{"id":88,"date":"2010-12-29T20:51:42","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T03:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2010-12-29T20:51:42","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T03:51:42","slug":"part-ii-how-to-establish-a-win-win-relationship-with-a-cut-and-sew-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"Part II &#8211; How to Establish a Win-Win Relationship with a Cut and Sew Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Because of the positive response and several questions on the first half, I&#8217;m posting this ahead of schedule.<\/em><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\">Now it\u2019s time to ask another question. Do you know how to be a good partner in the outsourcing process? Realize that your manufacturer is typically not an expert in your specific product or application. Contract manufacturers are in the &#8220;Do as Your Told&#8221; business\u2026meaning they follow customer orders and need to be led. Don\u2019t assume much of anything. Otherwise, one of two bad scenarios will occur. They will nag you with endless questions or fill in the blanks themselves (which you\u00a0probably won&#8217;t\u00a0like). The standard for one company in your industry may not be acceptable to another.<\/p>\n<p>Think of ways how you can help\u2026Do I have any materials\/info I can provide to assist my manufacturer make a high quality product?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the item(s) carried in a pouch\/pocket for a fit check<\/li>\n<li>critical dimensions to verify<\/li>\n<li>a specific test procedure(s) to ensure proper functionality<\/li>\n<li>info on how\u00a0picky you are about loose threads, straight stitch lines, or stitches per inch<\/li>\n<li>any other performance checks you can think of<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I understand that you don\u2019t want to hold your manufacturer\u2019s hand, but the first time through, it makes a lot of sense to invest the time to make your arrangement work. There&#8217;s no sense in making this more difficult than it should be. It\u2019s like an open-book test. There&#8217;s no conflict of interest knowing what you test for. You also don\u2019t want your contract sewer focusing on things that are not important to you. Remember time is money and you\u2019re being charged accordingly. I also highly encourage you to consider a visit to their manufacturing facility before or during the first production run. Not having access is a red flag. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re in the home stretch. You finally get your price, now what?<\/p>\n<p>Sewing is definitely not a commodity business. Quality differs immensely between shops. Get a sample and evaluate it. You want to make a good long term decision. Realize that switching from one manufacturer to another likely takes in the ballpark of 90 days or more.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of other significant criteria to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0What is the\u00a0contractor&#8217;s experience in manufacturing my type of product?<\/li>\n<li>Can the sewing contractor&#8217;s capacity expand as\u00a0my\u00a0needs grow?<\/li>\n<li>Will my product be made by sewers already on staff? (Note: you don\u2019t want the newbies)<\/li>\n<li>Is there someone assigned to my account? Is that person an owner or someone with leverage within the organization to make my needs a priority?<\/li>\n<li>If there was an issue with the product, what is the process to rectify and how quickly will it get addressed?<\/li>\n<li>How do I know that the raw materials are high quality?<\/li>\n<li>Is there an open door policy\u00a0for their manufacturing floor?<\/li>\n<li>Besides price, how well will the sewing contractor fulfill the other critical elements of the relationships?<\/li>\n<li>Will they effectively manage any materials and\/or confidential information that I provide?\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Do they\u00a0have the capability to ship products with the major freight carriers (UPS and Fed Ex), air in product if I need it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do the answers to these questions lead to a positive value proposition for\u00a0your company? Don&#8217;t take it lightly. \u00a0If they fail on these, the opportunity cost of wasted time and disappointed customers will far outweigh saving a small % on the acquistion price.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Be realistic, be thorough, and be generous with information. It can be done successfully. In a complicated process, expect to have a rocky moment from time to time. But the best manufacturing partnerships are established through mutual commitment, good communication, and trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Good luck.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know how to be a good partner in the outsourcing process? <a href=\"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=88\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[21,20],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5euFE-1q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=87","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":0},"title":"I&#8217;m giving out insight today on Contract Sewing that can&#8217;t be found anywhere else on the web","date":"December 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"How to Establish a Win-Win Relationship with a Cut and Sew Shop Are you ready to find a new manufacturing partner? There are many reasons why you might find yourself in this situation. 1. You don\u2019t have our own build capability. 2. Your current manufacturer sucks 3. You\u2019re wasting your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Made in USA&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=52","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":1},"title":"You&#8217;re not a distributor, I&#8217;m not a product manufacturer","date":"June 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Sewing is not and will never be a science of perfection, but always an art.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contract Sewing&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=69","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":2},"title":"Good news for U.S. sewers, not so great for U.S. Textile Mills","date":"October 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Buy American Act guidelines revised","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contract Sewing&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=16","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":3},"title":"Contract Award Delays","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If only I could be a fly on the wall at the DSCP, Natick, and other hubs of Department of Defense procurement. For reasons that are unclear to me and plenty of others in the industry, there have been several delays in awards of contracts. I know of several companies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Government&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=13","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":4},"title":"A New Era of Tactical Gear Sewing","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"ATK has announced the purchase of Eagle Industries.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Government&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":105,"url":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/?p=105","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":5},"title":"No one can be an\u2026","date":"September 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"No one can be an expert on every product application, but customers often ask for a recommendation on which fabric to use for a particular situation\/environment. I've accumulated a bunch of knowledge on textiles in my head, but I found this chart as a very useful guide. Kudos to American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contract Sewing&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tacticalgearsewing.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}