Crate and Pack Department Manager, Artech Seattle
2011, Artech,Seattle. I was hired to mange the pack and crate department in 2011. When I got there the department was in need of some updates and a reboot of the processes and workflow.
My initial change was to create a crating range so that we could offer different price points to our customers. This helped by giving them options that would save them money when needed or create a better, safer crate if the job require that. And so we began offering the basic, standard and museum quality crates as our base line of offerings. Of course there were so many other types of packs including soft-packs, bin boxes, travel frame and slat crates but the main line that we pushed were our closed crates and with the new break downs, we were able to sell closed crate more easily.
The next thing we needed to do is make sure that the staff was cross trained. I wanted each person to be able to run through the process of building crates as well as outfitting the interiors for packing. I wanted each person to be able to wrap all works and know how to design and construct the trays that go into a painting crate, and more. Essentially what I was looking for was a staff that could run day to day even if someone had to call out sick.
This overhaul meant finding employees who were willing and able to train in best practices, how to read and write cut sheets, how to plan, prep and pack in every packing method from foam bumpers to guillotines and cavity packs. they needed to know how to pack a wet painting, how to pack low-fire clay pieces and more.
The next goal was to make sure that each employee, after being trained could run more or less independently on a day to day basis. Of course there would be pieces that needed more direct involvement from the manager, there were collections that had to be maintained throughout the pack. I was responsible for making sure that large collections getting crated had an inventory that included each piece, medium, title and dimensions to the nearest 1/8 inch.
I created all of the estimates, made sure the inventory, and maintenance of the shops were taken care of daily. When we got all of this set up and the employees were trained and self sufficient, I focused on improvements.
Eventually we were able to promote one of my employees from the pack and crate department and give him the mount making department to build and develop.
Shop Improvements.
When I first started there they were still cutting the foam by hand. As a result all of the bumpers and guillotines, and cavities were not accurate and looked like an afterthought to the entire process. My first big build was the foam table saw. We built this from scratch using a reciprocating foam cutting saw installed into the table with a cabinet saw fence system. Noe we could not only cut all of the foam bumpers true and clea, we could also cut the cavities to fit the pieces exact, making sure everything was properly contained and ready for the roughest roads, airplane ladings or even the occasional boat ride in Venice.
There were many other shop improvements like work benches, cabinet saw tables, large scale roll dispensers and more. As I settled in, I began to look at the estimating system which was all being done on paper. Now at this point in my career I had about 10 years of experience in the industry and as a result I could quickly and accurately work through a crate estimate tht included an actual cut-sheet for the crate, as well as the packing inside it. Though I was quick and could write out the cut-sheets as though I were writing in my journal, I felt we could do better. I wanted to give the employees in my department the ability create cut sheets on their own if needed and eventually do some of the estimates.
I worked with my boss to establish everything we needed to make this work. Together we built a functioning cut sheet generator/estimator in excel complete with a user interface that made the task simple and accurate. This ultimately decreased my estimating time and I was able to pass it to my employees as a cut sheet that was printed instead of hand written. Through this generator, we were able to add efficiency to the entire process from estimating to finished work.
After I was there for about a year, I began looking at the storefront that our company had in the downtown area of Seattle. Its main purpose was a frame shop and it was located in an area with high foot traffic, but there was a storefront window that was not being utilized in a way that could help generate some business in our other services like sculpture maintenance, mount making, Storage, and installations. I spoke with my boss and let him know that I was interested in starting a program in this store front window to showcase all of the company’s offerings so that more people would see it as the all encompassing business that it was. He agreed to let me run with the idea and I began meeting with all of the other department managers and got them to start putting ideas together to install a showcase for their department getting our offerings in front of the public. We worked together to spitball ideas and develop each into a compelling visual experience. Each department’s display was built in-house and displayed for 3 months at a time This program was able to generate more sales in packing and crating installations, shipping, sculpture maintenance and storage.
I started to notice more people in need of crating and shipping various lower value art pieces. However the pricing of the crates did not make sense for these customers. We looked at this pricing and there was just no way to make meaningful changes through materials or labor. I looked at some of our other materials with lower price pints and developed a card based alternative that was cheaper and comparable for the purposes of shipping. I took double wall card and expanded polystyrene along with etha-foam and the “sm[Art] box” was born. Though I developed the actual product on my own, the rest of the endeavor was a group activity including naming and marketing of the product line.
When we had a reasonable product with repeatable process, I began the testing its usefulness. I took three different size framed art works some with glass glazing and packed them into the new product and ran it through a series of tests that included drop tests from 20’ in height. we dropped it to land upright, flat, on the edges and corners of the box and eventually we dropped the face side onto a table corner. Each time all of the pieces survived unchanged. We had a successful product and once we started offering it, people would ask for it by name. It was ultimately a successful product line and we were able to develop it into three different size categories with up to three flat works per box and the largest size was around 72” x 50”. We then developed a 3-D version for small sculptures.
By the time my tenure was up, i left Artech in better shape than I foud it and with added products and systems that are still in use there today. I was in a place that appreciated that employees sometimes have good ideas and can flourish and add real value to the company when given the freedom to experiment and try new ideas. It was a great experience and though Seattle was not the place i wanted to spend the rest of my life, I had very positive and rewarding experiences there that i have tried to take with me and incorporate the in my positions moving forward.