When looking for a lanyards factory to manufacture your lanyards often the first port of call would be a big factory that consistently handles orders from large clients.
The thinking behind this, rightly or wrongly, is that their high production volume translates into quality and efficiency. Sadly, depending on your individual needs and circumstances as a client this is not always true.
The first question you should ask yourself when trying to choose a lanyards factory should be ‘Is this the right fit for my particular company’s needs?’
Obviously, it’s impressive that a big lanyards factory may deal with some of the largest brands in the world and consistently ships out orders that can reach to millions of units.
However, if your order is merely a thousand units even a hundred units and you need a quick turnaround on your product will that big factory give priority to you as a client? Or will your order be held up in preference to the clients that equate for most of their revenue?
Priority as a customer isn’t the only thing you should be thinking of. There are a number of aspects that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether a factory is a right fit for your needs.
We’ll take a look at some of the most important ones throughout this article.
Efficiency
It would make sense to assume that big lanyards factories would be more efficient as they have vast production lines in place that can cope with orders at a fast rate.
The flip side of this is that because of their size it’s difficult to adapt the production lines to new products in an efficient manner.
This means that if you have a smaller order you are more likely to be pushed to the back of the queue as they attempt to fill their larger orders before having to change the production lines to suit your one-off product.
This, of course, results in a more long waiting time for you as a client.
Smaller or Middle lanyards factories are far more streamlined and flexible when it comes to adapting to new product lines.
Because there aren’t as many stages of the production they can mold themselves more easily to your specific needs and schedule.
As a result of this ability to easily change the set-up of the work area to accommodate clients’ needs, every client is granted the same importance meaning the schedule negotiated will be the schedule delivered.
Another element to consider in the efficiency of a factory is the ability to recognize weak links.
It is far easier to notice and address the potential problem of an idle worker in a small to medium operation than in a big lanyards factory.
This means you will always have the most efficient workforce at hand, which in turn means a faster turnaround for your product.
Service
As you would expect the bigger lanyards factory are generally very good when it comes to client interfacing in a professional manner. Where they lack is the personal nature of the service.
While the initial interaction with them might go smoothly once they have secured your business and your order is in the system it will often be difficult to get production updates in a timely fashion from the big lanyards factory
When you deal with a small to medium size lanyards factory their customer service department will be up to date with the status of your order at all times.
This is merely down to the fact that there are far fewer departments for the information to have to pass through.
A smaller team means more efficient lines of communication from start to finish.
Price
For many, it would seem logical to think that by working with a bigger lanyards factory you will get your product for a cheaper price.
Sadly this is only true for large recurring orders where clients have more negotiating power due to the volume of business they are giving the lanyards factory.
Where a smaller one off client is concerned the price will usually be higher from the big lanyards factories as it’s not practical for them to adjust their production lines to suit one-off orders due to their inflated overheads.
The bigger lanyards factories have more staff, larger premises, more convoluted procedures all of which have to be costed into the price of the product they are manufacturing.
It’s just not economically viable for big lanyards factories to take on small one-off orders, so if they do their efforts will be reflected in a heftier price tag per unit.
A smaller lanyards factory naturally has fewer employees and smaller general overheads so it’s possible to offer a better deal for their clients regardless of order size.
Quality
No matter what it is you need as a client quality control has to be a consideration when choosing who it is you want to manufacture your products.
In this day and age, both big and small/medium lanyards factory have stringent quality control measures in place.
The main difference is how quickly they can react to a potential problem when it occurs.
A smaller lanyard factory can keep a keener eye on production as the lines aren’t as vast and there are fewer variables to contend with.
This means the problem won’t have gotten too out of hand before it’s spotted.
Also if and when a problem is detected it can be dealt with almost immediately as there are likely to be fewer levels of management that have to give clearance on any alterations made to the production line.
This all means that in a smaller lanyard factory the client can be assured that even if there is a problem it can be dealt with in a quick manner that won’t affect their deadlines.
The End Product
Both Big lanyards factories and Small/Medium lanyards factories have their benefits depending on what you’re looking for as a client.
If you need large recurring orders that won’t change much in design and you don’t need a quick turnaround on your product. Then big factories are probably the way to go as they have the ability to best serve that market.
However, if you are looking for a personal service from a company that has the ability to be flexible in both product design and schedule while providing a quality cost-effective product regardless of order size, then you may well be better suited to a small or medium size lanyards factory.
As was mentioned at the beginning you have to really evaluate what it is you want as a client and where you’ll be best served according to your individual needs.
