Custom made Jewelry manufacturer:
Procedures for the production of gold jewelry and silver jewelry in our factory
Procedures

Once you have a design, these procedures outline our production process. Designs can be submitted to us be e-mail, web form, or via regular mail.
Gold Jewelry

Intellectual Property: We sign nondisclosure agreements for the protection of your designs under the arbitration rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
Your designs are then protected by international intellectual property laws and the agreements are signed.

TECHNICAL DESIGN:
When we receive a technical design with dimensions and detailed descriptions of a project we will be able to put together a quote with the estimated price of the prototype.

If you don't have a technical design ready we migt include the price for making one in the Prototyping Fee (when the designs are simple).

For more complex projects, we will need to charge the customer for making a proper design first ($75 to $170) in order to fix the desig and make sure we are pricing the design that the customer wants to make in matter of dimensions, proportions, thickness and to be able to calculate the approximative weights for a realistic quotation and avoid many changes and questions during the construction of the jewlery.

EVALUATION OF THE COSTS PER PIECE for making (SAMPLES QUOTE)
This price is not the final price for the production of your jewelry as it is based on estimated values from a design.
In mater of labor and weight as well as assembling, plating costs we need to make a piece before we can offer a price for 200 piece for instance.

CALCULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT FEE (CREATION QUOTE):
Prototyping costs are listed as an additional expense which includes development related costs like wax/resins, silver masters, and rubber molds applicable only to the first piece of a given style. A typical prototyping fee for gold jewelry will range from 100 to 300 dollars.
Some types of jewelry don't require molds to be made, and thus have small development fees. For these, the prototype will be close in cost to the final product.

We issue 2 documents for each model:

- The CREATION QUOTE
- The SAMPLE QUOTE
(Price for 1 sample custom made, the price for production will be less normally)

We will collect payment for the prototype and begin production.
A sample being only a prototype, and our own customers being responsible for the designs they are trying to manufacture, we have to collect this first payent in full.
We are responsible for the quality of the work but not for the success of the design. It is not rare that our customers decide to change colors, sizes or other aspects of a design after they receive the first prototype.

Customer control over developments:
During the production of the prototypes you will receive pictures at each stage of the production and you will have opportunities to give your opinion and participates to resolve technical restrictions and options.

DELIVERY OF THE SAMPLES
We will send the prototype to you via express mail service so that you may examine our workmanship and make changes to the design. Certain changes may incur additional labor or molds depending on the amount of work required to apply the changes. But there will be no more Prototyping Fee issued, just small costs around $20 to $40 for a new mold and the costs for materials and labor at wholesale price.

UNIT PRICE FOR PRODUCTION:

Once you are satisfied with a final prototype model, we can provide you with an exact quote to start a production supposed to be around :

In case the customer asks for smaller quantities the prices are assorted with an LQS (Low Quantity Surcharge). The progressive prices are indicated on the UNIT PRODUCTION QUOTE that we provide once the samples are finished.
This is meant to balance the lack of profitability of small productions in order to help designers in starting their business and presenting their products through shows and stores.

On this UNIT PRODUCTION QUOTE the customer can also see the degressive prices for larger quantities for this product , and the next important discount would be around

Please note that our quotes and invoices are time sensitive as they are based around a certain market price for gold. Because gold prices fluctuate all the time, you can expect that the price of your piece will fluctuate over time as well. The validity of our quotation is of a couple of weeks or ends when a variation of more than 5% is observed on http:/www.kitco.com which we hold as a reference for metal market prices variations.

M.O.Q. and Customer's stock of materials.

There is no minimum quantity for orders (M.O.Q.) Some materials can only be purchased in minimum quantities.
In some cases we will ask our customer to buy a stock of specific materials that are not availale in retail quantities, and we will keep a consignment bill updated. This extra material will be shipped with the production or keep for the next one.

Work out payment terms and finalize manufacturing agreements.

Begin production of real orders.

Silver Jewelry

General procedure is the same as for gold jewelry (See the section above).

A few variations in the procedures needs to be applied to the case of silver jewelry. For instance we might impose a minimum quantity of samples (especially if we use stamping technique or if the pieces are tiny and very inexpensive).

Unique Pieces / Unique Sets

General procedure is the same as for gold jewelry (See the section above).

We accept to make unique pieces, because we consider them as SAMPLES.
The difference with the procedures indicated under this text is that when you make only 1 set (and you are sure you will not need another one later), then we do not need to make a master and a mold.

So depending on the method/approach that we choose to build the piece there might be:

Design 3D + wax printing + casting wax in silver + setting + enamel
Or wax carved by hand + casting wax in silver + setting + enamel
Or + make by hand in Silver + setting + enamel

This depends on the design, if it is better to make by hand or from computer, sometimes 1 part by computer (ring top) and 1 part by hand (ring band). The cost for modeling and creating a jewelry product is really a case by case evaluation.

We will issue a quotation and collect 70% of the amount to cover materials. The labor costs and our profits are collected when the jewelry is finished and made available in our facility. In a general policy, no jewelry is leaving our company before it is fully paid, unless it is delivered against payment (ref.: C.O.D. sevrices).

Production Timeframes
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Design Stage (If Applicable):
Usually less then 10 days until we make our first design proposal, unless many designs are involved, or unless the design is really complicated or unless it is composed of multiple parts.

Prototyping Stage:
This is the longest and most difficult stage of development.
Typically it will take between 4 and 6 weeks to come out with the first prototypes, depending of the use of standard materials and sizes for stones (additional sourcing time if specific materials need to be used).

With most designs we are able to produce an initial prototype within 3 weeks. That is if everything comes out perfect at the first trial. But in case we need to adjust something in the masters or if we need to make a new wax then it will add 2 weeks.
Also some materials for which we have prices might need to be ordered and might need correction/selection from us to our own suppliers.

TIMEFRAME DETAILS:
It starts with evaluation of the price and the design, generally 7 days depending on queue and sourcing for prices from our suppliers for material after the customer sends a picture or sketch (no technical design on scale), and then customer approves:

SAMPLE TIMEFRAME

WEEK 1:
- Get payment after acceptation of quotation
- Make 3D Design or paper design
- Print wax, or make wax by hand
- Start casting of master by the end of the week

WEEK 2:
- Casting of the Silver Master
- Adjustments and calibration
- Confirm stones sizes and requirement of other materials
- Make illustrator file on scale for laser printing
- Make laser printing on the Silver Master
- Make a mold from that Silver Master
- For simple jewelry we start casting already on week 2.

WEEK 3 :
- Inject waxes in the mold, check them (to see if the mold is good)
- Make the sizes for rings before sending the injected waxes to casting
- Casting (2-3 days normally)
- Cleaning, polishing
- Rhodium or other plating
- QC, conclusion on techniques and pricing, paperwork for shipping, packing and shipping.

This is the shortest scenario for building a product and make it ready for production. Generally some of the steps will require corrections so we basically prefer to mention 4 weeks before we deliver samples and having molds ready for production.
Of course if the customer needs changes during the process, or after the first samples are made there will be additional 2 weeks to redo some part of /or the entire process.

For customers to set their business plan we would recommend to prepare themselves for 6 weeks minimum from first project submission and until they can actually put the product on the market and take regular re-orders.

Returns :
We accept returns of defected items sent back within 15 days after delivery, in the same conditions they were shiped.
We shall have reasonable time to attempt replacing the proven defected goods (compared to last prototypes or corresponding quotation). During return processes each party is responsible for sending, re-sending goods to the other party and pay importing taxes. After the first attempt of replacement, if the goods are still not fitting with the quality of the samples or the description of the quote then we shall process to the partial refund according to the terms, after the goods are returned to us.
Eventual stones, diamonds or materials other than metals (materials that we cannot recycle), can be returned to customers at their quoted value and deducted from the refunded amount.

FRIENDLY ADVICES:
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NEVER pomise anything to your customers before you actually have a sample in hand.
We know that buyers have to follow the financial plan for the next 6 months. We will not be responsible for promises made for a product that does not really exists yet.

Try to open your own account with a freight company like FedEx, UPS,

Do not change the design during the development stage. It will confuse us or create more expenses and delays.

Try to propose a reasonnable amount of designs for pricing otherwise you might have to wait a long time before you receive the pricing. Also try to not develop more than 5 to 8 products at a time with us at the beginning of a relationship. Othewise it will be stressful for both parties because the delays are long before our customer can actually hold the jewlry in his hand and inspect the job.

We might by working from distance.
Please try to illustrate your explanations with hand sketches. If you do not have a design then take the risk and draw something with dimensions. We promise that we will not to make fun of you and we will be grateful for the effort you made.

We are working from distance.
Please if you do not trust your manufacturer (us) on his capabilities, or if you feel that the development costs are too expensive, then develop your jewelry with a jeweler in your area and then send us the molds for direct manufacture.
You will be subject to long periods of being waiting for the results to come. Jewelry manufacturing of a line of products is a slow process to prepare. It can generate some stress and unsecured feelings.
That is why starting small is always the best solution in order to build trust and to learn how to work together.

Thank you.