Greetings my fabric friends! Welcome back to another installment of The Wonderful Folks of the Works. So far, we have introduced you to Debbie our shipper, and Tony our warehouse manager & fabric cutter! Have you ever wondered what happens when you place an order with Clothworks? The next person I’m going to introduce to you manages this area. Please meet Susan, our Order Department Extraordinaire! Clothworks is so lucky to have an employee like Susan who possesses amazing organization skills to help this department run smoothly!
Clothworks might not have been so lucky to find Susan had it not been for another local fabric & notion distributor, named Aptex, Inc., who was in the process of being sold about 7 years ago. Back in 2006, when Aptex was eventually sold off, their distribution center and offices located here in Seattle, also closed. Sometimes when one door closes, another door opens. With just a few months before Aptex closed its doors for good, Clothworks had a few open positions available and snagged Susan to fill one of them. Lucky for Susan, as like most people, she detests the act of job searching. And ever since January 2006, Susan has taken on the role of Order Department Extraordinaire here at Clothworks.
As Susan was brought on board to work in the Order Department at Clothworks, Clothworks soon took notice of how lucky they were to have gained her as an employee! As I mentioned earlier, to manage this department, it takes someone that possesses meticulous organization skills, while paying close attention to the fine details. Susan shines in this position– she is an organization queen who still manages to ‘dot her i’s and cross her t’s’. Each morning, she begins the day by tackling a load of emails. There’s really no telling how big the email load will be, sometimes it can eat up the whole morning. After she has answered her emails, she continues on with her duties by entering all the orders into the computer database. Clothworks receives loads of orders in various forms: purchase orders faxed from the fabric reps, phone-in orders, and orders emailed to us. Depending on when we have previewed a new fabric collection, the order entry process can also be very time-consuming for Susan. Keying in correct fabric collections, sku numbers, and pricing, while also entering the orders under the correct account are some of the primary duties in order entry. Now you can see why attention to detail is crucial in this position. And not to mention, Susan maintains an extensive filing system for all of this order paperwork.
Aside from her stellar organization system and being detail-oriented, Susan is a key team player here at Clothworks! She collaborates with Tony the warehouse manager, as well as the pickers, and Debbie the shipper, to process orders to be cut, picked, and shipped according to our customers’ needs. After she has finished her daily emails and order entry, she begins to process orders that are ready to ship. She will print out the pick list & attach it to the original order paperwork, preparing it for the pickers who pick the fabric from inventory to be shipped to our stores. She also manages the traffic control portion of the order shipments and determines the degree of urgency for shipping each fabric order. Many times the workload in the warehouse can be heavy, so Susan will jump in to lend an extra hand in picking orders to be shipped out in a timely manner. And would you believe that she still finds time in her day to answer phones & call customers, serving up some friendly, Clothworks-style customer service with a smile?!! I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
Clothworks found a real jewel of an employee when Susan came to work here from Aptex, several years ago. The feeling is mutual for Susan, too. She loves working here because it’s a fun company to work for and loves the people at Clothworks! In her spare time, she recharges with therapeutic hobbies such as gardening, hiking, and sewing. Having been an experienced sewist since her 4H grade school days, she wishes she could sew more, but is content to produce quick projects such as decorated towels, fancy potholders, and baby gifts. And if she were stranded on a desert island, the one thing she could not live without is her Bible. Clothworks is blessed to have Susan running our Order Department and Susan is equally blessed to have taken on this position! Amen!
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