Continuing your Embroidery Education is very important and is vital to your overall Embroidery Business Success!

Do you get the feeling sometimes that you just do not have the time to sit down and learn something new?  Are you  just so busy doing the day to day stuff that keeps the customers happy and coming back that you feel trapped?

I know that very same feeling and I have found that if I take out just a few minutes each day for learning something new or refreshing my memory, that it actually rejuvenates me and gives me a huge lift!

Continuing your embroidery education is something that is vital to your Embroidery Business Success. Do you feel like you just cannot keep up on all of the new processes, applications and products that are changing so quickly?

There are some things that never change!   They are the basics!  The basics of creating designs and embroidery application do not change. Its those basics that we sometimes forget, and we need to refresh our memory with from time to time.

Do not let your embroidery video training programs, articles, and other embroidery information that you have saved,  gather dust on your shelf.   Take them out and review them from time to time so that you can remember those basics.  They are the foundation of great embroidery and those basics will never change!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Controlling the Embroidery Production Wastage and Spoilage  is a huge  factor in controlling the costs in your embroidery business. Operators should be required to show the amount of garments that were lost or ruined. This should be part of the production form that they are required to fill out at the end of each completed job.  You must also know why the loss occurred.  Keeping tracking the causes and the operators can help to reduce the loss and avoid them in the future.

Keeping a chart on a weekly basis of these losses is very valuable. This information can be reviewed at the end of the week and used to help retrain the operators in the areas that they are apparently lacking information.  When operators know that they are being tracked, they have a tendency to be more careful and pay closer attention to detail.

Many people say that this is part of your Production Cost!  I do not agree with that at all.  This is a cost that can be almost eliminated if the employees are trained to pay attention to all of the details.  Yes, there is some spoilage when a person first starts to be trained, but they must be trained from the very beginning that this is not acceptable.

Embroidery Industry Standard of Loss

There has been an industry standard for many years of a 2% loss.  Many claim that a 2% spoilage rate is acceptable.  You may have that in your contract, but many people will not do business with you if you have a spoilage rate that high.  If you properly train your operators to be aware of all of the factors that can happen and how to avoid them, your spoilage rate will be greatly reduced.

I created a simple Wastage and Spoilage Report that you can download, print out and use to keep track of the wastage in  your embroidery shop. Just click on the blue link and the .pdf file will open up for you.   Even if you are a one person shop, this will help you keep track of the costs that your errors create.  This is a huge eye opener to everyone!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Keep A Close Eye On Your Inventory Costs

Keeping  close track of your inventory and supplies  is a must when you are trying to control your inventory costs in your embroidery business.   Keeping a minimum on hand of all of your basic embroidery supplies is very important.  You do not want to run out of a supply when you are in the middle of a job.  Keeping a running inventory record is a must.

Planning ahead so that you are not ordering for overnight delivery is one of the ways to hold down shipping costs.  Ordering in quantities, if at all possible,  will reduce the costs of both the supplies and the shipping.  Early payment discounts also helps to reduce the cost.

In a small shop the extra supplies can be stored in the actual work area.  In a larger shop they must be stored in a separate Supply Storage area that is strictly for supplies or inventory. This will remove the extra clutter and keep the production and prep area more organized and cleaner.

Have One Person In Charge Of Inventory

Make sure that you have  one person in charge of your inventory.  When supplies are removed from the supply storage area, they must be accounted for so that they can be replaced before they are actually needed.  Keeping a running log is very important in order to have this information at your fingertips at all times and it deters others from picking up supplies when they are not authorized to do so, controlling employee theft.  In some areas this is a constant problem and one that is hard to pinpoint.

You as a business owner must do everything that you can to prevent losses to your business, and employee theft of supplies is an area that can be prevented.  It is up to you to make sure that this does not happen.

In our next tip we will discuss spoilage and wastage costs!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

Learning how to control costing in your embroidery business is extremely important! Whether you are just starting your embroidery business, trying to grow your embroidery business or create a more profitable embroidery business controlling or reducing your costs can create the difference between losing money, just breaking even or creating a small profit or even a larger profit! There are 3 costing factors that you must be aware of and keep of good eye on at all time that will help to reduce these costs.

• Production Costs
• Inventory Costs
• Wastage or Spoilage Costs

How To Cut Your Embroidery Production Costs

You must carefully analyze all of your Production Costs!  You should know what each and every piece of your production is costing you. Review all of your production processes to see if there is a way for you to develop an easier method or a shorter time for each one of your processes.

If you have not done so in the past, start timing each of your processes. Each operator should be carefully observed as they are performing each step.  Maybe there is something that was missed in their training or they are taking an extra step that could be cut out.  This is very important.  Each job process should be timed over and over to determine the most efficient way of performing that task.

Each separate process of the job should be kept track of from start to finish determining its true cost.  An easy way to do this is having your operators punch a time clock at the beginning and end of each process. An inexpensive time clock can be purchased to be placed in the center of the production area for this purpose.  This will not be the same time clock that is used for clocking in at the beginning of the day.  That clock needs to be in the entry way as they come in the door.

When an employee knows that they are being timed they have a tendency to move quicker and more efficiently.  It is very important to start this process from the time that the order is taken until it is shipped out of the door.  You over look a lot of time that it actually takes to produce that finished product if you are not carefully tracking every single movement and moment of time.

In our next tip, I will talk about your Embroidery Business Inventory Costs.

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach

The main purpose for creating a business plan for your embroidery business is to give you a clear direction and guidance on how you intend to run your embroidery business and plan for your future growth.  With this plan you will be able to analyze and measure each step along the way to ensure that you truly are on the right path.

Writing your business plan is not as tough as it seems; the hardest part is getting started and knowing where to start.  I found that by taking it piece by piece; the job was much easier and I really could not believe what I learned as a result of taking the time to do it.

Many business plans look great on paper, but do not succeed in the real life.  Make sure that you are writing a plan that will work in the real world!

Joyce Jagger
The Embroidery Coach