Moving Production: What Has to Travel With the Order

The Drawing Is the Smallest Part of the Transfer

Transferring a programme to a new factory looks like a file transfer: send the drawing, the specification and the artwork. Six weeks later the first batch arrives and something is subtly wrong — a millimetre taller, a shade warmer, slightly heavier, packing that no longer fits the same carton.

Products in this guide: INS Style Red Rim Dessert Plate · Ceramic Butter Dish with Cover and Knife Slot

Nothing was ignored. The things that were missing were the things nobody wrote down.

See the full ceramic sourcing process map.

What Actually Has to Travel

Six categories, and the last two are the ones usually forgotten:

1. The tooling. Who owns it, where it is, its condition, and whether it can physically move. A mould that has been used for years carries its own wear, and the new cavity will not match the old one exactly.
2. The process specification. Body, forming method, shrinkage band, firing curve, decoration method, soak time. A new factory can only reproduce what it can describe.
3. The retained samples. Sealed, dated, and physically in the buyer's hands. This is the only reference that settles "is this the same product".
4. The artwork and colour reference. Files alone are not enough: the approved colour should be a fired swatch, not a screen value or a printed proof.
5. The packaging specification. Insert type, clearance, carton dimensions, case pack, pallet configuration, and the labels. This is where transfers most often fail silently, because packaging is treated as logistics rather than product.
6. The test history. Which tests were run, on which item, with what result — so the new factory can be measured against the same set rather than starting over.

The Quality Dip, and Why It Is Normal

The first batch from a new factory is not a reorder; it is a first article. Even with perfect documentation it will differ slightly, because the tools, the kiln and the hands are different.

Treating it as a reorder — accepting it against the old inspection records — is how the dip becomes permanent.

The Transfer Sequence

1. Qualify the new factory against the old specification, not against a generic capability claim. Body, method, decoration, accessories.
2. First article. A small run, measured and reported: dimensions, weight, capacity, colour against the swatch.
3. Compare with the retained sample physically, side by side, under the same light.
4. Pilot order. Enough to exercise packing, documentation and loading as they will run at scale.
5. Scale, with the approved first article as the new baseline and a new retained sample sealed from it.

The Commercial Side

• Tooling ownership must be written down before the transfer, not discovered during it. A mould paid for by the buyer but held by the factory is a negotiation waiting to happen.
• Transfer cost — crating, shipping, customs for the tooling — is usually small against the cost of a bad first batch, and it should be decided in advance.
• The outgoing supplier. Most transfers are not exits. A supplier who understands why the work moved, and who is paid what they are owed, is a supplier you can still call when the new line is full.

What Goes Wrong

• Artwork files without a fired colour reference — the print is right and the colour is wrong.
• No retained sample in the buyer's possession — the argument is settled by whoever kept the reference.
• Packing "as before" — the carton is a few millimetres off and the pallet no longer fits the plan.
• Accepting the first batch against old records — the dip gets locked in.
• Tooling left behind because ownership was never written down.

For the surrounding decisions, see <a href="https://www.storiwareceramicmugs.com/oid1757203/The-Custom-Mug-Programme-Buyer-Guides-by-Decision.htm">the custom mug programme guides</a>, which sequence development and approval, and <a href="https://www.storiwareceramicmugs.com/oid1756907/Cooperation-Models-How-to-Work-With-Our-Ceramic-Factory.htm">our cooperation models</a> for how programmes and tooling are structured. Our <a href="https://www.storiwareceramicmugs.com/products2147420/Custom-Ceramic-Mugs-Cups.htm">ceramic mugs and cups</a> range is produced to a retained specification per item, and the <a href="https://www.storiwareceramicmugs.com/oid1756307/Custom-Ceramic-Mugs-Bulk-Order-Factory-Direct-from-China.htm">bulk order programme</a> explains how first articles and retained samples are managed. To plan a transfer, <a href="/contact-us.htm">send the item list, the current specification and the tooling situation</a>.

The spec freeze guide explains how artwork and packing files are locked between orders.

What to Put in the Transfer File

• Tooling ownership and condition, in writing.
• The process specification, including body, shrinkage and curve.
• Sealed retained samples, held by the buyer.
• A fired colour reference, not just artwork files.
• The packaging specification, down to the insert and case pack.
• The test history, so the new factory is measured against the same set.

The packaging guide explains how retail-ready and protective layers are specified together.

The Habit That Ties It Together

The habit is to treat a transfer as a new programme with an old file. The file is the starting point, not the proof.