Gaining a competitive advantage, with the help of CorelDRAW

Nuwarocks.com is an online retailer, designer, manufacturer, and wholesale distributor of bridge jewelry. As an authorized brand partner of SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS, most of the crystals used with the silver jewelry of NUWAROCKS are made with SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS. To match the genuine quality and cut of these crystals, NUWAROCKS never stops searching for a better way to make more precise molds to set crystals more efficiently and to keep crystals from falling off.

Based in Yilan County, Taiwan, the company recently conducted an internal review of its business and manufacturing processes in order to gain an edge in a competitive marketplace. They determined that changes were necessary, in both the design and production of their jewelry.

To facilitate the transformation of their business, they sought a software solution that could expedite their design processes, as well as automate and ease the manufacturing process. After careful consideration of the available solutions, they chose CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite and couldn’t be happier with the results.

The challenge

“In the bridge jewelry industry, competition is getting more and more intense,” explains Tse-Ming Chiang, Executive Manager of e-Commerce & Brand Alliances for nuwarocks.com. “We realized that too much time was being spent on achieving precise molds, and that we could save time and money by switching from hand-crafted to machined.”

And of course, making such a dramatic change to your business, in real time, isn’t without challenges. “We knew that the software choice we made would impact our designers as well as our suppliers,” he says. “So we wanted a solution that would be easyto- use, for training our internal designers as well as our manufacturers.”

Products such as Adobe® Illustrator®, JewelCAD, and AutoCAD® are all popular in the jewelry industry, but project leaders at nuwarocks.com wanted a more flexible solution. “Our designers were familiar with Illustrator but it was limited in compatibility,” offers Ishtar Hsu, Assistant Manager of Product Development.

“Since we’re designing primarily in 2D, both JewelCAD and AutoCAD were deemed too rich for our needs,” she continues. “And we didn’t want to choose a solution with such a steep learning curve.”

The solution

“We first noticed CorelDRAW Graphics Suite because it was the only software available that offered such file format compatibility, which was critical on the manufacturing side. Plus, the flexibility of CorelDRAW enabled us to reuse existing designs.”

With their software choice made, the company undertook an ambitious four-phase implementation plan. It started with one month of internal training on CorelDRAW for their designers, which included the preparation of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual that could be distributed to manufacturers.

“We knew that one of the challenges would be to convince our suppliers of the worthiness of CorelDRAW against Illustrator and JewelCAD,” says Timothy Chiang, Executive Manager of Manufacturing & Wholesale Business.

The designers at nuwarocks.com immediately found CorelDRAW to have a very user-friendly interface, which helped to ease the transition. “CorelDRAW simply excelled in 2D design work,” explains Ishtar Hsu. “It increased our ability to create precise molds for items like flat earrings and personalized necklaces.”

“And of course,” interjects Timothy Chiang. “Our suppliers were won over in short order. They now believe CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is the better tool for creating precise 2D wax molds.”

The results

With the evaluation, training, and development phases all completed, the next step was to launch new items for sale on nuwarocks.com and for distribution to wholesale customers. Among the included items were personalized anklets, bangles, bracelets, and necklaces.

“CorelDRAW has exceeded our expectations, way beyond what we thought was possible,” says Tse-Ming Chiang. “It’s only been eight months, but our year-over-year sales have already doubled! And we’re excited about the potential to use CorelDRAW in future projects, like jewelry made with wax pavé.”