Once the company has an order, it takes time before the balloon can be constructed. A dedicated team of designers must draw up plans and create a computer model. This can take a considerable amount of time, so the production team must be able to work fast to complete the project on time. The sewers cannot even begin until templates are made and cloth is cut. The cloth is even carefully inspected for defects before the cut panels make their way to the sewers. The artwork can be applied in various ways. Sometimes, the designs are dyed into the fabric and other times it is airbrushed or stuck on with adhesive. During this time, the basket, rigging, and burners are constructed in separate process, and then the final balloon comes together with the help of the Engineering Department. None of this would be possible without...

According to Steve Baty, Principal of Meld Studios and Vice President of IxDA, "Getting teams from different parts of an organization to work together effectively often comes down to a question of having some sense of shared enterprise." (Six, 2011) if the Purchasing Department did not have a sense of the time required to construct a balloon, the materials required in the process or the needs of the production staff, things would not move as smoothly. The materials to construct each balloon must be available at the exact moment they are needed, but the