by DeloresVan | Jul 8, 2015 | Made in China?
There is a famous cloth that hangs in the Norwex home office. This is the first cloth that Gerd Doroshuk brought to Canada and showed to her friend Debbie Bolton back in 1999. Gerd had just returned from her trip to Norway visiting her sister. Once Debbie got her hands on that cloth, a dream was born. To quote Debbie,
“My journey with Norwex began in 1999, when my dear friend Gerd introduced me to the power of a red microfiber cloth. Being a passionate, positive person, I couldn’t wait to share it with others. It was ‘just a cloth”, but when we saw what it could do, we immediately understood its potential – especially knowing that it worked using just water. Imagine fewer chemicals in our homes!
Working together, Gerd and I discovered that this little red cloth could make a big difference in not just our homes, but in many homes across North America. It took a bit of courage for us to put our trust in that little red cloth, but we began to purposefully share it with others. We believed in it, we dreamed big and eventually our dream became our destiny – to leave a legacy for each other, for our families and for our world.”
Debbie connected with Bjorn Nicolaisen in Norway and Norwex was born. When I attended my first North American Conference in 2007, the famous framed cloth was there. Here is a picture of Gerd Doroshuk, Tammy Burgardt, Cheryl Moffat and myself.
Once our tour of the factory was complete, with emotion in his voice Eivind Schackt our Norwex Global CEO made an announcement. He wanted to give each of his leaders the opportunity to make their our own Red (aka Pink) EnviroCloth. From start to finish. We were excited to have seen the nine steps and now we were going to do the nine steps and experience the working on the factory floor.
With a partner we unrolled the microfiber, laid it flat and cut it.
Here I am laying the microfiber out… and cutting the strip.
Here we are laying out the fabric for our cloth template.
Then we laid a template out on the fabric and cut our two cloths.
After that, we went to the inspection tables to inspect our fabric for flaws or dye inconsistency. Everything was great. So we moved onto the sewing machines.
Now this was entertaining! I actually screamed when my sewing machine it took off on me. I was the first to attempt sewing. I actually screamed and so did everyone else. It was very comical.
Did I mention, I don’t own a sewing machine and I have never worked on one. So, needless to say they gave me some test fabric to work out the kinks before sewing my actual cloth. Check out my YouTube cleannatural to watch my factory clip.
Albert, who is beside me, is a very long-term employee and manager with Norwex.
After the cloth was sewn and the Norwex tag was attached, I was off to the hot tip table. They wrapped tape around my left finger to press down each corner after we removed the excess seam and sealed it.
Then we did our final inspection and ran it through the metal detector. Well, let’s be honest. One corner of my cloth wasn’t totally square, so my cloth failed the inspection. I was still delighted to take my cloth home!!
David pulled all the factory staff off their machines and introduced us. We cheered for them and they cheered for us. What an amazing group of hard-working Norwex employees.
As we were about to exit the factory floor, I wanted to sit and watch one last worker make a cloth. Savour the moment. This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I thanked the employees for their diligent efforts and for their amazing craftsmanship – delivering an outstanding product.
We were then brought back up to the board room for our final surprise! The idea for us to make the cloths was evidently Eivind Schackt’s idea. He shared with us the significance of the first Red Enviro Cloth framed hanging in the Canadian Norwex home office. Then with excitement and full enthusiasm he declared that each of us had just made history and wanted us to take our own framed Red Enviro Cloth home. Wow, that what an emotional gift!! Thank you Norwex, for your class and generousity!
A treasured gift!
We also received a parting gift: A beautiful rotating ceramic pot, on an engraved base “Factory Tour Norwex China June 2015”.
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
by DeloresVan | Jul 8, 2015 | Made in China?
While we toured the factory, we were first introduced to each office staff employee by name. They worked in offices upstairs and downstairs. They have departments for graphics, IT, finances, logistics and human resources, just to name a few. What I liked the most about this experience was to listen to David Peeters introduce each staff member – by name, one after another. He knew how long they had worked for Norwex and gave informative details about what each department did. It was obvious he had a heart for his employees.
Prior to entering the factory floor, we were all provided hats. Yup, they looked really good, as you can see.
Our tour started in the inventory warehouse.
Then we were taken on a tour of the factory floor. This was so exciting to see first hand. My was so impressed how bright and clean the factory was! I’m dutch, what can I say. These are two attributes I look for in all areas of my life. As we walked in, we saw the newest Norwex machine used for laying out the microfiber. The machine meters out the fabric, while two employees ensure it is smooth with two smoothing rods. Here they are making Blue Enviro Cloths.
The enormous blots of fabric ready to be rolled out. David is explaining the new machine and its capability. As the microfiber is rolled out, two men ensure it is totally flat. They smooth any fine ripples with two rods.
Once the multiple layers of microfiber are laying flat, they are cut with a laser for precision as well as to maximize the material and reduce waste.
This is the laser cutting machine. Once the fabric is all piled, the laser accurately shapes the clothes. The stacks are then removed and transferred for inspection. Above is a plethora of dusting mitts, cut and ready to be sewn.
After the cloths are cut, each and every cloth is handled and inspected on both sides for fiber or colour dye defects. Any slight imperfection and the cloth is immediately rejected. The quality control is so high, one of the employees had to show me why she decided to reject a cloth. Her reason was a very slight variation in the colouring in one corner, something I would not have noticed. Wow, I was impressed. This is a picture of the table the employees stand by to inspect stack after stack of microfiber.
The inspection table.
Once the clothes are rigorously inspected, they are moved onto the sewing machines. Now these ladies can sew! They zip along, up one side and down the other. They sit on nice comfortable pillows, covered in Window Cloth material and they have lots of work space.
Zipping along on their sewing machine!
After each cloth is perfectly sewn, they are passed onto the hot tip station. Each and every cloth is fused with a hot-tipped iron to seal and secure each corner.
Each corner is touched with a hot-tipped iron…. A perfect finished product. One cloth at a time.
Any product that has excess fluff on it, like the Dusting Mit, Bathroom Scrub Mit, Enviro Wand or Car Washing Mitt, is then passed through a vacuum to remove any excessive debris.
Dusting off the dusting mitts.
It is time for a trim! Each and every cloth is handled again for the sole purpose to find any loose strings. With a keen eye and sharp little scissors, each cloth is examined in fine detail for anything that needs to be trimmed.
Trimming up any stray strings.
Each cloth is now given one more inspection by hand. Each piece of microfiber is investigated on each side for approval.
Final hand inspection. This is vigorous. They carefully search for any missed stitch or flaw in the sewing process. To my eye it would look perfect, but their eye is trained to spot the slightest defect.
The final test is that every piece of microfiber is then sent through an x-ray machine. As sewing machines are used for the assembly of each item, the needles can occasionally break, or a tip may chip off without the seamstress knowing. This last step ensures a perfect product for you and I!
WOW!! What a tremendous effort to deliver an amazing product. I don’t know if you were counting, but that is NINE individuals who have touched each microfiber product prior to it leaving the Cut & Sew Factory. Remarkable!!
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
by DeloresVan | Jul 8, 2015 | Made in China?
Visiting the factory, taking a tour and meeting the staff was certainly the highlight of my entire trip. As I toured through the factory I gave the staff Canadian ceramic mugs as thank you gifts. My amazing husband thought I was crazy to pack half of my suitcase filled with heavy cups, but when their eyes lit up with joy to receive a mug, not made in China, covered in red maple leafs… it made it all worth it. Plus, I was strategic, I had room to bring some specials items back home from China!
Norwex certainly has changed a lot in the past 15 years. A questions I am regularly asked, “why are your cloths made in China?”
The answer is:
- Norwex owns their own manufacturing equipment and technology in China where the microfiber is made.
- Norwex has a close relationship with all of their supplying factories and it is a small group to ensure quality.
- Norwex has employees on site with our most important suppliers.
- Norwex owns their own cut and sew factory, which we visited.
- In 1999, the Norwex cloths were made in Sweden. At that time, our cloths contained 1.5 million meters of fiber. This was the highest quality that Sweden could produce. China with their elite training, education and degrees in textiles was able to help Norwex develop a cutting edge cloth with 2.9 million meters of fiber per Enviro Cloth. That is a lot more “micro”fiber per cloth!
- This area of China is famous for their textiles, knitting and dying.
- It is a good location for transportation.
- The city is clean.
- It is a global economic development zone.
How does Norwex treat their employees?
- Norwex is voluntarily apart of the UN Global Compact, that has a commitment to quality working conditions. There are less than 300 companies operating in China who adhere to all of these standards.
- Norwex only deals with other factories who comply to all of the UN Global Compact regulation.
- The factory was air conditioned – thank goodness – because it was warm and humid!
- The factory was brightly lit with big windows.
- The factory was extremely clean, with one employee assigned to dusting the floors constantly.
- Wages are at least 50% higher than the average factory worker in the area.
- Employees were offered the option to either earn overtime or for Norwex to hire a second shift. All of the existing employees choose to work the overtime.
- They are paid 1.5 times over 8 hours on week days, double time on Saturdays and triple time if they work on Sunday. Currently the factory is running Monday through Saturday.
- Employees currently average 2-3 hours overtime per day plus an 8 hour shift on Saturday.
- Vacation pay starts immediately with 6-10 days per year.
- Family Day: Norwex takes all of the employees out for a day of fun and team building.
- A complementary dormitory is available for employees and many go home on the weekend.
- A catering company provides lunch and dinner with five food groups per meal.
- Safety Bonuses: For every 25 work days, a safety bonus is given. Once an employee reaches 250 days, the bonus is then given in 250-day increments.
- Employees receive a 15-minute break every 2 hours with no limits on drink or bathroom breaks. They also receive 30-minute lunch and dinner breaks.
- The factory runs 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Three managers for the Norwex China Factory: David, Albert and May.
Norwex has their own team for Research & Development to maintain their high quality control standards.
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
