Introducing Simul8’s youngest user – Ray!

At Simul8, we love hearing about our users’ stories and this one definitely put a smile on our faces.

It all began when Ray Pierce was 4, reading a fascinating book about rocks and learning of entrepreneurial day at school – ‘Ray’s Rocks’ was born.

Founded in 2020 by a now 6-year-old Ray, having combined his knowledge of rocks and the enjoyment he and his sisters got from decorating them with paint, googly eyes and pipe cleaners, he decided to launch his innovative business, Ray’s Rocks, at ‘entrepreneurial day’ at school.

Ray recruited his mum, a Graphic designer, to put the branding together – with Ray’s input of course – while he packaged the rocks into bags with decorating supplies for each unique design. It was a massive hit, with kids getting their own rocks and decorating supplies for free, while parents had to pay $5 a bag. The money Ray earns, he uses to buy more decorating goodies for the rocks. In Ray’s own words ‘I do like being an entrepreneur!’

Ray soon realized that collecting all these rocks took a lot of time and he was running out of decorating supplies. So, he turned to his dad, Wade Pierce of Pierce Arrow Inc, who was using Simul8 to work on a model of his own. Ray asked his dad to build the process flow of Ray’s Rocks so that he knew how much decorating supplies he needed based on demand. Ray used Simul8 to model the lead time from finding the rocks, bagging them and then labelling them.

Ray used the simulation to see how many kits he could build in a day, a week, a year, but this got him thinking. What if he had more help? What if he got his mum and sister to help him collect rocks and package them? Would it make the process quicker? Entrepreneurship at its best!

He turned to Simul8 to find out…

Founder, Ray Pierce stated: ‘I wanted it to be simple, that’s why I used Simul8. I didn’t want it to be too hard on myself’

Using Simul8, Ray modelled if his mum, Tabitha, and sister Aubrey, joined in could he double the number of kits per day. Simul8’s simulation model showed that Ray could collect around 10 rocks in 15 minutes and even more if he successfully convinced his mum and sister to help. This could take the growing Ray’s Rocks to new heights!

Ray’s Rocks can be found at the Clay Co. Depot and Ray is already planning on modelling how seasonality and local events in the county impact demand on Ray’s Rocks…

The best part of my job is hearing your stories and this one has to be my favorite. We are so thankful that Ray and his dad shared this story with us. A great simulation and team effort! Ray you are a real Simul8’er!

At Simul8, we are passionate about helping educational programs, if there is any way we can help – reach out to our team today!