Kaspar Outdoors Report Excluding Texas Ammo – December 8, 2023

Highlights for the week:

1. A decision was finalized for coating of the Wombat actions for production. We will be moving forward with Calico Coatings as a supplier for DLC. More testing will naturally occur over the next few weeks to understand how it wears down with use. All 15 action bodies and bolts for SHOT show made it out the door on Thursday. This will ensure we will be good to go with minimal risk going into the show. Overall, this is a significant milestone as we push towards the full release of the Wombat action for Horizon and Stiller.
2. Engineering, operations, and additional BCS help had an excellent “joining” team session this week within Stiller around adjusting the EDM wire. From what was communicated by multiple individuals, this is the type of interaction (although small) we need cross-functionally. It sounds as though operations had some great insight and taught some of the engineering team about the EDM in more depth. Appreciate the team’s effort in making improvements.
3. The new bolt machine arrived this week and will be commissioned next week!
   

   

4. Marketing efforts continue to pay off in terms of impressions and views. Backfire released another video with the 22 Creedmoor and this one identified Horizon and our Vandal rifle line. As of Friday morning, the video has 94,000+ views in a little less than a week! We think this may have driven a dramatic uptick for the search terms “22 Creedmoor” and “Vandal.” Finally, marketing wrapped up the hunt from last week with one of our reps and dealers. Within just a few days of the hunt, the dealer purchased 16 rifles and doubled their ammunition order!
5. Sales booked 105 rifle orders in the last week! This includes our first 6-figure day in which sales booked over 50 rifles!

Challenges for the week and projected solutions:

1. Iota’s surface quality has dropped again due to switching back to standard material. Last month, we were around 95% ‘A’ grade stocks; the current run rate is roughly 50%. The good news is the new material for the surface layer is targeted to ship 12/8.
2. We are extremely limited on time to edit and release photos and podcasts right now. There were 2 podcasts recorded while on the hunts last weekend as well as capturing enough hunting footage to create another compilation video. The challenge is that it takes far more time to edit than to record material and we are running straight into NFR/RMEF, another hunt, DSC, and SHOT.
3. Lots of juggling on the sales side as the team manages the RMEF show in Vegas while interacting with dealers as they close out sales for the end of the year.

Key stats at a glance:

• Stiller boxed actions this week: 44.
• Iota boxed stocks this week: 68.
• Horizon rifles assembled this week: 45.
• Horizon rifles shipped this week: 77.
• Next Kaizen/Improvement Event: Transactional cleanup and job reset 12/21.

Thanks and appreciation:

1. Cory and his team for the crazy fast turnaround on bolt stop design parts on the Wombat!
2. Dan and Renee for shipping 27 rifles on Thursday while also receiving in the 15 Wombats and disposing them back out for coating! Great team effort there!
3. Amin and the Bryan team for the visits to Stiller this week as those interactions continue to improve the business!
4. Tricia, Ariel, Brandon, and Jason for getting the booths in Vegas set up!