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Transcription

So to get to the topic at hand, today. We get a lot of questions from our customers regarding the process around ordering custom drums for different cooking machines or depositors. And depositors would be more templates. And we, kind of, wanted to throw, kind of, a broad net and explain a little bit the process, in general terms, because there is a lot of specific information for each manufacturer and each type of drum or template or roller. But, I think we can throw a kind of a general, frequently asked question and help a lot of people out, just get some initial information going so they’re not completely in the dark, if this is beginning or if they’re going through this process again and they don’t recall how it was like.

So, you could buy a drum or roller or template, and I’m gonna call them drums for the remainder for this, kind of, little chat here because just to not have to repeat that over and over again. So ordering drums – you can order drums with your initial purchase of machine. If you already have a machine and you wanna buy more drums after the fact, it’s very possible, it’s not one of those things that need to be purchased with the machine. Our team may want to verify with you, serial numbers, size, model of the machine to make sure that were talking apples and apples. So as far as when you buy it, that’s kind of open.

The process is generally the same for a custom drum or a stock drum. We wanna make sure that the drums are a fit for you, first of all. So if you were buying a machine for the first time, there’s probably going to be a lot of product testing to make sure that your recipes are machinable for that machine, and in that process we’ll also understand the drum will be involved. Likewise, if you already own the machine and you have a recipe that you know is successful on the machine, you may want to order some more drums. We’re gonna pick up from here.

Basically, you will want to measure your product. We’re going to measure your prebaked sizing, so you have an idea of the size and shape that you’re trying to achieve. Let’s say, for example, you’re taking something that you’re using a cookie cutter for, you can trace that on a piece of paper, throw some measurements on there. From those initial concepts of getting your initial measurements, we’ll discuss with the manufacturer getting official drawings done. Now if it’s a basic shape that you want, circle, square, triangle, it’s very possible that we can overcome the drawing phase because it’s just strict dimensions. And in some cases we stock some of those basic shapes here and we may circumvent the rest of the process that we’re going to talk about here.

So for something custom, let’s say a gingerbread man, we’re going to want to get a drawing from the manufacturer that they can confirm that the shape that you want to produce is within the spec of the drum. So there’s some sizing limitations, there’s some depth limitations, and you’ll get that drawing and you will take a look at it, and you’ll approve it. At that point there will be some exchanging of payment, and at the exchanging of payment is really when we start to calculate lead time. So prepayment, preorder, that lead time is very gray. How fast or slow we move is based on the complexity of what you’re trying to achieve. Once we have payment and we place the order with the manufacturer, then we’re talking about manufacturing lead time.

Now, again, we’re speaking generally, different times of the year, the number is bigger. Different times of the year, the number is shorter. So I would say the lead time could be anywhere from four to 12 weeks. I know it’s crazy, that’s one to three months. It’s quite a big gap. But, let me explain. The fourth quarter of the year, we’ll call it the holiday season; is not only busy for bakers, it’s busy for the manufacturers. So that time of the year, getting custom drums made has a huge queue, so that could be a 12-week process. If we’re talking the front half of the year, you’re usually better off, you’re closer to that four number. Now, again, every manufacturer, every type of drum, they have a different, lead time here.

So, I’m just throwing up broad numbers, but I would say, most of the year you’re in the four to six week range. As we get closer and closer to the end of the year, to the holiday season, it becomes longer and longer. There’s also a little break sometimes in Europe, in August that can cause a little bit of hiccup as well. Summertime, some manufacturers may close for up to three weeks. So these are all things that keep in mind in the lead time process.

Now, your own personal timing of this – you should consider the day that you want to begin legitimate production of that product, and then you want to work you way backwards. You know, you want to add maybe a week or two for your own fine tuning.

So you receive the new drum, is there going to be a procedural change? Is the recipe working as intended? You want to give yourself that buffer. You don’t want to receive the drum on day one, and then day two you’re in production, where you’re finding these fine tuning aspects with live product that you’re trying to produce. So you want give yourself that little buffer and then work your way backwards there from the lead time, the manufacturing lead time that we talked about.

Like I said, broadly speaking, the holiday season, again, very busy. You know, basically, to give an example, if you’re looking at making Halloween type cookie, let’s say a pumpkin, if you’re coming to us in the beginning of September, it’s very likely that we’ve already missed the boat. And we’re not going be able to provide you that drum, within enough time for you to produce enough product, for it to make sense for you to purchase that drum. So you’re really going be thinking more in your June/July timeframe to be able to meet, you know, give yourself time to produce.

This sounds like, maybe scare tactics on our side? You know, there’s some hard facts, it’s unfortunate. I don’t like the idea of having to tell people, again, you know, you better plan on 12 weeks or else you’re going to miss, you know, you’re going to lose out on some business. But, you know, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give you the honest truth, that that’s the timeframes that we’re working with.

So we may have glanced over a bunch of the details of this process. If you have an immediate need, or even if you have a future need, feel free to pick up the phone and give us a call, it’s 973-614-8500, or you can visit our website erikadev.mystagingwebsite.com, we have a contact form there. You can fill that out with your details, our team will be more than happy to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for watching and, or listening. My name is Dan DaRocha and I hope this has been a “Short and Sweet” edition of “Baker’s Insight.”