. Skills training for general public

2. DIY workshops for general public (woodworking, glass, metal, …)

3. Home maintenance workshops to develop skills to take care of the home

4. Learning journeys to share with companies and schools what is a makerspace

5. Electronics workshops dedicated to teachers and students contracted by the government and schools

6. Teambuilding, craft or skill-building workshops dedicated to corporates, including Home-Fix employees. Some trainings are mandatory for those latter.

To develop the community, monthly social gatherings occur at XPC.

XPC set up several partnerships with schools, government and companies. For instance, Star Hub provides free Internet in exchange of a free access to XPC’s facilities and prototyping machines.

Moreover, XPC offers makerspace consultancy services to corporates, schools and community centers.

Currently, XPC has no resource to spend on the documentation. Most of what’s documented deals with workshops (materials required, resources needed, requirement to produce the project) and machine maintenance and use. Everything is shared internally on Google Drive by the course manager.

To enrich trainings and workshops, XPC’s team reads external documentation via Instructables or Make Magazine.

Once in a while, if a maker develops a product that could be interesting to launch into the market, he will be redirected to the retail department to sell his product in Home-Fix’s stores.

That’s what happened for a XPC’s user who had created a backpack for any situation.