Customization is virtually boundless on today’s fashion market and the end-customer more fickle than ever?before.?To?survive?in?this continually changing and fiercely competitive environment,?clothing brands and members of the supply chain network must rethink their relationships and?streamline production?processes.
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Outpace competitors with an agile supply chain??
Agile made-to-order production cycles?are enabling?fashion?companies?to respond more swiftly to trends and consumer demand.?Innovative new market entrants have already harnessed the power of automation and analytics to?more accurately forecast consumer demand and?achieve?significantly?shorter?turnaround cycles.?The good news is the?advantages?of just-in-time production—faster time to market, reduced levels of overstock and better management of small-batch production cycles—can benefit even major players and established brands.?
By?adopting a more agile supply chain,?mass-market players?can?become?responsive?enough to accelerate?their speed to market. This?enables?fashion companies to?minimize inventories?on a scale?broad?enough to?impact?cash flow.?A change in mindset is all it takes to base?procurement, production?and distribution?on customer demand. The?more challenging?part is executing a winning strategy to derive the most benefits from technology?and?analytics.??
To be?sure, manufacturing processes will not fundamentally change at the level of the garment factory shop floor.?Business core competencies remain intact?and?are?leveraged?differently to?readily?switch from one manufacturing mode to?another. This kind?of?agility?enables companies to?alternate?easily?between?small-batch customization?and?large mass-production runs.??
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The building blocks of an agile transformation plan
Once order processing and production management systems?have been?automated and?migrated to a cloud-based platform,?powerful analytics can be?applied to centrally plan?and execute?each production run.?The key to successful transformation?lies in?gradual?implementation. By effecting?change one?order?at a time,?business can?continue uninterrupted, maintaining the stability?and revenue?of?core?business?activities.?This?substantially?reduces the risks?inherent to?testing?both?new technologies?and new market offerings.??Through?careful?management, the right balance?can be struck?between process transformation and business continuity, preventing unnecessary disruption while gaining buy-in from stakeholders across the organization.??
An effective transition and implementation plan should leverage advanced analytics to entirely overhaul and streamline the?planning-and-production process. Because reduced lead-time is now a key driver of competitive advantage, fashion companies can further?capitalize on?the?shift toward pull sourcing?by?building the right capabilities?to?deploy?nearshoring and?onshoring?strategies. This?opens the way to?same-day production and next-day delivery.?Upstream development processes?can also be accelerated?by adopting virtual sampling?and?rapid prototyping.??
Once these cornerstones of agile production?have been laid,?fashion?companies can?benefit from?the efficiency and profitability of on-demand offers at will, without necessarily restructuring?their?business operations or redefining their business model.?The first step is embracing the on-demand production model.
