When should you hire a full time pattern maker?
Posted by on May 8, 2012 at 2:44 pm / Operations, Patterns / Trackback
I don’t have the answer to the question of knowing when it is time to hire a full time pattern maker but maybe you can help me sort it out. There are two scenarios in which to frame the question.
First scenario: A company I know (they attended my manufacturing boot camp class in 1998) is over a barrel. Succinctly stated, they’ve been using a freelance pattern service over the past eight years and recently the relationship has soured. The pattern service refuses to hand over digital files for the 800+ patterns owned by the customer. While that is being sorted out, the company has hired a new pattern service. The thing is, I’ve only heard negative reports on the new pattern service. Considering their problems and choices, I suggested that they should bring pattern making in house. The owner says they can’t afford to hire a pattern maker but then said maybe they could hire an intern (which made me shiver all over and not in a good way). I said they could buy everything they needed (CAD software, plotter, digitizer) for 20-25K new, less for used. He said they don’t have the money to acquire the CAD system or plotter either.
They have 25 employees, 15 of whom are stitchers. With respect to head count, there are 10 non-sewing employees which as a ratio (40%) is quite high. However, they also dye all their products in house so the company isn’t as inefficient as one could suppose.
That said, I don’t need to be there to know that the operation isn’t as efficient or cost effective as it could or should be. Having a pattern maker on staff will reduce costly problems and make the company more competitive. He said they did have a production manager but in my way of thinking, if your company is small and you have a production manager, the production manager should be a pattern maker. Obviously this company isn’t going to can their production manager on my say so nor should they but this is something you have to keep in mind as you grow. If you’re at the stage of hiring a production manager and you don’t yet have a pattern maker, you should hire one person to fill both jobs.
Which round about leads me to a discussion I was having with another party and my second scenario. Said party asked me if they should bring patterns in house but they are in a similar situation as the company above in that they have a production manager who is also not a pattern maker and probably won’t ever be one. They also asked about bringing in an intern but I explained you need a very experienced person for this and worse, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find them.
It struck me that the trade is in a very bad spot. We have a whole generation of working pattern makers who have never been exposed to production beyond a factory visit here and there. When the production went off shore, new hires never gained the opportunity to see the effects of their work in the sewing line across from them. They’ve never been called back to the cutting room to see first hand how a poorly conceived seam truing makes for a difficult cut and unnecessary waste. And now that we need people with these skills, they are difficult to find. Most of the people with these skills are older, settled and they don’t want to move.
One of my far off goals had been to start a sewing factory school to train workers in a real plant. A small one of course but a training facility nonetheless. I don’t know if it is tenable or if it will become more so as the situation becomes increasingly worse but it is something to think about.
But I digress. When do you think a company is of such size that they should consider bringing patterns in house? What are the cost considerations of doing so and how could this decision be made most cost effectively? I await your advice with bated breath.
15 Responses to “When should you hire a full time pattern maker?”
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May 8th, 2012
3:54 PM
When do you think a company is of such size that they should consider bringing patterns in house?
When the weekly amount of invoices from the service providers exceeds the salary (including payroll taxes, etc) of a full time pattern maker/production manager
I specifically say weekly because if they only have pattern work 1 out of every 4 weeks + 1 week is allocated to “production management” then it wouldn’t really make much sense to have someone “sweeping the floors” for 2 weeks a month
What are the cost considerations of doing so and how could this decision be made most cost effectively?
- Cad System (Pattern+grading+marker)= $6K
- Used wide format plotter and digitizing table= 8K
- Salaried Pattern maker (who can also grade, create markers and has production management experience)= 90K +
The elephant in the room is that the VERY FEW CAD pattern makers who were “the last generation” to get “hands on” training (dealing with domestic factories, sampling, etc) get snapped up quickly and can choose from a group of high bidders that don’t even require them to deal with production issues…
Another thing to note is that just because someone is an amazing production pattern maker it doesn’t mean they can be good production managers
May 8th, 2012
7:06 PM
I have many thoughts on this topic, which perhaps would be more appropriate in the forum. I’m not sure how realistic it is to have the production manager and pattern maker be one and the same. Having worked in a smallish factory, I don’t see how that is tenable especially in a cut-order setup. I think a more likely scenario is to start with two part-time individuals that can work as a team and jump into whatever role is needed. An experienced pattern maker could train the production manager to create markers for cutting (as an example), and the pattern maker could assist on the production floor in supervision, training, or even working on the line. Such a scenario requires team-oriented and flexible individuals. Of course finding a pattern maker willing to work part-time may be a challenge all by itself.
May 8th, 2012
9:48 PM
I don’t have an answer to your questions, but do think a sewing factory school is something to keep exploring. As you’ve said, it’s not so easy or commonplace for up and coming patternmakers to get the experience of working in a production environment.
May 8th, 2012
10:33 PM
I want to go to your sewing factory school. When do you open??
May 8th, 2012
10:59 PM
haha, i’m with Meaghan! this topic is real good food for thought.
May 9th, 2012
5:17 AM
The problem is severe. Kathleen, you are right on target with your idea for “starting a sewing factory school to train workers in a real plant. A small one of course but a training facility nonetheless.” This is truly needed!
I believe fashion education needs to add fashion technology as a separate major. Granted some of this is taught in the fashion design classes, but not enough and without the emphasis I believe is needed if we are to be able to manufacture clothing well. At present fashion education offers essentially two majors: fashion design and fashion retail.
Adding fashion technology as a separate major would mean teaching production patternmaking hands on so students taking that major have the skills needed to draft the patterns and be able to set up the work so it can go down a factory line.
I’ve found far too little production skills taught in the collages. For example: many college fashion programs teach home sewing and are using home sewing textbooks. Professors are often recruited who do not have online experience with production, since finding such workers is difficult, and even when found may prefer to keep well paying jobs in the industry.
When given the opportunity to teach in Continuing Professional Education I began teaching the skills I found I needed when I worked as a production patternmaker in the industry, writing my program and testing its books in the classroom, and now in my own school. The big problem with this is that these books are tough to write and are taking forever to finish. I’ve been at it for over 20 years. So I’ve got a developed program with books, but getting all of it finished causes time conflicts with getting it out there.
Two of the biggest problems with offering fashion technology as a major are:
1. Finding people who can teach it. “…now that we need people with these skills, they are difficult to find. Most of the people with these skills are older, settled and they don’t want to move.”
2. Colleges make a lot of money with their fashion design programs. That’s where the money is. Many young people want to be designers. Pattern drafting is something someone else will do for them at the fabulous jobs they will have after they graduate.
I am convinced we need a new approach. “… start [ing] a sewing factory school to train workers in a real plant” is DEFINITELY something to think about and I believe VERY MUCH NEEDED.
May 9th, 2012
5:18 AM
Patterns are the key to a good product and pattern makers skills are acquired over many years so the better idea to help offset cost is a marker making system. The cost for this is less, 9-15M which includes the software and plotter and if you only want to get mini-markers to help expedite manual marking making then you are in the 3.5-6M range.
May 9th, 2012
6:03 AM
I’m so blessed to work where I do. As a newly minted and still learning pattern maker, having the factory steps away really makes me accountable for every single notch placement. When I was in school I was taught not to fuss with the little details since “the factory will fix it in production”! sad. marrying the patterns and the manufacturing seems like a no-brainer to me now.
May 9th, 2012
6:47 AM
Having started my first career in the film business lugging coolers and working my way up to Line-Producer over a period of 4 years, I can say that there is nothing to replace a “hands-on, learn from the master approach”. There are plenty of books and mini-courses around the country geared toward home sewing and fitting. As I struggle to learn this business, to take the next step, I would definitely go to a pattern making/production school. Sign me up!
May 9th, 2012
9:07 AM
“Pattern making is a low end job. Designers get the money AND the fame.”
THIS is what I was told from the granddaughter of a friend who was the lead pattern maker for Tommy Hilfiger. His salary – low six figures – was the salary an excellent head pattern maker could pull in NYC at the time. In the present he runs a sweet pattern service and has a nice lifestyle; but this means nothing to HER – because there are no “famous” pattern makers (BTW, my friend is willing to teach, but feels there’s not enough interest). And F.I.T is STILL derisively called “the production school”, according to some young acquaintances who attend it.
A sewing factory school is an EXCELLENT idea, but you’d need a focus group to choose another name. The name FACTORY = low wages, bad working conditions, and no advancement. How about “Fashion Component Assembly Academy?” It’s okay to laugh.
May 9th, 2012
2:07 PM
Call it The Technical Academy of Industry Production, sign me up for semester 1, I’d like to be a designing multi-threat one day; classic designs and excellent pattern making skills. Girl can dream right?
May 9th, 2012
2:51 PM
[...] Member Forum « When should you hire a full time pattern maker? [...]
May 9th, 2012
2:54 PM
FYI, I already do offer production pattern making classes on demand.
May 21st, 2012
3:12 PM
With respect to the pattern maker that wouldn’t hand over the digital files, I have to wonder why they had them all in the first place. Each time my pattern maker (Sally Beers, I love you)
does a pattern, she sends me an electronic copy and retains one, obviously. Even though I don’t have the program to read the file, I still have the copy so I can send it to my marker-maker when I need markers. Sally also sends me paper copies of the pattern (as well as nested patterns) so I can copy them off and play with them, making my own samples and also testing the grade, for sizing. Kathleen recommended Sally one time when she was too busy to do a pattern for me (moving to her new city…I don’t know why a move should interfere with taking my important work but she seemed to think so…lol)
June 12th, 2012
4:14 PM
[...] Now, if you’re yet another multi-million or billion dollar firm with leverage to get costing information as a condition of placing the contract, that’s great but most people aren’t. This is why I think your best protection lies in paying for the pattern and sample because you own it. If you pay for it be sure to get a copy of the pattern on file -NO EXCEPTIONS. Do not leave the file storage of your patterns to the provider. You don’t want to end up like the guy I wrote about recently whose relationship with his pattern provider suddenly went south. Since he never had those files, he has nothing to show for the $500,000 he spent on patterns over the past 8 years. Personally I think he should have been doing patterns in house considering his service needs but that’s another story. [...]