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Small orders

Started by Bruno of NH, June 02, 2020, 05:22:20 PM

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Bruno of NH

How do you other folks handle small orders that come in while your filling large orders. 
I try to make them happen (it's always a customer with a rush job) but they take lots of time.
Meaning lost time from the other larger orders.
Do you charge more for them?
Or should I just shut up and consider myself lucky to be supper busy?
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barbender

I'm not in the same situation as you, but I usually just fill 'em and count it for advertising, etc. But if I was so busy it was detracting from big jobs, I might have to start scheduling them or something.
Too many irons in the fire

moodnacreek

You can't do everything 'right'. Be honest and tell them you want to do it but you are just to busy. Orders that take to long don't get picked up [and that's why I don't take down payments]. Many times a disappointed customer walks out and a better order walks in. The best is when you can fill 2 orders with the same deck of logs.

SawyerTed

I try to fit them in.  If I can make a few pieces from a log as I'm sawing a larger order, I do.  Over a morning or afternoon I can make a big dent in a small order.  Occasionally, it is stop and do a small order, get it out of the way.  Being honest on time lines tends to help.  It's better than stringing a customer along.

I've been lucky to be busy too but that doesn't mean it's all cotton candy and roses!
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WV Sawmiller

   Well, I can't really say I have much of a problem with this as I am a small time operator compared to many of you. My thoughts are I would try to sandwich in the small order if it would not delay my promised completion and delivery of the larger order. By rights I'd say the most professional way to handle it is do each in the order it came in. Small orders that can be finished and paid for quickly meaning a faster infusion of cash. For me as a mobile sawyer a large job might mean 3 or more days while a small order is anywhere from a few hours to a day. Weather impacts me more accordingly  so lots of times I might have a long wait for 3 or more days of predicted good weather to go do a large job while in between I'd have several opportunities with half to a whole day of good weather when I could squeeze in a small job or two. This is especially true if the small jobs are close to home and the larger jobs are further away. 

   If people expect me to break a promise to someone else to do a job for them I don't want them as a customer anyway. 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Patrick NC

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on June 02, 2020, 07:35:28 PM
  Well, I can't really say I have much of a problem with this as I am a small time operator compared to many of you. My thoughts are I would try to sandwich in the small order if it would not delay my promised completion and delivery of the larger order. By rights I'd say the most professional way to handle it is do each in the order it came in. Small orders that can be finished and paid for quickly meaning a faster infusion of cash. For me as a mobile sawyer a large job might mean 3 or more days while a small order is anywhere from a few hours to a day. Weather impacts me more accordingly  so lots of times I might have a long wait for 3 or more days of predicted good weather to go do a large job while in between I'd have several opportunities with half to a whole day of good weather when I could squeeze in a small job or two. This is especially true if the small jobs are close to home and the larger jobs are further away.

  If people expect me to break a promise to someone else to do a job for them I don't want them as a customer anyway.
I'm also a small operator and only saw on weekends.  I mostly saw cedar and a big order for me is 500bf.  I have a steady customer who takes 500 feet  every 2 weeks.  When I get smaller orders I tell them I'm probably 2 weeks out on new orders. I usually get them worked in between my steady customer's order and logging.  Most people understand once I explain that I'm a part time mill. On the rare occasion that a small order doesn't get picked up, I just add that to my larger order.
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YellowHammer

Just put them in line in the order they came in.  

If they are a rush job, they need to pay a premium.  
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Southside

Everybody, and I mean everybody, expects their order right now, like YH said, put them in line.  I stopped charging a premium because there is no time left in a day to shuffle people to the top.  They can wait, or they can go to the other mill down the road - oh that's right, there is no other mill down the road.  Guess they wait.
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Brucer

When I was sawing full time, I had a standard rule: Process the orders in the order they get placed. I had a really good idea of my production rate so I could just look at my backlog and tell them how long before their job would be ready.

It didn't take long before people figured out they should plan ahead. I always told customers to place their orders early. If they wanted to change something or add something, that was OK. I'd call them the week before I started sawing and make sure they had finalized things. If a customer wasn't ready for the wood, or hadn't got their final list together, I'd just bump the next job ahead of them and then check back to see if they were ready.

This worked out for me because I never let someone jump the line or buy their way to the front.

I had two exceptions to my rule (and I let the customers know about them). If they were in the middle of there job and discovered they'd left a piece of their cut list, I'd slip them in as soon as I could. And if a customer "miscut" a timber, I'd cut them a new one. I'd even give them a partial rebate if the short one could be used in an upcoming order.

The really important thing is, whatever you do, be consistent.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

longtime lurker

I juggle a lot, and mostly get everything out the door on time. I'm very good at fibre utilisation... I can have boards for three or four orders plus my stock downgrade sizes coming out of one log at times...  if it won't make the 8" I need now it might make the 6" needed atfat that length for some other job or if it defects to a shorter length (knots etc) I want then I cut it for that. The busier I am the less waste... when I'm only sawing for one size at a time it's a lot less efficient.

The other thing being because of the way I saw we carry a lot of stock... I know today's wrong size is next week's right size. A lot of the time I can fill little orders from stock, or be halfway through them before I start.

There's no such thing as a bad job!
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

Magicman

My market is much different because I don't sell anything, but I do have two schedules to maintain; the customer's and mine.  When a customer calls, they go on the list.  The first person to call back before I finish my current job, regardless of where they are on the list, is next in line.  If no one calls then I go to the top of the list and start calling them to verify who is ready.  It's scary but the list now contains 21 customers in various stages of getting their logs ready.  This has grown from 16 a week ago.

Yesterday I drove to a job, looked at the logs, and told the customer that the quality of his logs would not make his cut list.  He was not pleased, especially with the logger that sold him the logs.  I made one call and set the sawmill up at his location to begin sawing today.  He moved the logs to the sawmill yesterday afternoon.

As Brucer mentioned above, customer communication is vital to maintain the work flow.
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It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

petefrom bearswamp

I get requests for as little as 2 boards and they want to get them at 6PM after they get out of work.
I have a reasonable stock and just tell them how much for the lumber and put it by my gate for them to pick up at their convenience.
My gate is a sliding pipe, so just have them but the few bucks in an envelope and stuff it in the pipe.
No problems so far and I have more happy customers, It works OK as I have to lock the gate at days end anyway.
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WV Sawmiller

   I think my mobile sawing is somewhat similar to the MagicMans. I have several people I have talked to and even looked at their site but I don't consider them an order until they call and tell me their logs are staged and they are ready to saw them. Then they become an order and I put them on a list to saw the next time the weather and my/their schedule permits. If they are a big order and weather and my other schedule don't permit I may saw several small orders in between until the stars align and we have to time and weather to do their. I am not going to normally leave the mill at a customer site for days when I cannot operate it because I might be able to sandwich in some small orders at home in between.  
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Cedarman

When asked what is the smallest order I will sell, I tell them one board.  But if I cut it in half , it would be two boards.  Always get a laugh.  More for advertising than anything else.  Do mark the small orders up.  Usually have on hand or can be quickly sawn.  Now if someone wanted  one 12" board  16' long, then I decline.  Best to say yes, but need to be able to say no.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Brucer

Just to be clear, my comments were for custom orders. If I had what the customer wanted in stock, the sale would happen right then.

Most of my side lumber was 1x4, 1x6, & 1x8. I'd stack and sticker it and air dry it until a buyer showed up. My 1" inventory was anywhere from 15,000 BF to zero (one customer showed up at the end of every day to take away whatever 1" I had cut).

In the spring I'd quickly run up a 1-2 week backlog, then it would settle down to about 1 week. On the last week in July my backlog would jump to 3 weeks and climb from there. I finally figured out that when the "back to school" fliers appeared in the mail, the orders would start to pile up. That was useful to know because I could warn people in advance that they had to get their orders in early if they wanted wood in August.

Sometimes I would be cutting a few pieces for the next order (or 2 or 3) if it let me get better recovery from a log. I just set those pieces aside in their own storage area until I was ready to process the rest of the order.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

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