Nuts & Boltz Makerspace

Nuts and Boltz makerspace was the first of its kind to open in Delhi, in December 2014. At that time the maker movement was spreading across the West Indian coast, but was still in its infancy in the East.

According to Muhammad, lab manager since the beginning, the education system in India is focusing on theory and excludes soft skills (creativity, curiosity, critical thinking) from its programs. Armed with their engineering backgrounds, the co-founders wanted to open a place dedicated to education and to the emphasis of curiosity.

As they were introducing the concept of makerspace in Delhi, they faced the most common challenge of collaborative workshops : to educate their entourage to making. So they started with very simple activities as Origami workshops, which were mostly followed by kids and students.

With time, members started to learn how to use the machines, and workshops went from simple crafts projects to drones, remote controlled planes and photo frames.

Today the team’s mission hasn’t changed, but the level of workshops has increased. And the natural path of making led some makers to launch their own business, area in which Nuts and Boltz is also helping, by providing R&D support.

Nuts and Boltz has today 150 monthly active members using the facilities. 60% of them are students attending the workshops. Most of them are working on their schools’ projects. 15% are startups requiring technical help and prototyping, 15% are hobbyists and 10% are kids (below 12 years old).

Most of their users discovered the makerspace through social networks. They are very active on facebook and warn their community of upcoming workshops or events (even if they did not manage to keep the level of community management since they changed the location of the space). Of course word of mouth has also its impact.

During our stay we noticed that the space is also used as a co-working space, approximately 10 people are using the space on a daily basis as offices (with no activity related to the makerspace).

For a few months, the 8 employees of the space are also using it to develop their own R&D service. When they have time (meaning when they do not have to coach members or manage workshops), the team is working on new projects such has a walking table, or a robotic arm. By developing and commercializing new products, they aim at building a sustainable business model.

Nuts and Boltz has been launched with private funding from the founders, 40 K€ to ensure the rent of the first space, the machines purchase, and to hire the first 3 members of the team.

Today their incomes are mostly provided by workshops (60%), the rest coming from membership fees (20%) and R&D services for companies (20%).

The lab is still in loss after almost 3 years of existence, and needs to spend 25 K€ per year to cover its costs. Their key advantage: they do not need to pay the space rent, owned by the founder. Otherwise, 50% of costs are linked to salaries, 30% to materials and machines, and 20% to operational costs.

The team believes a lot in their R&D lab. And they want to launch their first products on the market by end of 2017. This activity could provide a substantial source of income, allowing them to get a sustainable model.

Their key challenge is to animate and develop their community. To do so, they’ve planned to improve their website and invest in community management. In parallel, keeping the machines and equipments updated to answer the growing makers need is also a priority. It requires substantial investments, which the lab will afford only if they can be profitable.

The core team of Nuts and Boltz is split between 1 founder (providing space and facilities), 2 lab managers and 5 coaches who mentor the members and animate the workshops.

They do not have a specific HR process, but all team members have a strong background in engineering, mostly in electronics, mechanics and software.

Most of the time, the team is dedicated to animating the workshops and helping the makers on their projects. They are also working on specific projects with start-ups and companies. Coaching is on-demand based, and the team does not have a specific process to accompany members’ projects.

One of the biggest challenges remains to bring people inside the lab, and make them understand all the potential and creativity they have. So the team frequently organizes free workshops inside the lab on the basics of electronics, robotics… They also invite parents to discovery workshops. They explain them the interest of S.T.E.A.M. educational model.

Nuts and Boltz’s future resides in Research & Development for companies. The team recently created its own R&D lab to design, prototype and even produce innovative products and services for Indian companies. They do not have specific processes in place yet, but it should be one of the key pillar for their future.

The documentation process is a common and well-known challenge at Nuts and Boltz. They have a different approach regarding the two main situations they face.

The projects of its R&D Department, developed for external companies or even for their own, are precisely documented but not opensource. Main reason being the contractual agreement they sign with their clients and their intention to commercialize their projects in the near future.

Regarding the makerspace workshops, most of the developed projects are uploaded on Instructables, famous website for makers. As this website is one of their biggest source of inspiration, they want to contribute as well to the community.

They encourage a lot their members to use external open source resources such as github, instructables… But no standard process has been put in place to make it automatic.