Do You Have Your Embroidery Business Organized?

Do You Have Your Embroidery Business Organized?

Do you have the business organization and forms that help you to run your embroidery business? Do you have your embroidery business organized? When you first start your embroidery business you can become so overwhelmed by all of the forms and processes that are so necessary to keep your entire production running smoothly.

There are software programs that can be purchased to help you keep track of your entire order, but most new embroiderers are not in the position to be able to purchase these programs so you must have a way of keeping track of it manually. I always advise new embroiderers to start keeping track of their jobs manually before going to the computer systems.

Record keeping is so extremely important and there are many forms that I have and keep with each order. You must have a system for keeping track of each step and the forms for each part of your organization or production of every job. Without a good system in place, you will soon become totally overwhelmed with the workload and you will not be able to keep track of your production and it can become very discouraging. I have 3 types of forms

  • Office or Sales Forms
  • Production Forms
  • Shipping Forms

The Office or the Sales Area is the First One That I Will Address.

This scenario is based on the fact that you are an embroiderer that sells retail and may have a retail or showroom in your location. If you are working from home and do most of your orders online or on the phone, the same processes and forms will apply to you as well.

I create sales packets that are ready for each sale so that I can grab them and be ready when I am first starting to work with a customer.

  • Customer Quote Form – Can be part of the packet or separate-This form is filled out and a copy given to the customer-your copy is then placed in a binder until the customer comes back in ready to place the order.
  • Order Form – I have one for Apparel and one for Caps-You can expand on this if you have different needs.
  • Form of Payment -Credit card-Pay Pal-Check form
  • Design Tracking & Timing Form
  • Production Tracking & Timing Form
  • Packing List
  • Do you have a checklist to make sure that all of the steps are taken?

These ready-made sales packets make it easy to work with and you do not forget anything as you are going through the entire process with your customer or prospect. Between the Quote form, the Order form and the Form of Payment form, you can collect all of their information and be ready for the sales process. I also have all of their information to easily input it into my database and start marketing to them. This can be in the form of a Newsletter, postcards, emails or a combination of all three.

In the next post on do you have your embroidery business organized, I will go on to the next area of organization. Check out the free training that I will be having on August 3rd. https://theembroiderycoach.com/monthly-training/

 

Are Your Meeting Your Customer Deadlines?

Are Your Meeting Your Customer Deadlines?

Do you find that meeting your customer deadlines can be a real issue for you and your business?  This seems to be a universal problem, especially with the small embroidery shops.  I have many Clients that come to me because they want to learn how to run their embroidery business smoothly and be able to get the jobs completed on time or ahead of schedule.

They are missing their deadlines and their customers are very unhappy with them. But they don’t want to have to work 7 days a week to make it happen. Even though they have a scheduling system in place, they still are not getting the work done on time and they are losing customers as a result. And they tell me it makes them very frustrated and fear that they will lose more customers.

And if that sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone.  How can you not feel frustrated and scared when you do everything that you know how to stay organized and keep the work on schedule and you still can’t seem to get the work out on time.

Here’s what I tell people…If you are not able to meet your customer deadlines and you are losing customers…the one thing that works is to stop and re-evaluate exactly how you are scheduling your work.

  • Are you sure you have the right system that is going to help you schedule your work correctly?
  • Are you spending too much time on each process?
  • Do you have your processes timed out so that you know exactly how much time it is going to take you to do each process? Without this, it is very hard to schedule properly.

If you are using a scheduling system that does not take all of this into consideration, then you are using the wrong type of system.  I have found that there are many management systems with scheduling systems build in that are being used in the decorating apparel industry today that tell you your job will take x amount of time, based on your stitch count and your machine speed.

This is sort of true, but does it take into consideration, your thread breaks, thread color changes, trims and even the time that it takes to load and unload the machine?  If this is not part of it, then you definitely have the wrong type of scheduling system.

It reminds me of how I used to work so hard and struggle with trying to get my work out on time and I worked night and day trying to get it all done.

After feeling very frustrated and ready to quit, I finally got help from my accountant.  He helped me get organized and create a great scheduling system that truly worked.  Between my new organization, my new scheduling system and a great pricing system that he helped me create, I was able to start running my business more easily and creating a profit. My business grew and prospered as a result. I was for the first time, meeting my customer deadlines or was ahead of schedule almost all of the time and my customers were very happy.

Here’s the deal… Meeting your customer deadlines is a must in this business and if you want to make it easier to get your jobs out on time, schedule your jobs, not necessarily by due dates alone, but by like kinds, thread colors, and garment types.  Maybe you even need to give a little more lead time.  Are you trying to give an unrealistic turnaround time like next day or 2 to 3 days?

I know that many companies today are trying to give a next day turnaround time thinking that they are going to be able to grab a segment of the market that needs it in a hurry, and this will be their niche.  This can be true, but realistically, you are just training your customers to wait until the last minute to place their orders.  Not a good technique!

To start creating a system for scheduling correctly, you need to follow these steps.

  1. Start by timing all of your processes – From the time you talk to a customer to the total completion of the order.
  2. Taking the order
  3. Ordering the product from the distributor
  4. Receiving the goods from the distributor- Checking to make sure the Packing Slip matches the Order Form
  5. Planning out how the job will be done – Which hoops-Thread-Backings, etc
  6. Loading the design into the machine – How many color changes, how many trim, how many stitches
  7. Hooping the garments – hoop several different types and come up with an average time that you can plan on
  8. Loading the garments into the machine
  9. Running the Design
  10. Unloading and unhooping the garments
  11. Removing the backing, trimming the threads, steaming the garments, folding them
  12. Packing for shipping or pickup
  13. Creating an invoice

I did not include design creation or the time to get the design ready to go to the digitizer, that is another whole process.  That is not part of the production process to be timed.  That is part of Design Creation process that also needs to be timed.

Another item to take into consideration is to schedule Left chest sized designs, thread colors and knit shirts all on the same day.  You will save time if you do not have to change hooping systems or thread colors between jobs.

Another great tip that will save you time, is to put ball point needles on the first half of the machine and sharp needles on the remainder of the needle bars on the last half of the machine. You always have the right needles in the machine no matter what type of fabrics you are going to embroider.  Remember, ballpoint needles for knits and sharp needles for woven fabrics and caps. If you have a 15 needle machine and you also embroider tiny letters in corporate logos, then you will need one needle dedicated to using a 65/9 needle and 60 weight thread.  This is another huge time saver in scheduling.

If you want to know more about how to save time and create the right systems to help you get organized, meet your customer’s deadline and run your business with less frustration, go to… ProfessionalEmbroideryTraining.com. Fill out the form and I will send you my Production Timing Checklist.  Becoming a professionally trained embroiderer is going to help you create the right systems to grow your business efficiently!

Get this simple Production Timing Checklist today that will help you get started scheduling your work so that you can be meeting your customer deadlines and make those customers very happy!

Do You Have Your Embroidery Business Organized And Can Keep Track Of Your Production At All Times?

Do You Have Your Embroidery Business Organized And Can Keep Track Of Your Production At All Times?

Do you have the business organization and forms that help you to run your embroidery business and keep track of your production at all times? When you first start your embroidery business you can become so overwhelmed by all of the forms and processes that are so necessary to keep your entire production running smoothly.

There are software programs that can be purchased to help you keep track of your entire order, but most new embroiderers are not in the position to be able to purchase these programs so you must have a way of keeping track of it manually. I always advise new embroiderers to start keeping track of their jobs manually before going to the computer systems.

Record keeping is so extremely important and there are many forms that I have and keep with each order. You must have a system for keeping track of each step and the forms for each part of your organization or production of every job. Without a good system in place, you will soon become totally overwhelmed with the workload and you will not be able to keep track of your production and it can become very discouraging. I have 3 types of forms

  • Office or Sales Forms
  • Production Forms
  • Shipping Forms

The Office or the Sales Area is the First One That I Will Address.

This scenario is based on the fact that you are an embroiderer that sells retail and may have a retail or showroom in your location. If you are working from home and do most of your orders online or on the phone, the same processes and forms will apply to you as well.

I create sales packets that are ready for each sale so that I can grab them and be ready when I am first starting to work with a customer.

  • Customer Quote Form – Can be part of the packet or separate-This form is filled out and a copy given to the customer-your copy is then placed in a binder until the customer comes back in ready to place the order.
  • Order Form – I have one for Apparel and one for Caps-You can expand on this if you have different needs.
  • Form of Payment -Credit card-Pay Pal-Check form
  • Design Tracking & Timing Form
  • Production Tracking & Timing Form
  • Packing List
  • Do you have a checklist to make sure that all of the steps are taken?

These ready-made sales packets make it easy to work with and you do not forget anything as you are going through the entire process with your customer or prospect. Between the Quote form, the Order form and the Form of Payment form, you can collect all of their information and be ready for the sales process. I also have all of their information to easily input it into my database and start marketing to them. This can be in the form of a Newsletter, postcards, emails or a combination of all three.

 

Order is Ready for Processing

Once the order has gone through the sales process it is ready for the production process. The first step is to be Logged in. This can be done manually on a sheet of paper or in the computer. On the Log In Form, you want to have all of the necessary information to track it through the entire production process, finishing process and out the door! After the job is Logged In the process begins.

  • Two copies of the Customer's original order are made and the original Customer Order form is filed away and you work with the copies of the order all the way through production. The goods or blank products need to be ordered. One copy of the order is then placed on a clipboard and hung up so that you can easily see it. I have mine hung over the Login table. This will stay there until the blank goods arrive.
  • The other copy of the order goes to the person that will be creating the artwork or embroidery setup for the job. The Artwork will need to be started. The Artwork Tracking & Timing form is used to keep track of all of the time that is spent on creating the artwork, design set up, sewouts and getting approval from the customer. There is a lot of time in this step and it all needs to be kept track of. I have a form, Customer Approval Form that I created that has the embroidered picture of the design on it and the color breakdown so that the customer knows what the color will be for each part of the design. If there are different colors of garments, your color breakdowns may be different. You must have the customer‚’s approval before you start embroidering the garments. This is very important.
  • The Artwork person creates a folder that will hold the production information and be followed all the way through production. I have an Embroidery Room Worksheet that the Artwork person fills out. This has all of the embroidery and design information on it, the color breakdowns, how the order will be hooped and run. A copy of the design is then put on a disk and placed inside of the folder. All of this information follows the job through the entire process.
  • The blank goods arrive. This is where the Production Tracking and Timing form comes in. Each step of the production process must be timed and kept track of so that you will know what your true costs are at the end of the job! The blank goods need to be counted, inspected and organized in stacks of sizes. Each size will be hooped in a slightly different location so you must have a system of keeping track of the sizes so that they do not get mixed up and hooped improperly. The blank goods must be checked against the packing slip from the distributor and the customer‚’s order to make sure that they match. After they are verified that they match, the distributor‚’s packing slip is attached to the customer‚’s order.
  • The garments go to the hooping area and are hooped with the properly sized hoop and the correct type of backing and topping if necessary.
  • The job then goes to a staging area waiting to go to the embroidery machine. If you have your jobs hooped ahead of time, you will save a huge amount of production time and can just basically feed the machine. This is when you can really make money.
  • After the garments are embroidered, the embroidery machine operator removes the hoops and places the garments into a bin.
  • The embroidery machine operator will make notes on the Embroidery Room Worksheet of any changes that were made and other necessary notes that she feels is important. Many times an embroidered garment will be placed on a copier so that they have the exact location pictured or if there is any question about how it was run. If it was a job that was difficult to hoop, that will be recorded on this Embroidery Room Worksheet.

  • The Production folder that the Artwork person created is then filed away with all of the embroidery and design information so that it is ready when a repeat order comes in. This makes it very easy to repeat a job without errors.
  • The embroidered garments then go to the finishing area for trimming, steaming and packing.
  • After the garments are trimmed, steamed and packed, they are then placed in stacks and counted to make sure that you have all of the proper pieces and sizes that match the customer‚’s order.

Job is Finished Ready for the Shipping Process

  • After the job is counted and placed in size stacks, the Packing List is created. This will have the Customers Name, Shipping Address, Order Number from the Log In sheet, Box __ of __, Quantity, Item Description, Color, and Size
    .
  • A copy of the Packing List is made and placed inside of the box for shipping. The original is sent to the Shipping department to have the shipping label created and the cost for the shipping is added to the packing slip.
  • This copy of the Packing List with the shipping costs added is attached to the total packet of forms, Customer‚’s Order, Artwork tracking & Timing form, Production Tracking & Timing form and sent to the office to be invoiced.
  • The shipping person must go back to the Log In form and add the shipping date.
  • The Invoice is generated by the Office person and then she goes back to the Log In form to write in the Invoice Number.

This system gives you a total tracking of all of your processes and helps you to keep on top of your orders at all times. If a customer calls and wants to know where their order is in the processing, it is very easy to find out and give them an accurate answer. This is very important. Customers want and need to know that you are totally organized and on top of their order at all times!

This system works even if you do not have an automated system that tracks in the computer. As your small business grows and you have the funds to add an automated system then you will be ready and understand all of the processes. The automated systems still need to have the accurate information input into them, but they are a huge time saver when you get to that point in your business.

I hope that this basic process will help you as you are getting your Embroidery Business organized and getting all of the forms necessary for you to keep track of your production. All of these forms are available inside of my Embroidery Training membership site. I have 4 levels of membership. Go to http://TheEmbroideryTrainingResourceCenter.com and see what level is the correct one for you. Most of the forms are inside of the Silver level.