Metals prices are higher than they have been for years, raising ex-penses and reducing margins throughout all manufacturing industries. In the jewelry industry, this problem is compounded when failures occur in the production process, costing manufacturers even more time and money.
Most attempts to solve such problems are educated guesswork. In many cases, manufacturers use a trial-and-error technique until the problem goes away. But there is another way: Instead of spending countless hours (and dollars) trying and trying again to fix the problem, manufacturers can get to the root of it right away by taking a more scientific approach. With the help of analysis tools, they can troubleshoot failures, understand why problems occur, and prevent costly recurrence.
Should jewelers and manufacturers be artists, scientists, or a mixture of both? There is no doubt that artistic design is a major success factor in the jewelry industry: No matter how well-made a piece is or how ingenious the assembly method, no one will buy it if it doesn’t look good. But in addition to a good design, jewelers and manufacturers need some scientific knowledge (or access to those who have it) to avoid expensive mistakes and even more expensive repetitions of those mistakes. Troubleshooting and understanding problems is a necessary part of jewelry manufacturing for both bench jewelers and volume manufacturers.
For example, when a casting fails, wouldn’t it be better to understand what is happening so that you can avoid the problem in the future? Or, if it does occur again, wouldn’t you like to be able to recognize it and know how to avoid it? Re-processing in the hope that a problem will go away is sheer madness.
The following mini case studies illustrate how some of the analytical tools available to jewelers and manufacturers can help you get to the root of a defect.
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