[Jewelry making - Article 00557] - [Orchid] Project Management for Jewelers

[Mary Linford]

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    I came up with this system to solve some production and prioritizing
    problems at a small custom jewelry store.  We used this system
    mainly for custom jobs, however it can be adapted for repair or
    stock production as well. The shop had 3-4 employees, depending on
    the time of year, as well as some out-of-house work (hand engraver,
    laser welder, etc).  The way our store worked is certain employees
    would have their aspect of every job.  For instance, one person
    would carve a wax, one would polish it, and one would solder in
    heads or fabricate parts, and one would do stone setting.  
    Therefore, a custom job would pass through many hands, and a small
    problem in planning could grow into a finger pointing fiasco.  Also,
    prioritizing would be an issue, people would work on what interested
    or challenged them, and leave some jobs hiding in the back of their
    box. When a customer would call, often no one would know where the
    job was, and we would scramble to figure out what stage it was in. 
    We usually gave a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks to a customer, but
    that was a little long and vague for what was our largest portion of
    income.  

    I no longer work at that store, having struck out on my own as a
    full time wax carver to the trade.  However, I still use this system
    for my own organization.  It is amazing how planning something out,
    and putting it on paper, leaves me to relax and know that if I just
    follow simple steps, the job will get done on time.  

    Planning 

    The first step in Project Management is planning. One person usually
    did this; the manager would be a good choice. Perhaps one could have
    a shop manager as opposed to a sales manager because the person doing
    this has to have a firm grasp on all aspects of producing a piece of
    jewelry. This needs to fit the particular type of work/shop
    environment. Every time a custom job was taken in, it was brought to
    me for Project Management. I looked over the order thoroughly, found
    any missing information such as size, width, # of stones etc. If a
    scale drawing was not made, I usually made one to find if it was
    realistic. The more complex the design, the more important this stage
    is. This is the time to get all the input from employees, boss, etc.
    This is also the time to hash out every conceivable problem or
    disagreements on how to carry out a job. Diagramming 

    After the order is completely understood, the Diagramming takes
    place.  I used an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper cut in half lengthwise. It
    has the customer's name, phone #, metal, size, in date, and due date.
    Job # could go on there if desired, as well as price of job and
    deposit, if any. This sheet is now your Progress Sheet. Then, the job
    gets broken down into its steps.  

    Sample job #1
    http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/sample-job-1.doc

    Jane Doughnut wants a platinum ring with her center stone, and you
    provide side stones. The ring will be carved in wax, sent out for
    casting, and then stones will be set in your shop.  

    Sample job #2
    http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/sample-job-2.doc

    John Applesauce wants a pendant for her wife. The design is one you
    have a mold for, but to fit a different center stone. You need to
    find the stone, show the customer, and then adapt the wax model to
    fit.  The pendant will be cast in 18k. He also wants a 23" chain to
    go with, so you will need to order one and shorten it.  

    Sample job #3
    http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/sample-job-3.doc

    Alice Daydream wants a Stuller ring mounting with her Amethyst set
    in the center.  Her stone came out of a family heirloom ring and
    needs repolishing.  You need to send the stone out, while ordering
    the mounting, and then set the stone. 

    As you can see, each job has different steps, and will pass through
    multiple hands before it is completed.  Even if you do everything
    yourself, it still could use a Project Management system.    

    The first step is to break down each job into every step you can
    think of.  Either every time the job changes hands, or every time
    the job stops, such as customer approval or awaiting parts.  

    The next step is diagramming. Some Project Management systems use
    different shapes for different people, some use different colors. 
    Some parts of a project can occur simultaneously and some can only
    be done in a certain order. See diagrams. 

    Note how boxes with steps are connected with a line. These show
    successive steps. Other boxes are not connected, showing that they
    can occur simultaneously.  

    One benefit of the Project Management system is that you are forced
    to think a job all the way through. You troubleshoot every aspect
    of the job, so that later down the road, you can't say, "oh, I
    thought that was supposed to be fabricated", or "oh yeah, I forgot
    to order that chain".  

    Calendar Planning 

    The next step in the system is Calendar Planning. This will allow
    you to set a firm due date, and to know that you can keep the
    promise.  Usually, when I would take in a job, I would tell the
    customer that I would get back to them with a firm due date after I
    completed the Project Management work. 

    The timetables you will use will be unique to you. You should have a
    good idea about how long certain things should take, for instance
    platinum casting 10 days, stone cutting 7 days, ordering parts 3
    days, etc=85  Usually I would give each employee one week to complete
    their task.  You will notice in the samples I have a range in the
    date.  This window will vary depending on the job.  It is helpful to
    have a calendar in front of you so you can work around weekends,
    holidays, and employee schedules.  If you always order parts on a
    certain day, or you always cast on Wednesdays, then the Progress
    sheet should reflect this in your dates.  

    Important note: 

    I start the calendar process with a pencil!!!  This allows you to
    make the changes necessary to arrive at your target due date.  This
    is really where the beauty of the system comes into play.  Say you
    promise that platinum job for 4 weeks.  After you go through the
    planning stage, you realize that gives you less than one week to get
    the stones in, carve the wax, and get customer approval.  The
    casting will take 10-14 days including shipping time, and then you
    have 1 week to polish and set the stones.  This may be a tight
    schedule!  It's best to think about these things at the outset than
    to run into it on week 3!  You may choose to extend the deadline, or
    you may let the customer know that she will have a very small window
    to look at the wax.  You might even set an appointment for the wax
    viewing to assure that the job stays on track. 

    The Calendar Planning portion also can give you an overview of an
    employee's schedule.  If you color code, you can see at a glance who
    will be swamped in a particular week, or what problems may occur if
    someone is going to be out of town.  Implementation of System 

    SO, you have the sheets filled out for your jobs, now what???   I
    found it most helpful to have these sheets out in the open where
    everyone could see them.  We used the back of a door; at home I use
    a section of my office wall.  You could use a 3 ring binder, but in
    my experience out of sight, out of mind.  Every time a step gets
    completed, you mark it off, and the date it was done.  If you check
    "the wall" daily, you can catch jobs falling behind, stay on top of
    "parts needed" and make sure you have enough casting metal for all
    your jobs.  Employees can look for their color or shape, and know
    what they may have coming up.  Prioritizing becomes about due dates,
    not about desires.  Once a job is completed, you take the sheet off
    of "the wall" and put it in a folder.  For the bored manager, one
    could actually audit and gain information from these sheets.  You
    could find out that it takes more like 16 days to get platinum
    castings back instead of the 10-14 you thought.  Or that your
    average turnaround time is 3.5 weeks instead of 4-6.  Or one
    employee is the root of slow job problems.  All of this is valuable
    information to help future jobs move more smoothly.  

    Post-it notes should be sending me a cut for the next suggestion; I
    am addicted to the things.  I would set up a series of post-its on
    the top of the job bag.  It would stay with the job, and have a tear
    off dates with what needs to be done.  So you would start from the
    due date and work backwards.  Then, when each person would get the
    job, they would have their due date in front of them.  You could
    also photocopy reduce the Progress sheet and attach it to the job
    envelope. 

    There are many different ways to implement the system, how you
    choose is up to you.  The point is to make it work for you. 
 	
    Conclusion 

    I hope this information was valuable to you.  It is my goal to just
    share a system that worked for me.  If it can work for you, great! 
    Please note that any new system can encounter resistance.  One of my
    employees still could not remember to cross things off as he did
    them, even after a year of the system.  As the manager, I just kept
    on him. The owners of the store were a little hesitant at first, but
    now have kept the system going for 4 years after I left.  They still
    tell me how good it is, and have raved about how they no longer
    stress about jobs lingering in the back of a box with no clue on the
    progress.  Now when customers call, they just go over to the board,
    check the name and give an instant progress report.  So find a way
    to make it work and keep at it.  I came up with this system about 7
    years ago, and still use it in my own business. 

Mary Linford
Blue Star Wax Carving
PO Box 11692
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206-780-3602
mary AT bluestarwaxcarving.com

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