a computerized cutting machine. The
cutting machine slices out the sail’s
panels; each is labeled for its position,
and the seam widths marked.
The workers who glue and/or stitch
the sail together no longer need ever
to have set foot on a boat, or even to
have any idea how the end product is
used. In short, sailmaking is now no
different from any other modern manufacturing process. For this industrialized
model to succeed, one must: ensure
that the design meets the customer’s
needs; maintain quality in the sail’s
production; and keep costs down.
Getting the Design Right
China Sail Factory, or CSF, quite
deliberately does not have a direct
relationship with the end user—the
sail-buying public. Instead, it operates
via established sailmakers, billing
itself as “The Sailmaker’s Sailmaker.”
Its aim is to create whatever sail the
sailmaking client designs, rather than
to impose any of its own standards or
design concepts on the final product.
The result must look and function just
the same as a sail made by the client
sailmaker in a loft in New York, or
Annapolis, Maryland, or Cowes,
England. It must be complete with
whatever hallmarks—patch shapes,
say, or corner finishing, or batten-pocket style—that differentiate one
sailmaker’s products from another.
That other sailmaker, after all, may
also be a CSF client. In the words of
Colin Appleyard, CSF’s engineering
manager, “We don’t measure boats.
We don’t know how the boat is
sailed. We don’t know the customer.
The overriding principle at CSF is: the
sailmaker makes the decisions and we
build the sail exactly as specified.”
Client sailmakers take orders from
their customers, measure boats for
sails, and make the critical design
decisions on such things as sailcloth,
type of construction, sail draft, and all
the other details that define a contemporary sail. The sailmaker then logs
onto CSF’s Web site and fills out a
detailed design sheet, working from
Windows-based drop-down menus.
Once this has been done a few times,
it becomes routine. Also, sailmakers
can pull up an existing design from
their portfolio to function as a template, which speeds up the process.
China Sail Factory takes the design
and turns it into a finished sail. The
completed sail ships from CSF with
Top—A technician monitors one of the computer-guided “stringing” machines as it
applies special reinforcements to laminated sails. Above—China Sail Factory
makes sails for many brand-name sailmakers around the world.
the sailmaker’s logo on it. Many in the
sailing public will be surprised to
learn that those logos include a roster
of some of the best-known brand
names in sailmaking, including
ElvströmSobstad, Ullman, UK Sails,
Doyle, and Momentum Sails. There are
also numerous lesser-known clients.
In certain respects, the combination of
widely available design software and
CSF’s manufacturing expertise levels
the playing field between large and
small sailmakers.
The big question I had for CSF’s
John Brodie was: “How do you guarantee high enough quality from a factory in inland China to be able to sign
up world-class brands?”
Turning an Order into Process
The clock starts ticking when an
e-mailed order arrives at the factory.
The order is assigned a job number
by the planning-and-logistical department, and a bar code for scanning
and tracking through various stages of
production. It then goes into the
engineering department, which is
subdivided into “cut-and-sew,”
“membrane,” and “one-design” divisions, corresponding with similar
regions on the factory floor.
Cut-and-sew deals with traditional
sails, such as crosscut Dacron, tri-radial laminates, and spinnakers.
Membrane handles so-called “string”
sails, made with high-strength fibers
