“The Importance of Teamwork Within Your Embroidery Business!”
When your business is growing and you start to hire employees, it is very important that you stress upon the new employees the need to be able to work together as a team. If the new applicant is the type of person that gives you any indication that they will not be a team player then that is the wrong type of person to hire.
This week I had a situation with an embroidery business that has 12 employees and they are not growing as they should. The main problem is the lack of ability for them to work together as a team. Many embroidery operators have the attitude that their job is the most important one in the business and the rest of the staff is just there to assist them.
Every Employee Must Feel Important
Each and every one of the positions within the embroidery business is just as important as the embroidery machine operators. Each one of those employees deserves and should command the same respect as the embroidery machine operators. Without the person to log in the orders, plan and prepare the orders, hoop the garments, trim the garments, pack the garments, and wait on the customer, the embroidery machine operator would not be necessary. This is a huge problem in many small to medium shops.
Every employee in the business needs to have a feeling of importance and feel that they are needed and respected. Many times the position of the person that hoops the garments or the person that trims the garments is not treated the same and they feel very inferior. This is most unfortunate. Their job is just as important as the embroidery machine operator.
I was hired by the owner of a medium sized embroidery shop to re-organized his business so that it would run more efficiently and grow at a faster rate. This has required me to make a lot of changes and not all of the changes have been accepted graciously. The opposition that I have had is that, “this is the way that we have always done it and it is working, we do not want to change it!” Just because that is the way that it has always been done is not necessarily the best or most efficient way to get the same job done.
There have been a lot of changes within the embroidery industry in the past few years and your business needs to change along with it in order to be able to keep up with the rest of the industry. There have been changes in backings, threads, equipment, fabrics and generally the way that business is run today! If you do not change with the industry, you will go out of business and do so very quickly!
Customers are demanding more and more and in a shorter time frame. If you do not meet those demands, someone else will. You must be willing to offer the highest quality products in record time with a smile on your face at all times! In order to accomplish this, you must insist that everyone on your staff work together as a significant part of the team. If this is not possible, hire new employees and develop a team spirit or go out of business; it will be very difficult for you to survive in this new economy!
Developing A Team Spirit
Have a group meeting once or twice per month. Let the employees know what changes your are making or what needs to be changed and let them be apart of the decision making.
This is very important. If you have a negative employee that does not want to be apart of the group, it is time to rethink that employees position. Find out what it is that is bothering them and see if you can help to make them feel part of the team, especially if they are a good worker. It is very difficult to let someone go that has been part of the company for a long time and sometimes totally unecessary if you can help to make the situation better.
Show your gratitude by bringing in a treat every now and then. This is something that is always appreciated and it also helps to smooth over bad situations at times! It does not have to cost a lot of money, it is the thought that counts and small gestures go a long way!
“Next Step In Training The New Employee – The Helpers Position!”
In our last article about where to start training a new employee, I talked about starting with the end process and then they could be moved into the helper’s position as soon as they were ready. Make sure that they totally understand each and every process along the way before they are moved into the next position. You must test them to make sure that you know they understand. This may sound very elementary but just asking them is not good enough. YOU MUST KNOW!
We discussed also that when they were moved into the helpers position that they first must know how to tie the Weavers knot so that the threads will go right through the needles. I gave you a video showing you a simple way to do this. Now we are ready for Step two in the process of training the new helper. A helper is someone that can help tie new threads onto the machine, load and unload the machine, carry work from the hooping area to the machine and carry the finished work from the machine to the trimmers.
Thorough Training Of The Embroidery Machine Helper is Very Important!
The training of this helper is very important. Make sure that they have a thorough understanding of exactly what is meant by each step of the process. Have them do it over and over until they have it mastered. Do not let them go to step two until step one is mastered. This sounds like it is so simple that anyone should be able to do it, but they need to be taught exactly how each step is done.
Step two-Teach them how to unload the machine making sure that they do not get anything caught in the needles as they are removing it from the machine. Teach them how to remove the hoop without touching the needles. This will dull the needles. Show them how to remove the hoop from the garment when they unload the machine and place both the unhooped garments and the hoops in their correct locations. Do not let them go to step three until step two is mastered.
Step three- Teach them how to load the machine making sure that they do not get any of the garments caught under the presser foot or the throat plate. Show they how to run their hands under the garment to make sure that nothing is caught. Teach them that they are not to touch the needles with the hoop as they are loading the machine. This will dull the needles.
Here is a short video here showing you how to put a garment into the Embroidery Machine.
Download Video: MP4
You can see more videos by going to EmbroideryTipsandMore.com. You must be a member to see the training videos.
These are basic skills but need to be mastered by everyone that is on the production floor. This includes the trimmers, hoopers, packers, steamers, as well as the machine operators. This helps everyone to know what the whole process is and also gives you skilled people to use if you need to pull them from another position to help out temporarily.
Give New Embroidery Employee Copy of Training Manual
Read more…
As A Small Embroidery Shop Owner, How Do I Begin To Train A New Employee?
As a small embroidery shop owner, have you been in the situation of needing to train a new employee to help you but really did not know where to start? This can be very frustrating for the small embroidery shop owner that has always worked alone and has never had to teach anyone how to be a helper to them.
In this article I will start with the very first employee that a small embroidery shop owner should start training for the embroidery production floor.
New Embroidery Employee Start Training At The End Process
If you have hired a new employee to start on the production floor, the best place to start is at the end of the process, regardless of what you have hired them for. Start them trimming, folding and packing. This helps them to see how the process is finished and helps to get them excited to learn more. If a new employee cannot trim, they need to be dismissed. This is a very basic function, but takes a lot of dexterity and attention to detail. Many people feel that this part of the process is for low paying individuals that cannot do anything else. This could not be farther from the truth. A trimming mistake can ruin the entire process if close attention is not paid to detail. They need to have a positive attitude and their attitude will really show up during this process.
How To Start Training A Production Helper
They can then be moved into a helper’s position. A helper is someone that can help tie new threads onto the machine, load and unload the machine, carry work from the hooping area to the machine and carry the finished work from the machine to the trimmers. The training of this helper is very important. They must be shown everything that they are supposed to do and be thoroughly tested on these skills. This sounds like it is so simple that anyone should be able to do it, but they need to be taught exactly how each step is done.
Step One – Show them where the threads are stored and how you put them onto the machine. Teach them how to do the Weavers knot so that the threads will go right through the needles. Make sure that they understand exactly what is meant each step of the process. Have them do it over and over until they have it mastered. Do not let them go to step two until step one is mastered.
Here is a video showing your how to tie the Embroidery threads so that they will go right through the needles! It works 99% of the time. Huge time-saver!
Download Video: MP4
In our next Ezine, I will start at Step Two in Training the Production Helper and move further into the training process.
Proper training is extremely important when you hire a new employee for your embroidery operation. Without the proper training this new employee can end up creating a lot of mistakes and this leads to lost production. This is just as important for the small embroidery shop owner that is hiring their first employee as it is to the multi-head shop that has many employees.
Please leave a comment below to let me know if this helped you!
