A Stitch in Time: Classic Caps and Embroidery Brings New Practices to Nearly a Century of Tradition

Classic Caps and Embroidery is one of the few remaining headwear (i.e. baseball caps, visors and bucket caps) manufacturing operations in the United States. Starting with one sewing machine in 1928, founder Jacob Pasternak opened Dallas Cap & Emblem in a one-room office in downtown Dallas. Upon Jacob’s passing in 1963 his daughter Rosalie inherited the business. After her passing in 2015 her daughter Valerie R. Granat inherited the business, thus making it a third-generation family-owned business. It operated as Dallas Cap & Emblem Company until 1985, when the company re-opened as the Classic Caps and Embroidery we know today because it better represented what products they provided. Classic Caps ships out over a million custom finished goods a year.

TMAC, part of the MEP National Network™, has built a long-lasting relationship with Classic Caps. TMAC first began working with Classic Caps as they moved into their old Dallas location from another close by location in 1999. A few years later the TMAC team worked with  them  on  layout and expansion of the screen-printing processing area along with other improvement projects. Because of this long-time close relationship, Valerie called on TMAC again to assist with their move to Garland, Texas.

Valerie and her husband David, with assistance from TMAC, decided that for the business to continue to be profitable, they needed to move into a “right-sized” 20,000-square-foot facility. They sold their 46,000-square-foot building and purchased an existing vacant textile facility in Garland, Texas.

Through the project management of Frank Groenteman, senior business advisor, and the assistance of Eduardo Martinez, lean consultant and shingo facilitator, TMAC helped justify the new building and design the entire facility. First, Frank, Eduardo and the Classic Caps’ owners determined what processes and related equipment was going to move along with the relative space requirements. Once TMAC provided preliminary layouts to determine if the potential Garland building would be acceptable for Classic’s future business needs, the owners purchased the building. Frank and Eduardo, using AutoCAD and MS Excel, provided several variations of layouts and documentation of all the utilities requirements. There were a variety of machines, different processes, and utilities to be managed and Frank and Eduardo used their lean knowledge and techniques to optimize the production flows through out the embroidery room, sewing room and screen-printing operations. The entire factory is now functioning much more efficiently than the old building.