Direct-to-Sew™ Pre-Sales FAQ

Here are many of the questions prospective customers ask about Direct-to-Sew as they consider installing it at their site. If you have technical questions that are not answered here, feel free to contact us directly. Questions about sales? Contact our sales associate.

What embroidery machines does Direct-to-Sew support?

Direct-to-Sew uses the Delta Industrial Sewing Network as its foundation and can deliver embroidery designs to most machine brands. The rule of thumb is, if the machine can receive a pattern download through a serial port from a standard serial device, or to a tape port from a standard tape device, then we can most likely download to it. Of course, with cooperating machine manufacturers, you have a fully integrated machine solution with data transfer capabilities far beyond a simple pattern download. However, on production floors where other production tracking methods have been implemented, a download-only interface to Delta ISN may be sufficient.

What monogram machines does Direct-to-Sew support?

Direct-to-Sew supports the 900XLC, M2000 and B2000 machine models via a fully integrated machine solution. See cooperating machine manufacturers for more information.

We get our monogram data in Excel spreadsheets. Can Direct-to-Sew be made to work with that as a data source?

Yes.

We get thousands of monogram orders a day via our order entry system. Can Direct-to-Sew handle that kind of volume?

Yes. At our larger Direct-to-Sew sites, during peak seasons Direct-to-Sew routinely processes anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 monogram orders a day.

What management reports are available from Direct-to-Sew

Direct-to-Sew collects a rich set of data from machines on our cooperating machine manufacturers list. That data can be presented either in the report set that ships with the standard system or in custom reports we create to your specifications. A smaller set of data is available from other machine types that are not fully integrated into Delta ISN.

Download the Sample Report Collection. The Sample Report Collection is contained in a self-extracting executable. Download the file, then run it from its location on disk.

We are a MAPS user. What advantages does Direct-to-Sew offer over our MAPS system?

The monogram machine support in Direct-to-Sew was originally developed in 1999 to replace MAPS at a customer site where they had simply outgrown the MAPS product. At the same time, the original developer of MAPS announced that they would be offering no further development on the product. Some of the improvements Direct-to-Sew offers over the original MAPS product are:

Direct-to-Sew is developed and implemented on modern 64-bit Windows platforms
The user interface is accessible from any Windows PC on the corporate LAN. You don't have to be at the server computer to run the system.
Direct-to-Sew eliminates thousands of feet of server to machine cabling, several computers and a wall of electrical isolation components by using a wired or wireless TCP/IP network
A bar code scanner is integrated at each machine on the network eliminating the separate daisy-chained bar code wand system formerly used by MAPS
Direct-to-Sew provides full support for all monogram job elements including 40 characters per line, 8 lines per monogram
Direct-to-Sew improves system usability by automating maintenance functions and simplifying management functions through a fully integrated user interface
New jobs can be imported into Direct-to-Sew without taking the network down
Jobs already built can be overwritten to integrate template changes
Direct-to-Sew offers many other advanced features including auto-kerning, integrated database maintenance tools, and others

We are a MAPS user. Can Direct-to-Sew be made to work with the same order entry interface that MAPS used?

Yes. Direct-to-Sew can completely replace your MAPS system without any change to the way the order entry system interface works.

How long does it take to implement Direct-to-Sew at a new site?

A Direct-to-Sew implementation is part off-the-shelf product and part custom programming to interface your order entry/input system. The custom programming part, which is included in the base price of the system, requires advance planning and cooperation between the customer and VeriStitch development staff. The following general timeline table should assist in planning ahead for Direct-to-Sew implementation. Your mileage may vary depending on prior VeriStitch staff commitments and hardware availability.

Event	Days ARO	Comments
Customer deposit received	0	Required to begin the implementation process
VeriStitch & customer specify order entry system interface	7	Requires cooperation between customer IT staff & VeriStitch to specify one of the following: 1. A fixed-length ASCII flat file record specification; or 2. A direct ODBC interface to the order entry system database
Customer provides VeriStitch with order entry system design sample	14	Required to develop the order entry system interface. For a batch file interface this will be a sample batch file export. For a direct database connection this will be a mock-up of the order entry system database in Microsoft SQL or similar open database format.
Optional: Customer specifies to VeriStitch a TCP/IP subnet address for the machine network	14	Required only if customer desires to route machine network over corporate LAN; otherwise VeriStitch implements its standard Class C private network using a 2nd NIC in server platform
VeriStitch has hardware delivered to customer site	60
Installation	75	VeriStitch or installing agent installs system
Training	75	VeriStitch or installing agent trains operating, management and technical personnel concurrent with installation visit
Final acceptance	75	VeriStitch or installing agent demonstrates basic system features concurrent with installation visit