Tomorrow is a big day with regard to the punch bag business as we may be meeting up with a potential partner. This guy is the kingpin of waste cloth material and we need his supply desperately. He also needs our business so there is some negotiating that needs to be done to make this a profitable business. I foresee a partnership of some sorts as this can be profitable for both parties if one or the other is not overly greedy. I would rather have a good business than no business and I will get him onto the same way of thinking.
The virgin waste mask material is starting to build up and here is roughly 5 tons here now.
Over the last few weeks whilst overseas I have been having discussions with a major client and they are so keen they have already dropped off the punching bag skins/outers that will require filling. There is no one else doing this business and why it is a great opportunity.
The plan is to manufacture our own skins, but it felt wise to start out importing the completed skins first so we know exactly what we are looking at. We have around 5000 skins arriving next week and the hope after seeing the skins in the warehouse that they are from a different factory.
China has always been crooked when it comes to business as they cut corners deviating from the specifications in order to make profit. This is how they have always been and why you need to be assessing and double checking the product continuously or you will have a product that is so far off the original spec you will be left shell shocked. Some factories are better than others, but you cannot let your eye off the ball.
Whoever is sewing these box stitches is obviously not trained and these will guarantee to fail.
If you look at the quality of box stitching on their skins they are seriously sub standard. The box stitch should be computerized and not have missing sections as this loses the strength. The other issue is the no tear tag material used has been replaced with PVC which will not hold. The first box opened this morning we found 4 out of 15 that I would call rejects and not fit for purpose.
Using PVC instead on the non tear material is criminal and they know exactly what they are doing.
This is another reason why there is a demand to manufacture locally, but I also do not want to be competing with Chinese prices because what I will produce will be of a much higher quality. That will be another discussion to have, but the client was made aware today of the quality skins they had ordered and any rejects I will discard.
I have done my home work with the figures having checked and rechecked knowing exactly where we need to be. The joint venture we are involved with regarding waste virgin material is great, but we are only receiving around 5 tons per month. I would need 10 x that amount for orders already secured and now with this new client I would need another 10-15 tons monthly.
Tomorrows meeting is about securing a constant supply at the right price along with a compactor machine. We did a few test bags today ad doing this manually will not be profitable as this is labor intensive. Employing one or two people to fill the bags is the answer otherwise we would need around 12 people. The test is if we cannot make profit filling these skins then there is no business as I have to justify the space this takes up with regard to rent.