What is production jewelry really like?

I used to make a ton of production jewelry for another designer. When I say a ton, I mean that a light day was 20 pieces started, soldered, hammered and complete by the end of an 8 hour shift. When I say a ton, I mean that I once set a record for 99 pairs of the same earrings made in a single day. 99 pairs cut, soldered, hammered, matched, polished, and completed in one shift.

You learn some things doing a lot of production jewelry

Here’s what you can learn from that level of production:

• You learn how to organize production so that the parts are there when you need them.

• You learn how to maintain your tools so that they are always ready for you.

• You learn how to be efficient with your movements to prevent repetitive strain injuries.

• And you learn how to take constructive feedback when something goes wrong.

That last part is important because the other part of production jewelry that I learned was Quality Control (QC).

Why quality control matters at all levels of your jewelry business

We had a single QC person on staff who inspected, compared and evaluated each and every piece, twisted and wiggled every stone and ear post, looked over the solder seams and tugged at every link and chain before the jewelry got put in a box, and did all of this before it was labeled and checked off. The quality control step was THE step that made the jewelry officially done and ready to ship. If something wasn’t right, it went back to the jeweler who made it to be corrected.

Is this super-duper detailed and what some might even call anal? Yes, and you want to do it anyway.

Time and again I saw that quality control was one of the most vital parts of this jewelry business.

Here’s why:

• Some larger retailers will turn away an entire order if one item doesn’t meet their standards.

• Direct-to-consumer customers can write reviews to you, to Yelp, or to Google if something is off about their order.

• Some retailers, regardless of size, will reject items for not being uniform (i.e. if they order 5 pairs of the same earrings, all of those earrings had better look the same)

• Some larger retailers will knock 10 or 15% off of your invoice for shipping late.

And most importantly, shipping items without quality control will have your customers feeling like they trust you less. That trust aspect is the reason why you want to make QC your final step before shipping anything.

Quality control doesn’t have to be arduous

• It can be as simple as a checklist, or as complex as creating an entire department.

• It can be done solo – pad your production schedule by a day to give yourself time to review your work with fresh eyes.

• It can be done as a team – if you have a studio or production assistant, train them to be your second pair of eyes on the quality, and empower them to be able to speak up when they see something wrong.

I harp on systems and organization a lot, because these are also factors that hit your bottom line – as much if not more so than spending too much.

What could you do today to add a touch of quality control to your process?

One more thing!

I made a YouTube video about this in case you like listening rather than reading.

One goal of mine for this year is to create either video or audio versions of my newsletters and blog posts

Something I’ve learned is that many people prefer spoken word content as a way to learn vs. written word. My life (and business) goal is to always meet people where they are, and this is one small part of it. If you are more into audio-visual learning, consider subscribing to my You Tube Channel.