WORKROOM · AUXILIARIES
The workroom should be cheerful and well lighted; roomy and well-equipped. Some upholstery managers, evidently considering the workroom a disagreeable though necessary part of the department, do not give sufficient attention to its location and furnishing. Perhaps one of the reasons why the average upholstery buyer does not think more highly of the workroom is because of the unsatisfactory comparison it presents to the strictly merchandise end of the business. He has comparatively little difficulty in figuring the percentage of gain on twenty-five or fifty yards of material cut off the piece and delivered, and can easily determine whether the transaction was profitable or otherwise. But send that twenty-five or fifty yards of material through the workroom, and unless he is a practical man, thoroughly understanding the nature and value of the work performed, he is apt to feel that the ratio of profit is uncertain.
We know of but one way to offset this feeling, and that is by a carefully thought-out system of tallying, so that each item that passes through the workroom will be accompanied by a voucher that shows correctly all details of the work performed.
Briefly enumerated, the points to be covered in a system are about as follows:
1. A careful check on every item of material directly or indirectly supplied to the workroom.
2. A careful charging-up in the workroom of every item consumed in the completion of the work.
3. A serial numbered sheet for each workroom order, which is filed and indexed on the completion of the work.
Fig. 164.
Fig. 164.
4. All goods taken from the department for use in the workroom should be duly accepted, measured, checked and receipted for by the head of the workroom and the receipt immediately deposited in the office.
5. All goods received from the workroom should be examined by the salesman whose order they are, and all surplus goods checked and receipted for by him.
6. All goods taken to the workroom should be accompanied by fullest written instructions, and work should not be commenced until the instructions are accepted by the head of the workroom.
7. All disputes relative to the amount of goods used should be referred to the manager, and on no account should a salesman be permitted to alter the workroom report on any order.
8. On receipt of the finished work the salesman should fill out on workroom voucher his sales number, the amount charged the customer for the completed work as covered by the workroom report, the date and the number of his sales check.
The head of the workroom shall, after having receipted for an order, be held responsible for its execution within the time stated, and should return with the completed order all surplus goods, requiring a receipt for same and depositing the receipt in the office. By having all receipts from department and workroom numbered with the serial numbers of the work-sheet to which the order belongs, it will be possible at any time to verify the quantities reported as having been consumed in the workroom, and a check can be kept on every order.
There is, however, no plan which human ingenuity can devise which will not depend on the honesty and carefulness of those who operate it for its effectiveness, and there is every necessity for carefulness and certainty in connection with workroom management.
Fig 163.
Fig 163.
The work performed by outside men should bejust as carefully recorded—a proper sheet should be made out for each order showing the nature of the work and the amount paid for it. The workman should record his time and the materials used, and the sheet should be returned to the office for filing.
With a system such as we suggest the manager has but to compare these reports with his salary and expense list to ascertain the amount earned by the workroom staff.
The equipment of the workroom should at all times be fully adequate to the demands upon it, and the very smallest of workrooms should have at least: A good sewing machine, capable of performing fine or coarse work; a cutting table approximately 5—0 by 12—0; a work table 5—0 by 9—0; a pressing table 3—0 by 6—0; a draping board, a test pole, a steamer and a cupboard for finished work.
As to the sewing machine, almost any reliable make of machine will do the necessary sewing for ordinary drapery work. There are, however, special machines for special kinds of work, such as window shades, awnings, bobbinet curtains, etc., which greatly facilitate their manufacture. Poor machines of any kind (human or mechanical) are false economy.
The cutting table should have a level, smooth top, and should be so situated that the operator can walk all around it. If covered with white table oil-cloth the measuring lines placed upon it from time to time can be washed off, and the top is always smooth and free from slivers.
The work table should have a good, clear, soft wood top, and should be permanently marked in feet, the first foot at one end being again divided and marked in inches. This is the table to which portières are tacked in making, as illustrated in the chapter on portières.
Fig 165
Fig 165
The pressing table should be of a convenient height for pressing, and should be padded to about the thickness that two layers of an ordinary blanket would give it, and then covered with clean white unsized cotton.
The drapery blackboard should be about 5—0 by 15—0, or larger, if convenient, so placed that the top of it can be easily reached. The use of this board has been referred to in the preceding chapters, and the illustration, Figure163, gives further explanation of its purpose.
The test pole, which is also shown in Figure164, is used to test the hang of portières before and after cording.
The opening can be set at any desired height, and the portières can be thoroughly examined before leaving the workroom.
The steamer shown in Figure165is used for steaming the nap of pile goods which have become crushed, the cross partitions A—A are tightly stretched pieces of heavy cotton which absorb the moisture, and the open top of the box is covered with several thicknesses of the same fabric. The steam enters the intake at X, and follows the direction of the arrows until it finally emerges through the top. The goods are drawn across the top of the box beneath the roller nap side up, and the brush roller is made to revolve so as to lay the nap in the proper direction while it is softened by the steam. The motion of both roller and goods should be steady and continuous from beginning to end, and should be slow or quick according to the amount of steam passing through the fabric.
The quantity of steam should be regulated so that it will just soften the fabric without making it wet. The hair of the brush should be short, even, and fairly stiff. The brushes used in carpet sweepers when joined end to end make good steamer brushes, or the roller can be covered with mohair plush, so that the nap forms a brush.
While it may not be always convenient to construct a steamer large enough to take the width of the goods with one operation, and as complete as the one herein described, the quality of the work performed by one of this kind will repay the effort of building it.
Drapery work that is not worth doing well is not worth doing at all, and it is far better to turn out a perfect job at cost, or even at an occasional loss, than to turn out poor work that pays a big profit. The customer who receives firstclass work will usually return and will be willing to pay you a fair price for your work, so that in the end you may be recouped; but the customer who pays a big price for a poor and unsatisfactory article seldom returns to give you another chance.
It would be a magnificent achievement to make a workroom pay thirty-three and one-third per cent. profit, but the chiefvalueof a workroom lies not in its earning power from a per cent. standpoint, but rather in its power to hold and satisfy critical custom and in the educational suggestiveness finished work produces, and which accounts for a large amount of the yard goods which are sold without passing through the workroom.
Transcriber’s Notes:Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.