Sarah House on thu 21 jan 99
This semester I am taking a craft business class, however I have skipped
ahead a bit. In the next two weeks
I have to figure my productivity (daily, weekly, monthly).
I have to project the ratio of production hours to nonproduction hours in
the studio (throwing and trimming vs. mixing glazes and office work).
Also I have to project startup studio cost and sales sales for the first
year.
I'm not asking for how to's I have all the forms, but if anyone has any tips
to make it easier i'd love to hear them. Mostly I am interested in any of
this information from those of you who are production potters. I feel like
it will all seem more realistic if i have something to compair to.
Thank you all,
Sarah House
http://main.nc.us/wildacres/shouse.pottery.html
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Berry Silverman on sat 23 jan 99
Sarah House wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
> This semester I am taking a craft business class, however I have
skipped
> ahead a bit. In the next two weeks
>
> I have to figure my productivity (daily, weekly, monthly).
>
> I have to project the ratio of production hours to nonproduction
hours in
> the studio (throwing and trimming vs. mixing glazes and office work).
>
> Also I have to project startup studio cost and sales sales for the
first
> year.
>
> I'm not asking for how to's I have all the forms, but if anyone has
any tips
> to make it easier i'd love to hear them. Mostly I am interested in
any of
> this information from those of you who are production potters. I
feel like
> it will all seem more realistic if i have something to compair to.
> Thank you all,
> Sarah House
>
>
> http://main.nc.us/wildacres/shouse.pottery.html
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
> Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/
>
Sarah, what an interesting project. Wish I had had something like
your class before I started -- I would have saved a lot of money, I'm
sure. When I first started my studio full-time, I remember thinking,
well, I can complete X number of pieces just working in my garage, so
in a week I'll be able to do 5X -- or maybe even more because I'll be
able to concentrate. I certainly wouldn't say that now.
My experience has been that the nonproduction activities take up far
more time than you expect, yet they are absolutely essential if you
are creating a viable business. A few surprises were:
1. Shipping. very labor intensive and time-consuming. A task
perhaps more cost-effective to hire someone else to do for you. but
even then you have to train, supervise, and double check -- and factor
in the cost for hiring, payroll, taxes in your budget. Also, ordering
shipping supplies can be a big job if you are trying to contain costs.
Actually, all purchasing of supplies and equipment is time consuming
-- surprisingly so. Even if you establish regular suppliers for your
basic materials, changes in availability and pricing requires
returning to this subject again and again.
2. Cleaning and maintenance -- again, a must. Also something that
can be left to others, but again the costs have to be considered. I
found that if I neglected this area, I ended up paying a heavy price
-- either in broken equipment (always at a time you most need it,
which means repair is more costly when it needs to be done in a hurry)
or decline in quality of pieces. A dirty studio leads to defects and
seconds in a production setting -- very costly indeed.
3. Consistency of product is expensive. If you don't properly
establish techniques and procedures, then you will have variations in
your product. As a hobbyist, this is fine. As a business
craftperson, when you are selling a "line" of pottery, then your range
of acceptable variation narrows. Therefore, you either have more
seconds, because they don't fit in the acceptable range, or it takes
time to insure each piece is prepared in the same way. This relates
back to the issue of supplies and vendors, since even a minor change
in material can produce an unacceptable alteration in your product.
4. Problem solving takes time, and, believe me, there will be
problems. The only sure thing you can count on is that life does not
always run smoothly. In a business setting, every day or even every
hour you lose from production affects your budget, sales, income,
projections.
A ridiculous example: One day our toilet tank snapped off, creating a
minor flood before we found the water shutoff. Not only was there
cleanup and repair costs, but now there was no toilet to use, so we
had to make arrangements, go to a neighboring business for bathroom
visits -- telephone calls to the plumber, wait for hard to find
fittings in an old bathroom -- yes, it was ridiculous, but it cost
probably the better part of one person's production day -- gone!
Expect the unexpected -- budget it in your projections.
There is lots more to say, and I would love to discuss it, but I'm off
to the studio to make sure we get in our full production day. yes,
even an email takes time away.
==
Berry Silverman,
Berryware, Tucson, Arizona
berrysilverman@yahoo.com
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Andrew Buck on sun 24 jan 99
Sarah,
What a wonderful class. Very smart of you to take it. This is something
that I do periodically for my business and something that I teach to
anyone that will listen. People tend to look at me like I have mud on my
face when I tell them that the lotion bottle I just threw on the wheel, in
a minutes time, actually takes an hour to finish. [ I probably do have mud
on my face so maybe that isn't a good analogy :) ] Truth is, all
businesses are struggling to make a product in the most efficient way that
they can and still keep the essence of what they produce intact. The only
tool that we have, to tell if we are succeeding, is cost analysis. If
everyone really knew what pottery cost to make, customers included, pots
would sell for more money. I can't recommend any specifics for you on
your shop set up because we all work in a different way, but I did want to
tell you that you are going in the right direction.
Andy Buck
Raincreek Pottery
Port Orchard, Washington
On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Sarah House wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> This semester I am taking a craft business class, however I have skipped
> ahead a bit. In the next two weeks
>
> I have to figure my productivity (daily, weekly, monthly).
>
> I have to project the ratio of production hours to nonproduction hours in
> the studio (throwing and trimming vs. mixing glazes and office work).
>
> Also I have to project startup studio cost and sales sales for the first
> year.
>
> I'm not asking for how to's I have all the forms, but if anyone has any tips
> to make it easier i'd love to hear them. Mostly I am interested in any of
> this information from those of you who are production potters. I feel like
> it will all seem more realistic if i have something to compair to.
> Thank you all,
> Sarah House
>
>
> http://main.nc.us/wildacres/shouse.pottery.html
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
> Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/
>
Tom Wirt on mon 25 jan 99
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sarah House
>Subject: Productivity & Studio Planning
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>This semester I am taking a craft business class, however I have >skipped
>ahead a bit. In the next two weeks
>I have to figure my productivity (daily, weekly, monthly).
>I have to project the ratio of production hours to nonproduction hours >in
>the studio (throwing and trimming Vs. mixing glazes and office work).
Sarah,
Before you can project production, you'll have to develop your "product
line" which you'll have to do for your business plan anyway. Then you'll
know how many handles, lids, etc. you have to do.
I threw about 8,500 pots last year....averaging out to 40-50 per throwing
day. We have high front end expenses to work down from starting the pottery
5 years ago so it forces us to higher sales than we hope to do later. As
someone else noted today, the unexpected takes time away. Also all that
trimming, handles and lids. My experience is that throwing is less than 20%
of my time. We do pretty much straight functional stuff. I throw, trim and
attach handles. Betsy bisques, glazes and fires. I do shipping. Average
retail price is $22 per piece. Average wholesale price is $15 per piece.
Price range is $10-$100. Wholesale was 37.5% of sales, retail the
rest....shows, studio sales, showroom, and special orders.
Some time ago someone on the list gave the rule of thumb of breaking your
work into price categories e.g..: $10 - $19. $19 - 29, $30-49, $50 - $75 and
$75 to $100 or whatever. You'll find the within each category, you'll sell
about the same number of dollars per year. The number of pieces in each
category will go up as the $ each goes down. So in the above, if you're
going to do $50,000 in sales, there is $10,000 in each category and you'll
need to plan 667, 400, 250, 160 and 100 in respective categories. That
would be 1577 pots, plus an allowance for pieces lost in
production....(don't
forget that one-it can kill you). So your target would be about 1800 pieces
(10% waste).
You can move your average price point around by product selection. While we
do many mugs and a few items in the $15 range, we're careful to develop new
items above the average price for the most part. We don't do soap
dispensers. Don't want to put plastic on clay, they sell for $15-$18 (below
our average) with a $1-$2 doohickey that takes extra labor to attach, and we
don't feel they fit with the types of pots we want do. Also, we try to
develop things that can be sold in sets....more bucks for a single sale. So
the above averages are a little misleading in that they include a set of 4
small soup bowl for $32....counted as a single item.
If you haven't done so, go back into the archives and look up discussions on
this some time ago (maybe 6 months to a year).
Also, if you can get your hands on a copy, Quickbooks can be a tremendous
help in setting up budgets, printing out P&L's etc.
Good luck
Tom Wirt
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