[Jewelry making - Article 00145] - Re: [Orchid] Speed vs. Quality

[Daniel Spirer]

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>     I'm gratified to read the quality replies to this thread. I would
>     go so far as to say that there is no such question, "Speed vs.
>     quality?" 

    I'm sorry, but there truly is a question of how fast some people are
    able to work. I had an employee for many years who's work was usually
    meticulous (only usually because he had a habit of overpolishing
    stuff a lot of times--because he was so meticulous-- and then we
    would have to redo it) but who was slow as molasses. I could produce
    the same work, with as good (or better) quality in anywhere from
    50-90% LESS time than he took. No matter what I did to try to change
    his work habits and speed things up he was never able to change. I
    ended up having to limit what he worked on a lot (I gave him all of
    my platinum work because it was far more profitable to sell and I
    could afford to pay more for the labor involved) because otherwise
    it simply wasn't profitable for me to employ him. When my partnership
    broke up, I could not bring him along with me, in part because of
    this actual problem. I helped him get a job at the premier high end
    jeweler in Boston (I know the shop manager there) and she had to fire
    him after a few months for the same problem. There was rarely a
    problem with the quality he produced for them as well, but he simply
    couldn't work fast enough. What was taking their regular jewelers an
    hour or two to do, he was spending two to three days on. And I can
    assure that the level of their work is as good as it can get.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-234-4392
daniel AT spirerjewelers.com
www.spirerjewelers.com


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