Come on, let's outsource our projects!!!

Orchid_Andy · June 1st, 2008

Outsourcing sounded great to me, because I associated it with minimizing costs and increasing profits. However, this was not as easy as I thought. There was the price to pay for outsourcing.

My partner and I have shared the same vision to utiliize the affordable labor force in China to reduce the costs for our clients in 3d production services. So we set up a company and hired 14 professional 3D artists. Little did we know, that was where our trouble started.

We were proud to make an announcement to our clients about cuttng down the price for them due to our new approach. We expected very positive feedbacks from them. However, the complaints from our clients were like the water coming down from the Niagara Falls. The reason was that our 3D artists had very limited English. As a result, many mistakes were made in the projects.

It was also my fault. I made a huge mistake on selecting our artists, because I concentrated too much on the 3D artists' ability to produce high quality products,but paid little attention to their ability to communicate with our clients. Some of our clients even threatened us to discontinue their projects. Luckily, we came up with an idea to battle this crisis on time. We hired bilingual project coordinators to make sure what our clients wanted were clear to the artists.

This was just one of the problems that we had during the course of outsourcing. When I hear the word "outsourcing" now, the first thing comes to my mind is not lesss costs and more profits anymore, but that painful experience.

Please share your story with us. Every story deserves to be heard. Thank you.

______________

http://www.orchid3d.com

afterglow · June 1st, 2008

I've tried outsourcing jobs or even parts or jobs to China.. same experience.. nothing but pain..

Communication is definately the biggest issue, but I've found that a lot of the freelancers over there don't seem to understand drawings properly which is a massive headache.. they seem to generally have good art training but less training in the way of architecture/design.

Also, clients seem to be opposed to it, they tend to want to be able to deal directly with the person doing the work.

WAcky · June 1st, 2008

And Clients can and do look down on a "sweatshop" style of working.

Billabong · June 1st, 2008

As a freelancer in the U.S. here is my take, how about the guys in the U.S. wanting to outsource, keep them in the U.S. I'm not trying to be mean or harsh, but this is why our economy is down now. All our work, not just artists, but plant/mill work as well, is going over seas

Orchid_Andy · June 1st, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by WAcky

And Clients can and do look down on a "sweatshop" style of working.

Thank you for your comments. What a harsh word "sweatshop". But, I agree with you 100%. Many of the disciplined 3D artists are not being compensated properly. I do not know what others would do about this. For me, I am strongly opposing sweatshop style of working. Because my parents were the victims of sweatshop system when they first came to the U.S. Our 3D artists in China are being paid properly according to the current living standards in China. They receive base pay, and also commisions on each project they do. I will not allow sweatshop style of working in my company. As you said, my clients will abandon me if they find out about this.

______________

http://www.orchid3d.com

Orchid_Andy · June 1st, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by afterglow

I've tried outsourcing jobs or even parts or jobs to China.. same experience.. nothing but pain..

Communication is definately the biggest issue, but I've found that a lot of the freelancers over there don't seem to understand drawings properly which is a massive headache.. they seem to generally have good art training but less training in the way of architecture/design.

Also, clients seem to be opposed to it, they tend to want to be able to deal directly with the person doing the work.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Another problem with outsourcing is the cultural barrier which is really hard to overcome. Having the middle person can be really confusing. However, clients usually will make their judgment on either go globally or locally. Thank you.
______________

http://www.orchid3d.com

TheAllusionist · June 1st, 2008

I am proud to announce that I will soon be releasing a new website: http://www.digitalsweatshop.net/

Please send samples of your work and how cheaply you are willing to go and how far you will go for that small pittance.

Kidding aside I was going to try and do a job board a while back ago, but then Jeff opened his up so I didn't pursue it. Still have the domain

I just like the sound of it!

On another note, this is the angle I took and we seem to be doing all right: http://www.3dallusions.com/index.php...=393&Itemid=74

I think you can leverage the weak US dollar because of our high standard of living, in order to bring on talanted people to work with you. You can still pay them more than they typically make and make a profit and an honorable living without trying to take advantage of their situation. The hope is that gradually you bring everyones expectations and standard of living up to a similar level and then outsourcing loses it's economical incentive.

Yes, you micro manage and go over everything three times, once with client, once documenting it and once going over the documented clients remarks with the artist. But there are a lot of talented people out their, no reason to think of it as them against us, I just think you need to know them (i.e. been around them in communities such as this and seen how they communicate.) and have some sort of communication already established. Of course I keep strange hours at times, what time is it in the UK, darn up till 3:00 AM to talk with someone, hey what is this jerk on the east coast doing calling me at 8:00 AM his time, I just got to bed............

We in the US are so lucky to speak a language that for the most part is the international language and a lot of international artist are very fluent in English, I think a bigger problems is people who have know real architectural training can't read plans, have no idea on scale of materials........... Hey, some of my best online friends are foreigners! LOL

Orchid_Andy · June 2nd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAllusionist

I am proud to announce that I will soon be releasing a new website: http://www.digitalsweatshop.net/

Please send samples of your work and how cheaply you are willing to go and how far you will go for that small pittance.

Kidding aside I was going to try and do a job board a while back ago, but then Jeff opened his up so I didn't pursue it. Still have the domain

I just like the sound of it!

On another note, this is the angle I took and we seem to be doing all right: http://www.3dallusions.com/index.php...=393&Itemid=74

I think you can leverage the weak US dollar because of our high standard of living, in order to bring on talanted people to work with you. You can still pay them more than they typically make and make a profit and an honorable living without trying to take advantage of their situation. The hope is that gradually you bring everyones expectations and standard of living up to a similar level and then outsourcing loses it's economical incentive.

Yes, you micro manage and go over everything three times, once with client, once documenting it and once going over the documented clients remarks with the artist. But there are a lot of talented people out their, no reason to think of it as them against us, I just think you need to know them (i.e. been around them in communities such as this and seen how they communicate.) and have some sort of communication already established. Of course I keep strange hours at times, what time is it in the UK, darn up till 3:00 AM to talk with someone, hey what is this jerk on the east coast doing calling me at 8:00 AM his time, I just got to bed............

We in the US are so lucky to speak a language that for the most part is the international language and a lot of international artist are very fluent in English, I think a bigger problems is people who have know real architectural training can't read plans, have no idea on scale of materials........... Hey, some of my best online friends are foreigners! LOL

Good luck on your new website. I will pay my visit there.

______________

http://www.orchid3d.com

Orchid_Andy · June 2nd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billabong

As a freelancer in the U.S. here is my take, how about the guys in the U.S. wanting to outsource, keep them in the U.S. I'm not trying to be mean or harsh, but this is why our economy is down now. All our work, not just artists, but plant/mill work as well, is going over seas

Thank you for sharing your concerns. However, a bad economy is not triggered by outsourcing. Actually, outsourcing can help an economy grow. The U.S has enjoyed many years of prosperity, in part, was due to outsourcing. The current situation with our economy is just a normal cycle of the economy. We do not like it. But, it happens.

______________

http://www.orchid3d.com

Ernest Burden · June 2nd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchid_Andy

the complaints from our clients were like the water coming down from the Niagara Falls. The reason was that our 3D artists had very limited English. As a result, many mistakes were made in the projects.

Since you seem to say that your parents are Chinese, I am thinking you probably also speak Chinese. Wouldn't the role of communicating with your artists in China be yours, and not your clients? It would probably be better if you were acting as the face of the firm and not a broker for the overseas studio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAllusionist

I am proud to announce that I will soon be releasing a new website: http://www.digitalsweatshop.net/

Kidding aside I was going to try and do a job board a while back ago, but then Jeff opened his up so I didn't pursue it. Still have the domain

I just like the sound of it!

It doesn't seem like you are kidding, you have a site and you posted the URL. Do you mean that you do not really plan to develop that site, or the idea behind it?

June 1st, 2008	#1 (permalink)
Orchid_Andy Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 37 Name: Andy Zhang	Come on, let's outsource our projects!!! Outsourcing sounded great to me, because I associated it with minimizing costs and increasing profits. However, this was not as easy as I thought. There was the price to pay for outsourcing. My partner and I have shared the same vision to utiliize the affordable labor force in China to reduce the costs for our clients in 3d production services. So we set up a company and hired 14 professional 3D artists. Little did we know, that was where our trouble started. We were proud to make an announcement to our clients about cuttng down the price for them due to our new approach. We expected very positive feedbacks from them. However, the complaints from our clients were like the water coming down from the Niagara Falls. The reason was that our 3D artists had very limited English. As a result, many mistakes were made in the projects. It was also my fault. I made a huge mistake on selecting our artists, because I concentrated too much on the 3D artists' ability to produce high quality products,but paid little attention to their ability to communicate with our clients. Some of our clients even threatened us to discontinue their projects. Luckily, we came up with an idea to battle this crisis on time. We hired bilingual project coordinators to make sure what our clients wanted were clear to the artists. This was just one of the problems that we had during the course of outsourcing. When I hear the word "outsourcing" now, the first thing comes to my mind is not lesss costs and more profits anymore, but that painful experience. Please share your story with us. Every story deserves to be heard. Thank you. ______________ http://www.orchid3d.com Last edited by Orchid_Andy; June 1st, 2008 at 05:09 PM. Reason: ommision

June 1st, 2008	#2 (permalink)
afterglow Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melbourne Age: 34 Posts: 114 Name: Steve Brown	Re: Come on, let's outsource our projects!!! I've tried outsourcing jobs or even parts or jobs to China.. same experience.. nothing but pain.. Communication is definately the biggest issue, but I've found that a lot of the freelancers over there don't seem to understand drawings properly which is a massive headache.. they seem to generally have good art training but less training in the way of architecture/design. Also, clients seem to be opposed to it, they tend to want to be able to deal directly with the person doing the work.

June 1st, 2008	#3 (permalink)
WAcky Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 375 Name: James Burrell	Re: Come on, let's outsource our projects!!! And Clients can and do look down on a "sweatshop" style of working. __________________ James Burrell Pixel Constructions

June 1st, 2008	#4 (permalink)
Billabong Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Carolina Age: 37 Posts: 480 Name: Brandon Hall	Re: Come on, let's outsource our projects!!! As a freelancer in the U.S. here is my take, how about the guys in the U.S. wanting to outsource, keep them in the U.S. I'm not trying to be mean or harsh, but this is why our economy is down now. All our work, not just artists, but plant/mill work as well, is going over seas __________________ www.billa1.com Last edited by Billabong; June 1st, 2008 at 07:56 PM.

June 1st, 2008	#7 (permalink)
TheAllusionist Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 409 Name: Russell Thomas	Re: Come on, let's outsource our projects!!! I am proud to announce that I will soon be releasing a new website: http://www.digitalsweatshop.net/ Please send samples of your work and how cheaply you are willing to go and how far you will go for that small pittance. Kidding aside I was going to try and do a job board a while back ago, but then Jeff opened his up so I didn't pursue it. Still have the domain I just like the sound of it! On another note, this is the angle I took and we seem to be doing all right: http://www.3dallusions.com/index.php...=393&Itemid=74 I think you can leverage the weak US dollar because of our high standard of living, in order to bring on talanted people to work with you. You can still pay them more than they typically make and make a profit and an honorable living without trying to take advantage of their situation. The hope is that gradually you bring everyones expectations and standard of living up to a similar level and then outsourcing loses it's economical incentive. Yes, you micro manage and go over everything three times, once with client, once documenting it and once going over the documented clients remarks with the artist. But there are a lot of talented people out their, no reason to think of it as them against us, I just think you need to know them (i.e. been around them in communities such as this and seen how they communicate.) and have some sort of communication already established. Of course I keep strange hours at times, what time is it in the UK, darn up till 3:00 AM to talk with someone, hey what is this jerk on the east coast doing calling me at 8:00 AM his time, I just got to bed............ We in the US are so lucky to speak a language that for the most part is the international language and a lot of international artist are very fluent in English, I think a bigger problems is people who have know real architectural training can't read plans, have no idea on scale of materials........... Hey, some of my best online friends are foreigners! LOL __________________ The Opinions Expressed Here Do Not Necessarily Reflect Those of a Rational Mind. 3DAllusions \| 3DAllusions Studio \| MrMaterials

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