Where does McVan manufacture their products ? All of McVan ’ s products are manufactured in the U . S . Originally McVan decided to manufacture everything under one roof so they brought in presses for the jewelry and a machine to cut over 100 crosses from one sheet of wood . They also have a paint room that allows them to paint , stain or seal wood pieces by hand and in large quantities using screened carts . They chose to manufacture in the U . S . to control the quality , to control the quantities being made and to react to supply demands in a timely fashion . They do bring in components from overseas , such as rosery beads from Italy and olive wood from the Middle East , but the manufacturing is done on-site .
Because McVan manufactures everything in the U . S ., they had no supply interruptions during the shortages surrounding COVID . “ COVID changed a lot for a lot of us in the industry ,” Danny explains . “ We all remember the curbside pickups . I remember going on Facebook and seeing store owners doing daily videos from their stores . They would all end with , ‘ We ’ ll bring it to your car .’ McVan took the time to develop a 5-star website to be used only by the stores . It allowed the stores to manage their account , pay their invoices and most importantly place orders without a face-to-face appointment because of the COVID effect . We took the time to make things better .”
According to Danny , McVan stocks enough raw materials so that even if shipping wood was delayed for six months , they have enough on the shelf to cut what is needed . And jewelry never goes under 100 of each item on hand . So orders are always fulfilled quickly and completely .
How does McVan manufacture jewelry ? According to Danny , manufacturing a piece of jewelry starts with fabricated sterling silver . The material is fed into a press and punched into the raw cross or metal . It is then hand finished and prepared for the plating process . There are two finishes — a cross in sterling and an attachment in gold . “ We routinely use 5-7 mills of real gold to slower prevent tarnishing ,” Danny shares . “ Some would say we use too much . But we like to think our jewelry would hold up for as long as it needs to and always look like the day it was bought .” McVan also uses real rhodium , not nickel , which is already enhanced against erosion to begin with , so products maintain their quality .
We like to think our jewelry would hold up for as long as it needs to and always look like the day it was bought
What ’ s an interesting fact about McVan that most people don ’ t know ? We are and have been family-owned since the start .
What has been a major achievement for McVan ? “ I think a major achievement has been diversifying the company to serve the Christian market , not just the Catholic market ,” Danny says . “ Every new catalog or flyer has additional items added to address that need .”
As they go forward , Danny says , “ We would like to have a store from any sector of the marketplace be able to pick up our catalog and find gifts for any needs they have .”
What is it like to work at McVan ? “ Working at McVan is like working with your brother , sister , mother or father . When you love your job , it ’ s not like you ’ re working at all ,” Danny says . “ Thursday lunches , Christmas party , performance bonuses and profit sharing — it ’ s so much fun coming in every day , I don ’ t feel like I ’ m working .” CRA
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