In observance of the 4th of July which falls on Sunday this year, Dubow Textile will be closed Monday July 5th.

Our entire staff wishes all of you a very safe and happy 4th of July celebration. Please keep our troops in mind, both past and present, that have given us the freedoms we all enjoy!!!

Rob

Did you know that clicking on the green, yellow and pink buttoms on the main screen of your order informaiton will take you directly to the information in that order? I was sitting with the programmer the other day and told him that we needed to simplify the way our customers can view informaiton within DOTS. He asked what I meant, and tried to explain the difficulties I was having viewing informaiton. He slapped me along side of the head, not literally, and said, click here, and I immediately had the backorder information I was looking for.

There are two reasons for me to explain this on my blog. One is to show how forgetful I am, it must come with age. Two is to make sure all of you that happen to run across this blog know that you can do what I described. And three is to say that we can really do whatever we need to enhance the features of DOTS, because we own it and are making changes to it daily.

Rob

Dubow Textile will be closed Monday May 31st in observance of Memorial Day. We will be back in office early Tuesday morning working hard to delight our customers.

We hope you all have a wonderful, safe holiday and come back refreshed and ready to go.

I am being told a quality blog is supposed to be updated daily, if not multiple times in a day. I highly disagree because I truly don't think anyone has that much to say and it woudl bore the heck out of anyone trying to keep up with the stuff that would be written about, especially me.

The UMAPP show was held last week at the St. Paul River Center, and I felt positive optimisi coming from almost everyone I spoke to about business. The consensus is, business is out there to be had, you have to work harder and smarter to get it, but it is there. those that look for ways to delight their customers by giving them new, cutting edge ideas to promote their businesses will succeed. The Distribuitors that are sitting back, offering the same old ideas, waiting for their customers to call them, will not succeed.

We are definitely not sitting back and waiting at Dubow Textile. We are constantly changing by adding techniques, changing processes and thinking outside the box. Unfortunately at times, this causes a mess, like yesterday when we made some changes to our notification system and it decided to send out hundreds of e-mails to the same people, with the same message. First I want to apologize for jamming the in boxes of those it happened to and assure you, it is fixed and shouldn't happen again. Jerome jokingly blames it on Microsoft, because they are so easy to pick on, but in reality it was a slip up in the coding as we were upgrading, and the results were not pretty. as I said, sorry to those that we affected, but it is fixed and the system is functioning perfectly now.

The last thing I want to comment on today is digitized files being sent to us. As we all know, there are many, many companies offering digitizing for almost nothing. The good news is, sometimes the results of the low cost digitizers is just fine and the finished product looks great. other times, the digitizing is in simple terms, terrible, and when you start out with a bad embroidery file, there is no way to make it better. We have customers that utilize the low end services of off-shore digitizers, and that is fine.

Typically the files are sent to us and we are requested to do a sewout on a specific color and type of fabric as a pre-production proof. Obviously we have to charge for this service, but that isn't an issue because it is known up-front. Lately, the issue has been very poor digitizing, resulting in very poor sewouts. This hasn't been isolated to just one customer, it has happened recently to a number of customers who, I am sure utilize different digitizing providers. My message is, when you get a sewout that doesn't look good, don't assume it is the embroidery that caused it. we take every precaution possible to assure quality in everything we do and don't want to produce something that doesn't look good. When utilizing an outside digitizing service, qualify them first to make sure they have experienced digitizers, quality licensed digitizing equipment and that they do actual sewouts of the designs and scan them to you for approval. Do not assume a computer generated sewout, is going to look good as an actual embroidery. Thread is different than print, especially on todays fabrics.

Rob

Life is starting to get back to normal again thanks to the running shoes Charla, our new accounting clerk, wore on Monday to quickly learn her new position. As an employer for over 30 years, boy am I old, I have never had a new staff member start the way we started Charla. If we didn't chase her away after the first two days on the job of intense training, including having to get a payroll ready, nothing will scare her away.

The good news is we are busy producing orders for our customers and making sure each and every order delights their customer. I am seeing a sense of renewed faith, that those that survived the past couple of years are going to be OK. It may mean working harder, investing more into the profession, networking more and selling more to make the same amount of money, but survival and thriving are going to happen.

It is important for our customers to remember that what they promise we will produce, as long as we know all the details of what they promise. We are int he position in the industry that we have to know everything about an order, from what is being to produced, how it is being produced and who it is being produced for, with many other details included. One missed detail can easily turn an order sour and no one likes when that happens. Please, make sure you take the extra 2 minutes up front, to go through the order you are submitting and make sure all details are clearly entered so we can quickly and easily re-create what you envision.

We are really good at knowing what our customers expect and do a really good job of anticipating their needs. However, we are not clairvoyant and do need clear written instructions. One suggestion is to use Excel spreadheets  for organizing an order. When submitted with the order, we can easily sort by any means we need to easily enter the information in our system. We are your partner and only want success, it is much easier that way.

Remember, details, details, details and we will keep your promises and make you shine. Have a great day and thank you for your business.

Rob

I must say that owning a business definitely has it's challenges and have learned a long time ago, the best plans are the most flexible plans. Early Monday morning started with an e-mail being sent to me from Lillee a key staff member in the accounting department,  that she wouldn't be coming back to Dubow Textile effective immediately. This was sent even after she had given a one month notice the previous Friday.

The e-mailed of course changed all planned schedules for the upcoming week because we had to advertise for the position, do the interview process and of course coordinate the training process as well as cover the work load of the now missing person.  Unfortunately for us, we were dependant on Lillee for invoicing and payroll, which meant Robin and Jenna had to quickly learn what they didn't know about the position and then somehow squeeze that work into their busy schedules. Kudo's to both of them, becuase I do believe they actually made it happen without our customers knowing any difference.

I was truly amazed when I posted the job on a state employment site that I received over 100 applications in a 24 hour period. My heart went out to each and everyone of the applicants, because I understand how scarce jobs are. After reviewing all of the applications I selected the ones I felt best fit the position, conducted a number of interviews, all of them being wonderful candidates, and was in the difficult position of only choosing one.

We welcome Charla Janssen to Dubow Textile who came to us from Express Employment Services, thanks to my great friend Jill Magelssen.

It is time to get caught up with what couldn't get accomplished last week, plan for the training process and move on.

Most of our customers utilize our services to estimate the number of stitches in logos. when we get a request for a quote it is taken very seriously, because for you, it could mean either being to high on your bid to your customer resulting in you not getting the job, or too low, resulting in a loss on the job. With us standing behind our quotes and the tight margins we work under, it is imperative for us to be as close as possible.

What I find interesting is, I don't get too many questions as to how we go about determining the stitch count? Well, you are about to learn more, even if you don't want to and hopefully it will help you explain to your customers what is entailed in the production of their logo.

The first thing I look at when quoting a design is, is there anything that won't work for embroidery? For instance, each letter and space needs at least .145" of width at a minimum height of 3/16". Larger letters need more space. That means, if we are quoting a design with 30 letters and spaces in one line, the overall width of the design has to be at least 4.35" wide. Most left chest designs need to below 4" wide to prevent them from wrapping into the armpit of garments. I also look at the details in the design, to determine if there are other features that need to be adjusted for the embroidery process.

Once the visual observations are made, I then count each letter, determine the approximate height that will be needed and figure out how many stitches are in the lettering. For instance, a non-serif letter at 1/4" tall has about 110 stitches in it. A serif letter has about 145 stitches and the larger the letter, the more stitches. Once a letter gets over a certain size, it is necessary to figure the stitch count based on a filled letter, rather than a satin stitch letter. Just to give you an idea, the average stitch count of a 1.5" tall letter is 810 stitches per letter because we are using a fill stitch rather than a satin stitch.

I then measure the area of fill in each design, calculating each square inch of fill at about 2300 stitches. If there are borders around elements of the design, they are calculated at about 150 stitches per inch.

When all of my measurements are complete, I then finish the quote sheet with the estimated stitch count, estimated size that will look good based on what the product is and where it is going to be decorated on the product and the cost of the digitizng. I will also add any suggestions or concerns, as to what will need to be done to achieve the quality look you want to present to your customer. The goal is to give your customer a quality result and sometimes that means saying, it won't work.

There are times I am way off on my quotes and am questioned, how can that be after doing so many quotes and seeing so many designs after all these years in the business? Well, sometimes I can attribute that to age, blindness, being hungover or plain dumb. Typically it is, I haven't determined the correct type of stitch that will be used to achieve the final look, resulting in either less, or most likely more stitches in the final design. I promise, I don't do this on purpose and try and learn from my mistakes. the key point to remember is, embroidery isn't an exact replication of a design. It is an interpretation of a graphic file reproduced into stitches. Thread can be maniipulated, but it is a solid item that is being used to replicate ink and sometimes, that just isn't possible.

If you would like to learn more, please call and ask and I will be happy to explain more about this topic, or any other topic you may want to learn.

Rob

It is amazing how such a small little critter can cause so much havoc. On Tuesday we had a visitor running through the admin area of our plant. For those of you that have never seen our facility, the admin area is on the second level of our building, so this critter, promptly named Fred, had to climb the stairs to try and find a safe haven to live amongst a bunch of humans.

The first sighting of Fred occured on the weekend by the cleaning crew. Without telling anyone about Fred,  I went to the local hardware store and purchased a couple of mouse traps to take care of the situation. We all know that guys are a little different creature as well, and I wasn't in any rush to set the traps, until I heard the first scream from Lillee. Fred decided that the humans were good playmates, so he decided to run under Lillee's desk, and she of course jumped on the desk. Once again, I have to question how such a small critter can make a human so scared, but mice do have that tendancy to bring out the chicken in all of us.

After the first sighting, everyone seemed to be a little nervous, and when the second sighting happened, pure panic set in. Mice must have the ability to sense panic, and want more of it, so Fred decided a 5K marathon around the area was pretty funny. We now had more people now standing on chairs, desks and hanging from light fixtures, to avoid Fred, the mouse. Now it was time for me to get in the act, not because of the mouse, but productivity wasn't at it's highest level for obvious reasons, and our customers need us to be productive. We cornered Fred behind a credenza in the accounting office and tired to chase him out one side as I stood on the other side so I could squish him with a padfolio. The chasing him out worked, but all I succeeded to do was scatter everything in the padfolio across the floor and cause more panic as Fred ran another 5K marathon. Leeds, you need to create a padfolio with a built in mouse trap please.

By now, we are getting close to the end of the day, so the staff is vacating the building very quickly. In fact, that is the fastest I have ever seen everyone move at once. The traps were set and only Rose remained in the office to complete her work. Fred liked Rose, so he decided to run across her desk while she was sitting there. Rose, being a lifetime farm girl, wasn't even phased by his actions and actually took a liking to the little fella.

I came in early on Wednesday morning to see if Fred liked the peanut butter covered mouse trap, and to his dismay, and the staff's delight, he did. Fred's funeral was held yesterday at 10:00 AM with the eulogy conducted by Rose, his best friend. Fred is now resting in peace, and we are back to being productive. So, say your prayers for Fred, and the next time you speak to a member of the team, ask how high they can jump when a tiny mouse decides he wants to play.

Robin, Jenna and I would like to thank everyone for their love and support as we dealt with the death of my Mother, Robin's Mother-in-Law of 33 years and Jenna's Grandmother. For those of you that don't know, my Mother has suffered from the terrible disease of Alzheimer's for a number of years, and as of last Thursday, April 8th, is now resting in a much better place.

I am back int he office as of this morning and will work hard to get caught up, answer the questions that I have on my e-mail and voice mail and continue our quest for the ultimate experience in the decorated apparel industry. Keep watching this blog and our web site as the excitement builds for the debut of our Product Designer, one invoice solution and the next cool decorating technique to offer your clients.

Rob

Our plant will be closed on Monday April 12th from 9:00 AM CST - 11:00 AM to allow all of our employees to share their prayers with Rob, Robin and Jenna on the loss of Rob's mother and Jenna's grandmother.