Vanessa’s Sourcing Adventure in China Pt. 4

One of the things we strive for at Winky Designs is TQM-total quality management. We want excellence from the top of the supply chain all the way to the end customer. This is a major reason why we made it a priority to visit our main factories while in China. It’s important for us to get a clear understanding of the processes used to make our products and to also discuss some of the QC (quality control) issues we’ve had in the past.

Our Packaging Factory

This is really fascinating actually! Yes, really (It’s like a real life episode of
How It’s Made from The Discovery Channel! Sorry total geek-out moment…ok, I’m better now). We got to see exactly how our prints are made for our tin packaging and how the tin cans themselves are made. It’s an extensive process that involves a whole lotta people and machines. The factory can shell out a whopping 8,000 tin packages in one 8 hour shift! (I suddenly feel so underproductive…) I shall not bore you with the details but DELIGHT you with some pictures!!!

There are upwards of 20 machines that are used in the production of ONE tin can

 

Each set of bends or cut of the tin is done by ONE machine

 Each mass printing machine is cleaned by HAND after every individual color is used. Very labor intensive…whew!

Our Strap Factory

Another visit we did was to our strap factory which sources the leather, chain, and stones we need and assembles them. Our gracious sales rep, Alec, showed us around and discussed future collections with us. Alec also took us to a local wholesale shopping area in Dongguan to source for more leather straps, semi-precious stones, and other watch components. I tell ya, looking in a store that JUST specializes in leather, stones, or metal chains really is super fun! You’d be amazed at the vast amount of stuff there is out there. Mind boggling…

A worker hard at work creating a mold which will be used in creating charms and other pieces requiring intricate details in mass quantity

Discussing future collections. Don’t mind my “stank-face”, haha

 

Mounds and mounds of leather cord from a specialty store. Like rainbow spaghetti!