Streamlining Your Embroidery Order and Production Process

August 01, 2011
By Brian Burr, Contributing Writer

When my embroidery shop first opened 30 years ago, chaos reigned supreme. On a good day, we had multiple orders that were in different stages of production. The problem was that at any given time, no one knew where a specific order was, where it was going or even if it had been paid for. I quickly learned that this was an inefficient way of doing business, so I created a streamlined process to help keep our orders straight.

Streamlining our order process did wonders for our shop. Before, we were losing money. We were paying extra to fix mistakes and worried that our customers would jump ship. Without streamlining our production process, we never would have been able to land large orders and accounts from organizations such as Google, NASA, the US Army and MTV.

Streamlining our order production process was one of the best business decisions we’ve ever made, and it ultimately saved our business. While many are specific to the embroidery industry, some are ideal for any company that deals with orders and emphasizes customer satisfaction.

After The Order: Now What?
Too many businesses think that getting the order is the hard part. After all, getting customers to choose your shop over another is the most important thing, right?

Wrong!

The order process begins with, well, the order. Once you have the sales order, take the time to immediately input that information into your accounting software. I use QuickBooks, but Peachtree also works well. Here, you can either e-mail, or print and mail, the invoice to the customer. I prefer e-mail because it's free, immediate and doesn't require any extra work on my part.

Moving The Order To The Art Department
The art department is the next step in this process. Here, our dedicated art department employees create a name drop or digitizes a logo. We offer this important service because, while our customers may have art departments at their shops, the logos they submit may not be in the frame limits for our embroidery equipment.

We then send the digitized logo to our in-house color specialist, who performs color coordination to ensure that the embroidery thread colors coordinate with each different garment color way.

Lastly, we send the digitized artwork (in .jpg format) for each embroidery color way to the customer for final approval. We want to make sure we're embroidering exactly what they want. Most importantly, we never move on to the production process without their final approval.

The Actual Production Process
After we have finished with our accounting tasks, it's time to move the order into the production department. I've created a production worksheet for our team that outlines all the important details regarding the order. There's a spot to denote how many of each size the customer needs, as well as the style, color way, stitch count, deadline production date, logo location, P.O. number, embroidery operator and manager signature, and — most importantly — a “notes” section for special instructions.

When the production worksheet is filled out, we pull the required blank product and set it aside. This helps ensure we have enough to fill the order and lets us know if we're running low on certain styles or colors. If we can reorder before it's needed, we can eliminate long waits for future orders.

After the first embroidery run is completed, it immediately is inspected for manager approval. The manager will check the embroidery’s location and tension, as well as the design’s overall quality. If my manager notices any issues or problems, we make changes. Successfully completing this step eliminates the need to redo an entire order, and helps ensure our customers are happy with their final product.

From production, then entire order goes to our trimming/quality-control department, and then to shipping.

The Final Step: Shipping

Everything is then boxed and sent through one of our shipping partners. We also send the customer an e-mail with a tracking number so they know their customized products are on the way.

The key to successfully streamlining your order process is to never deviate from it. Don't move an order to production if an invoice hasn't been created in QuickBooks or if the color specialist hasn't signed off on it. Keeping a strict production process will help ensure a successful and streamlined order. As a result, I can get orders out in a shorter production time, with fewer mistakes. When customers call for an update on their orders, we know exactly where it is in the production process; thus, we can give them an exact shipping date. This leaves customers feeling comfortable they will get their orders on time and that they are working with a professional company. This streamlined production process has allowed us to maintain a number of repeat clients and build our company year after year.

Brian Burr is chief operating officer of WholesaleHats.com, Palm Desert, Calif., which has produced embroidered garments for clientele that includes Google, NASA, MTV and the United States Army. He has been involved in every aspect of the embroidery industry for more than 18 years, and has full knowledge of embroidery machine operation and repair. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Brian at brian@wholesalehats.com.



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