Speeding Up The Making Process

[anester05]

Howdy,

What kinds of things do you do to reduce time without cutting corners?

I will be making general tack items, just looking for some advice so I can deliver a quality product in as little time as possible.

I will be hand sewing all items, if you have any suggestions where that is concerned.

Thanks,

Adam

[Ferg]

First thing I have done? I have bought two sewing machines. My old hands and fingers just won't take the strain from hand stitching. I still love the look of a great hand stitching job.

The time element involved with some stitching will slow your ability to make "time".

Make patterns.

ferg

Howdy,

What kinds of things do you do to reduce time without cutting corners?

I will be making general tack items, just looking for some advice so I can deliver a quality product in as little time as possible.

I will be hand sewing all items, if you have any suggestions where that is concerned.

Thanks,

Adam

[oldtimer]

Howdy,

What kinds of things do you do to reduce time without cutting corners?

I will be making general tack items, just looking for some advice so I can deliver a quality product in as little time as possible.

I will be hand sewing all items, if you have any suggestions where that is concerned.

Thanks,

Adam

A clicker would save much time

[Art]

Adam,

Hand sewing can really slow down production. Sewing machines are great, but try to adjust your workflow so that you are NOT changing thread sizes and colors all the time. I now have 9, or more regularly used stitchers which doesn't include the dozen or so the wife has. Is that extreme, well not really if you do a lot of different work. A good harnessmaker can get by with one or two (black and white).

Cutting is another time consuming function, and for harness and tack a clicker would be a godsend. Once you have the dies made, you can click out 15 bridles in 5 minutes or less, then there is just sewing and finishwork. A ten ton clicker is enough, I can do 12 iron (1/4 inch) sole bends without it even phasing the machine.

While not of a lot of use to a harnessmaker, a bell skiving machine can make a big difference to someone who is doing a a lot of it, like a shoemaker or saddlemaker. I had a saddlemaker tell me that if he had it to do over, he would have purchased the skiver before the stitcher. For the shoemaker, it is the other way around.

A slitter can be a useful thing if your work goes that way, e.g. beltmakers.

You just buy the machines to do the most labor intensive portion of your business. Time is indeed money. Or you can buy a machine to do the things you really hate to do, your sanity is more important than money.

Art

Howdy,

What kinds of things do you do to reduce time without cutting corners?

I will be making general tack items, just looking for some advice so I can deliver a quality product in as little time as possible.

I will be hand sewing all items, if you have any suggestions where that is concerned.

Thanks,

Adam

[bruce johnson]

Adam,

Good advice so far. Just adding my 2 cents worth.

Most of the time there is a time savings to batching things up but I learned a few things along the way. .

Plan your work so you get at least some items completed in a reasonable amount of time. Ten years ago right now I was looking for anything that paid. I had an order for 35 leather toilet lid covers for decorator working for a guest ranch. I cut all 35, stamped and tooled them all, oiled them, finshed them, tacked them on. It seemed like it took forever and I was bored out of my skull. After that I had an order for 80 hide-inlay spotted belts. I did the same thing - each piece a step at a time on all of them. That about killed me. I was sitting there out about 20 days on an order that was due in a month and I hadn't actually completed the first one. I did but man that ate on me that they weren't getting done. My small business advisor told me to batch things in some kind of numbers that could be completed in 6 days. That way I could have an extra day if something came up, but mentally I could tell myself that I had actually accomplished something that week. I had something tangible to look at. Most of the time that is how I scheduled my work.

I get to tweaking it around later for some things. I would cut one day, stamp half the next and leave them sit, oil those the day after and stamp the other half. Next day oil the second batch and line the first and so on. That way I wasn't doing the same thing each at each work session. Mixing things up but keeping the work flowing helped the sanity some too.

[anester05]

Thanks everyone for the replies, another question.

The halters I am making right now need to be black. I have cut several straps to the widths I need. Should I make each individual piece for the halter then dye then sew the halter together? Or should I dip dye the straps then do all the cutting and sewing?

Edited March 15, 2012 by anester05

[Sylvia]

Howdy,

What kinds of things do you do to reduce time without cutting corners?

I will be making general tack items, just looking for some advice so I can deliver a quality product in as little time as possible.

I will be hand sewing all items, if you have any suggestions where that is concerned.

Thanks,

Adam

I can't speak to leather production. I'm still figuring that out myself. But if I draw on my experience while working at a small clothing manufacturer.

1. On station one operation. So I imagine for you it would be a cutting station, a tooling station, a dying station, finishing station, etc.

2. Order Scheduling If you know you have 25 orders of the same thing in the same color. It makes sense to cut and make all 25 at once, even if 10 of those are going to another customer.

3. Standardize. If your bread and butter is from a single item make it the same way every time, using the same hardware and dye. Meaning instead of offering 16 colors and 4 colors or styles of hardware. Choose 1 or 2 styles and colors and make that your "standard" options. Anything thing else falls under custom and garners a higher price.

4. Time management: Make one or two days your shipping day.(s) Pre-schedule your pick up or have a set day for the shipping drivers to come pick up your items.... and prepare and pack the items for shipping have them waiting for the shipping service.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Good luck.

[busted]

The first thing you need to so is buy struck through leather not Herman Oak natural. You are wasting time and money on the bye and on the material. Good luck

Thanks everyone for the replies, another question.

The halters I am making right now need to be black. I have cut several straps to the widths I need. Should I make each individual piece for the halter then dye then sew the halter together? Or should I dip dye the straps then do all the cutting and sewing?

[anester05]

Is struck through leather just drum dyed?

[Art]

Yes, just left in a little longer.

Art

Is struck through leather just drum dyed?