Nicole Arnold: in Irvine, CA

*Contributed to a 97% growth rate in Special Make since October 2014 *Oversees product development and production process from design to order fulfillment, including sourcing, custom materials development, costing, sample approvals, materials compliance, and quality control *Preps swatches, line sheets, and products for sales meetings and markets *Participates in customer meetings with sales representatives *Follows up with the factories on sample deadline dates for development, Pre-Production (PP’s), & Top of Production (TOP’s) *Communicates modifications & customer comments to the factory post order. *Manages all post order samples with factory and Design regarding approvals *Creates costing skeletons based off offerings, new business proposals, and markets for review with Director prior to publishing to sales representatives *Negotiates prices with vendors to maximize profitability *Communicates with Factory, Design, Sales & Purchasing teams to ensure production time line is on track to meet each customer’s deadline *Works closely with Purchasing Team on all testing requirements and final packaging details post orders *Produces & revises when necessary the master production spec sheets for overseas factories *Reviews all PPs & TPs against Final master production spec to ensure all the customer’s needs are met. *Performs SWOT Analysis Seasonally *Manages approval development invoices for our department to assists the Accounting Team *Travels 1-2 times per year to China work with QC agents to ensure quality products and oversee production issues