Quality - VS - Time

[Mojo]

I have been conducting an experiment the last month and found something interesting. This probably does not apply to many of you because so many of you veterans have been sewing since you were in diapers and stitch fast with perfection.

But, I got myself into a bad habit when I first started sewing and that is speed. Maybe its the racing blood in me or possibly the attitude of sew faster, make more money. When I got my Chandler it got to be a game with me to see how far I could turn up the Servo settings and stitch.

My wife came through the shop one day and seen me sewing and yelled " For God's Sake.........slow that damn thing down ". Now, let me remind you all that I poke fun at my wife on this forum but I will admit she is my brain trust and when it comes to sewing she knows her stuff. She also is one awesome woman who I constantly fall back on for help in this business.

So I started slowing down. Way Down. And something happened. My quality shot up. I was not redoing seams. I was not throwing out material and starting over. My stitching was dead on straight. Bloody amazing isn't it what speed can do to accuracy.  ;D

So it got me to thinking, for all you servo folks, what setting do you have on your motor ? Mine is at the first setting unless I am sewing solar screens and then I will go to the third setting. Do you sew fast or at medium or slow speeds ?

Have any of you ever ran into this ? You started slowing down your sewing and found everything just seemed to flow better ? Hell, maybe its my age. Maybe I needed to slow down so my brain could catch up with my hands and eyes. :)

Chris

[JuneC]

I've always been a slow sewer.  Production speed is not my priority.  It probably costs me in the long run, but I don't advertise and haven't solicited for work in probably 3 years.  I try to deliver customer satisfaction, regardless of how long it takes me.

June

[Mike8560]

I sew as cast as I cs. Sometime I'll miss my binding but I have to get  it done  as soon as posible and move on. 
I know if I went slow  kt mess up at all.
Ever be binding a big cover and relize your bobbin ran out 10 feet ago ?

[Grebo]

I am like June, never been a fast sewer, prefer to be slow & only do it once  :P
Speed up sometimes on binding  ;D   

[NDAV8R]

    I always focus on Quality vs quantity.  I would rather have a customer spread a rumor around about my quality work being too slow but worth the wait. I think quality will bring them back in the door. Yes, there are trade offs. Do you spend a week recovering a milk stool for an old fashion dairy barn?..no.  How about a week for a luxury item on a yacht or Jet?...yes.
   I also think that the customer will live longer in mind with a quality item vs a fast job that they are so-so with.    A Quality item will sell itself. You put a quality item and a half a$$ job in a room together with no one there to represent both, and the Quality item will win every time, if people are to vote. 
   Most of my repeat customers realize when they come to me, they know up front from previous work, they will put up with a little extra wait. However the first timers can't see it until the final product is done. 
    It is a double edge sword for me in the aviation industry, because when an airplane is not in the air, it does not make any money.  So I have to try to hurry up to get a project done while the plane or jet is down for maintainence.  I become over joy when I hear they (the mechanics) have to order extra parts or discover a new issue with the plane...this buys me a little extra time.
  I always tell my clients up front that it might take a little extra time or money to do the job.  And 95% of the time they are very happy to see the job is completed under the estimate.
And Salesmen are the absolutely the worst to work for. They want to get it done right now, but still have the most prestine job.
One thing that I learned from Johann at Coachtrim's Leather workshop is that these machines are capable of producing literaly a "billion" stitches a minute, and if you actually slow the machine down, you can produce very high qualilty work. Eveyone has heard of "Haste makes Waste". Punching through aviation leather is not cheap..close to $700 to $900  per hide.
  Well, back to my slow project!
Gale.

[sofadoc]

I crank it up fast when I'm just sewing long runs of cording/double cording, zippers, etc. I dial it down for tedious stuff.
But really, even on the fastest setting, I can sew one stitch at a time if I want to.

Ever be binding a big cover and relize your bobbin ran out 10 feet ago ?

I always run out long before I realize it. That's why I don't see the importance of being able to change a bobbin without removing the work.

[MinUph]

With my Pfaff I could sew at top speed. Probably because I became use to the machine after years of sewing on it. When I got this new Consew with the servo I tried sewing fast as it would go. I figured I should be able to and it was a mess. I am now down to 4. Much more control. I will probably move up as I get better on this machine but on 4 it sews a little slower than the Pfaff did full bore anyway.

[bobbin]

Anyone who has been successful at piece rate work understands well that you begin slowly and learn to handle the work efficiently and stitch it properly the first time around.  The minute you to have to rip out stitching you are losing money. 

Learn the proper technique and most efficient handling and focus on quality.  Speed comes after those things have been mastered.  And speed will come!

I have a little gizmo on my machine that beeps when the bobbin in about to run out.  Very handy!

[Mojo]

I have a little gizmo on my machine that beeps when the bobbin in about to run out.  Very handy!

Your kidding me ?

Was this an after market add on or is it a standard piece of equipment on your machine ?

Chris

[bobbin]

It was part of the standard package with my Juki 1541-7.   I've only used it a little bit, when you wind the bobbin you set what's basically a counter and when the thread gets below a certain point it beeps to tell you're low and you can check the counter to see if there's enough to finish what you're stitching. 

It's geared toward production work, esp. for applications where running out of thread and starting again is a no-no. 

[Mojo]

Thanks.

That is just cool as heck. I wonder if you can buy them separately for any machine.

I have run out of bobbin thread on projects ( due to my own fault for not checking the thread before I started sewing ) and I ended up being a PO stitcher. :)

Typically that only happens to you once or twice before you learn to check the bobbin before starting a long run.

Chris

[kodydog]

My wife can sew a chair cushion in less than a half hour with no mistakes or flaws. I take a little longer.

Just started working for a guy in south Fl with a servo machine. When I first used it I thought it was going to suck my whole arm in to it. Then the other upholsterer told me about the little knob with all the numbers. I'm up to # 4 but now when I go home and use my old singer its like moving in slow motion.

I once had a supervisor tell me, you can do a quality job just as fast as a sloppy job. Still trying to figure that one out.

Work as fast as you can but quality always comes first.

[JuneC]

Just started working for a guy in south Fl with a servo machine.

Working for one of my competitors, eh?  ::)  If you're on the east coast, we should try to meet one day (when my busy season is winding down). 

June

[Grebo]

I once had a supervisor tell me, you can do a quality job just as fast as a sloppy job. Still trying to figure that one out.

I am sure you can, but if it's not working out, slow down get it right then pick up speed again.  ;D

[bobbin]

When training new stitchers this was my common refrain:

"There's never time to do it properly the first time, but there's always time to do it again."

Slow down, master the technique and handling and the speed and fluidity will come.