DSF

no problem gemmaeve i hope it solves your problems...
i also leave the extender ring in my ovens i dont know if this helps or not but i have left them the same since the day i start getting the settings correct

Thanks
Carl

Design and Gift

Designandgift;78112 wrote:Thanks Dave. i have really just started the webpage to see how it goes, and i am trying to design images and create gifts for listing and make them etc it gets hard, but yes i guess the more personal approach is what i am happy with..
i wish it was me that is making the 2000 mugs but that is tom from first post...
i have kept with heat presses as they are simple plug in and and go more and less, but once you get the halogen oven set up its just as easy to use
i would love to get the 3d printer but im jumping well ahead

thanks
Carl

Design and Gift

Oooops, it's been a long day,

i agree with Simon!
I like to do stuff by my self. But Simon saved my bacon sooo many times... I happy to pass jobs on somebody who knows more then me about specific work and is gear up better then me.

Designandgift;78093 wrote:why start a small business if you are going to get the products you like making to another company to make
be realistic with your prices and your time scale and your customers will be happy to wait

keep small business going!!

lazy people pass the work on

Carl
Design and Gift

Hi Carl,
I totally understand where you are coming from mate but I think there are some aspects of business you have yet to meet.
I know quite a few businesses that do all sorts of things and don't actually own any equipment whatsoever.
Some people have very big businesses within the sign making/printing/personalisation sphere who simply take orders and farm out the work using discreet trade outputs.
These people understand "Economies of Scale" and work very hard to earn their money, they are far from Lazy.

For example, as a small business if you got an order for 5 thousand printed banners ASAP would you; turn the job down, go spend 10k on a versacamm to print this one job and ask the customer to be happy while they waited or tell the customer you can do it take the money and get a trade printer to fulfill your order on a quick turn around?


Then there's something called lead time, which is were the customer isn't happy to wait as long as you would like.

Good Luck.

Firstly , Thanks for all the comments
and valuable inputs.

As I expected, it is possible to get
2000 mugs printed within a few days and delivered to me by some forum
members who are well set up for this quantity for almost the exact
same cost at it would cost me for the materials element only for this
job. Its just down to economies of scale on their purchasing and production capability and efficiency.

I would therefore have no option but to
go that route. Thankfully !!

This is understandable as what they do
with bulk orders and what we do with small once off orders are
completely different markets, as well as the capability of buying at a
different scale and price also. Knowing that this bulk capability is
there is great and gives us confidence to take on larger jobs in the
future , which we can farm out and retain the smaller jobs for
in-house production....yet make net profit on both.

All I need to do now is secure the
order !! ,

Many Thanks

Tom

a few more words;78184 wrote:it is possible to get 2000 mugs printed within a few days and delivered to me by some forum members

Or you could get the company producing the mugs to deliver them direct to your client, which saves time/cost of them delivering to you, and then you having to deliver out to them. This is called 'drop shipping' and is quite common. The company you use should be used to this type of arrangement so you can trust that any product sent out will not have any of their branding etc on the delivery note, or boxes etc, and that you know they aren't going to try and steal your client. For this quantity of mugs, the boxes will be sent on a pallet delivery, so your cllent would need suitable premises to accept a pallet.

Thanks pisquee for point on drop shipping direct to end customer.......definitely the way to go.

Cheers
Tom

For this quantity of mugs, the boxes will be sent on a pallet delivery, so your cllent would need suitable premises to accept a pallet.

Depends on which pallet company you use, some will break down the pallet on the lorry so you do not have to have pallet facilities.

True, we've had some drivers pull boxes from a pallet as they said it would be less hasell than using the pallet truck