Growing up in the heart of what was the capital of furniture in the world, saw that the refusal of devastating effects had in my native North Carolinian of outsourcing economy. With many companies moving their manufacturing operations overseas, more 50 percent of all jobs in North Carolina furniture evaporated during my childhood, leaving many of my family friends struggling to survive. This experience affected my Outlook on life. I knew of that young man, he wanted to get into the business and revive the industry in the United States. I knew that I wanted to create opportunities where good, working people could wake up in the morning and proudly go to a job that enabled them to provide for their families.
Although in retrospect this was a goal of naive at the time, also remember my parents telling me the parable of the faithful servant and this axiom "to whom much is always much to expect." With this in mind, I proceeded to take the necessary measures to make this noble dream a reality. After several years of business experience and an MBA at Wharton, I was eager to go back and give back to the community that has given me so much.
Search for opportunities outside the traditional finance and career consulting, reconnected with my best friend from childhood, James Broyhill, who had recently started artisan heritage, a company that designs and manufactures handcrafted furniture and gift venture of whisky, wine and scotch barrels. A woodcraftsman from youth and the great-grandson of the founder of Broyhill furniture, knew James had "sawdust in their veins" and how I was looking forward to returning to the Tarheel State. Immediately impressed by the skills of design James and diverse product line, saw how the nature of craft heritage pieces reflects the depth of this medium and knew that we could possibly have a successful company.
However, in an era dominated by cheap imports of foreign technological and innovation, focusing on the speed of production, heritage craft - with their handmade products and four-week delivery times - were in Franco contrast with competitors. How could an artisanal company never succeed?
This dilemma has been faced by all companies operating in the craft industry. However the uncommon success of companies such as goods, custom-made and Etsy, is clear that it is possible. To compete against better capitalized players with cheaper offers, the key to success has been the creation of processes that streamline operations while maintaining the charm craft, creating unique niche, one of a kind products and develop a brand that highlights the highest sophistication level.
In craft enterprises, which tend to be small and unsophisticated, especially in its early stages, streamlining means operations developing consistent systems which provide the structure allowing things to run smoothly and efficiently. For entrepreneurs who often started as amateurs, this is often a difficult transition. From the simplest: specific days of setting aside to perform specific tasks for the most advanced of the incorporation of technology that helps one has craft process, it is clear that having structure allows to prioritize and ensure improved productivity. For artisan heritage, this meant step by step processes to make our products efficiently that maintains the quality of the recording. It also meant incorporating a patented barrel stave straightening system that allowed planks of barrel who took once a month to straighten manually to straighten out in a matter of minutes. These efforts have enabled our firm creating craft products at the national level.
However even with higher productivity, an artisanal company will fail if you do products that customers do not want to. Thus, the key to a successful craft business is knowing your customer and creating products mesh with your wishes while retaining the perfect blend of sophistication and authenticity. Attention to design, art, and detail sets apart handicraft products from their cheaper counterparts made machine. This must not forget as a business scales. In a world, where people want to have one product of a kind, unique; artisanal products plays a crucial role in the achievement of this differentiation while showing the skill and talent of the craftsman.
Finally, to compete against these national players, an artisanal company has to create a differentiated brand that "tells" and highlights the quality of their craftsmanship. You want to the customer not only buy your product, but also to buy a piece of history. Ultimately, handmade items are pieces of conversation, so a craft company to do their easy story to customer count. From the aesthetics of the web (colors and text) to the contents of the current web site (copy and video footage), the brand should be consistent and differentiated. This way, it will show the sophistication and the high-end nature of one products which in turn will help to justify the higher price point.
American-made to re-emerge in this competitive global market, craft niche products are an essential pillar that needs to be developed. With cheaper alternatives of foreigners is not it is an easy task, but it is not impossible. To survive and succeed, an artisanal company should focus on optimizing the processes of development of unique products and creating a memorable brand. It has been an honor and a privilege to start artisan heritage, and I am proud to say that all of our products are made in the United States and we are employing numerous people in all the State of Tar Heel.
Craft heritage can be found in www.heritage-handcrafted.com and do not hesitate to reach me by email at Robert@heritage-handcrafted.com
Get alerts
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire