If you have never manufactured with platinum and you think that you are ready, if you manufacture with platinum, but you have not capitalized on the growing potential of the bridal market, even if you are successful at manufacturing platinum bridal jewelry, I hope some of what is contained in this paper will be of help to you.

Reasons to Design and Manufacture Wedding Bands in Platinum
 Let's start with the reasons that we have for manufacturing wedding rings in platinum.  The first reason is the obvious one; the metal itself.  Wedding bands are an everyday piece of jewelry, so attention should be paid to the practical durability of the medium.  Platinum fits that bill quite nicely and it also makes a beautiful statement. Another important reason we create bridal jewelry in platinum is to increase sales margins and in the perfect scenario, our profits.

The best reason to work in platinum is that you are forced to learn and the things that you learn are easily applied to everything else that you manufacture.  Across the board, all of our products have gotten better attention as a result of our employees' platinum learning experience.

One more incentive to make wedding bands and engagement rings in platinum is that sometimes the consumer still remembers his or her ancestors' jewelry.  It makes it a little easier to market platinum when the end user has some familiarity with it.

Different Manufacturing Techniques
In our factory, we now use different paths of manufacturing, totally dictated to us by the product itself.  We never allow ourselves to become technically handcuffed.  Originally, our focus was on machine manufacturing because of our advanced experience there, but as we have progressed into this new market, we have found that we need to add technical alternatives so that we can accomplish a wider range of objectives.  Let me describe the three manufacturing techniques in more detail. 

A. Machines
We use a lot of different machines for different jobs, but our platinum work is usually done on either a lathe, a Swiss cutting machine or one of our computerized drilling and milling machines.  On the lathes we part tubing, do shaping and cut edges into rings.  Believe it or not, we also use our lathes to channel set diamonds into platinum and gold.  We have found that platinum will do as much damage to most carbide tools as the carbide will do to the platinum.  The only time a carbide tool seems to get the job done efficiently is in drilling processes and when the tool is used in an automatic feed situation.  Otherwise, we have settled into specifically using diamond-tooling on our platinum runs.

I have found that the most important factors to longer tool life are angle, cleanliness and proper lubricant.  Cleanliness is the one theme that I will repeat over and over.  No matter what process of platinum manufacturing you are in, cleanliness will avert tragedy. Then there are cutting oils.  Cutting oils can be something of a personal choice.  The speed and type of tooling that you use on your machinery might dictate to some extent what cutting oil works best, but there always remains some flexibility.

We also use a selection of Swiss cutting machines in our machine shop.  Here, all of the same rules apply.  The significant difference is that the tool instead of the work piece is moving. The third method that we use to machine in our factory is to drill or mill the metal.  We use machinists' standard, high-quality drills and mills, all readily available at any machine shop supply house.

B. Hands
One of our acquired skills over the years, is the ability to hand make wedding rings.  We do everything from the most sophisticated braid work to the most basic wire pulling and welding techniques.  Based on our recent sales, this type of handmade product is on the rise.  We are expanding our boundaries everyday as to how far we can go hand making combination metals.  One of the beauties of hand-fabrication is the lack of metal loss in the fabrication process.  Cut and shape one ring on a lathe and your losses can be upwards of 40%.  On the other hand, a handmade wedding ring might average around a 5% metal loss.  This means less recycling of metal, less refining and a smaller outlay of money for inventory.

As most of you know, platinum had always been the metal of choice when hand making was the process.  For too many years we forgot about how it lends itself so nicely to the many hand making techniques.  I would hope that from here on in, we continue to grow this expertise.  Hopefully, no more lost generations of craftsmen. 

C. Casting
If you are a small to medium-size manufacturer, consider contracting out your casting to one of the houses that have built up a reputation for their platinum work.  Keep in mind that the good casting houses are constantly modifying so that they can perfect platinum casting.  The honest ones will tell you that this is less than an exact science, but that we have made a ton of headway in recent years.  Odds are that the platinum casters of today can give you a product that will probably be better than anything you will attempt yourself.  The one thing that you will need to pay attention to is the method of spruing you use in your model making.  The proper spruing architecture will go a long way towards making your product cast up consistently.  Check with your casting company and enlist their help so that you can solve problems in the early stages of development.

 How to Start Your Design Base and Where to Target Your First Platinum Products
Whenever I explore the possibility of adding a new product to our family of products, I tend to follow the same basic set of rules:

A. Create an array of designs, all having a common thread but different enough from each other that they will pique the interest of different types of end users.

B. Start your movement into this new product category conservatively.  In other words, make your first platinum design appeal to the basic tastes.

C. Examine the performance numbers from your new products.  Find out which ones have the best sell-through, ascertain why and expand your product base in that direction.

How to Develop Your Own New Technologies
For those of you interested in this topic, you already know the last and most important variable in the equation, "How do I develop new technologies?" Here it is:  You work hard as hell to go further than the last guy.

Now let's take a step backwards and ask, "How far did the last guy go?"  The answer becomes the beginning of this magic equation for technology development.  The first piece is understanding current industry limitations.

If you understand the limitations of your competition, then you can go to the blackboard and create a wish list.  That is the second variable of the equation is, you create a list of unexplored technologies.  Always remember that you will never expand your technology by only doing the things that are totally feasible.

Here is the third equation variable; refine the list to a specific goal.  Take steps forward and backward until you find the right pattern of development.  Now add the "hard work" variable to the other three and you have your equation:

Understand current industry limitations
+
Create a list of unexplored technologies
+
Refine the list to a specific goal
+
Work hard as hell to go further than the last guy
=
How to develop your own new technologies

Successful Marketing and Where to go for Help with Marketing
The first place to go for marketing and advertising help is obvious.  Your suppliers have an interest in your success.  Ask them to help you build a promotional campaign.  They have the experience of dealing with a number of other companies in the same market, so a little brain picking can reap great benefits.

Platinum guild is another wonderful source.  Their expertise in the market of platinum is second to none, and I am sure they will be available to assist and advise you.  Attend functions and exchange information with people in various positions as applicable to this market.  You can learn something from everyone with whom you talk.

Communicate with your retailers.  The ones that already sell platinum have valuable experience upon which you can draw.  Most importantly, you should never under estimate the value of advertising media.

Closing Statement
From here you will develop your own strategies based on the experience that you gather.  Keep your approach tactical but keep it fun.  The beauty that was once the art of jewelry making disappeared before my eyes, just as I was learning to create the beauty.  Platinum has in a very real way salvaged a little bit of the art in a very business motivated industry.  I challenge you to take the art forward.  The numbers will follow.

V3N4

Machines, Hands and Wedding Bands
Bruce Pucciarello
Novell Enterprises Inc.

This is an abbreviated version of the original work. For full technical details, please consult the original paper.