AUTEX Research Journal, Vol. 8, No4, December 2007 © AUTEXdem<strong>and</strong> to achieve a high customer service level <strong>and</strong> also keep stock at a desirable level. It oftentakes a long time from when <strong>the</strong> order is given to when <strong>the</strong> actual products are on <strong>the</strong> shelf <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>store. There are many steps from <strong>the</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t at which a decision is taken to place an order to delivery. Ifit is a <strong>production</strong> that takes place <strong>in</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r countries, often quota approvals, letters of credits, <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rdocumentation is necessary. Often <strong>the</strong> total time <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> manufactur<strong>in</strong>g process is long because of <strong>the</strong>traditional, batch-based <strong>production</strong> <strong>methods</strong> [15].The batch-based <strong>production</strong> <strong>methods</strong> are based on <strong>the</strong> fact that manufactur<strong>in</strong>g processes have to bebased on relatively large batches <strong>in</strong> order to be economic. However, complete garment technologywith computer aided design (CAD) <strong>and</strong> computer aided manufactur<strong>in</strong>g (CAM) makes it possible tomake much smaller batches, even sometimes down to batches of one separate item. Digital sales<strong>in</strong>formation is collected <strong>and</strong> shared with yarn suppliers <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> knitt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>production</strong> company <strong>in</strong> order toshorten <strong>the</strong> lead time <strong>and</strong> to m<strong>in</strong>imise time for replenishment to <strong>the</strong> shop. With shared digital<strong>in</strong>formation throughout <strong>the</strong> whole <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> it is possible to respond very quickly to customers'dem<strong>and</strong>s.5. ConclusionsThe ma<strong>in</strong> purpose of this paper has been to expla<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> give examples of how <strong>the</strong> flat knitt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>tegral<strong>and</strong> complete garment technology could be implemented <strong>in</strong> a fast fashion logistics system. Severalmanufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>methods</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>production</strong> of flat knitted garments are described <strong>and</strong> discussed, suchas: cut & sew, fully fashion, <strong>in</strong>tegral knitt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> complete garment. The advantages of completegarment <strong>production</strong> compared to traditional <strong>production</strong> <strong>methods</strong> such as cut & sew <strong>and</strong> fully fashionare, from a technical po<strong>in</strong>t of view, <strong>the</strong> sav<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> time-consum<strong>in</strong>g post-knit operations such ascutt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> sew<strong>in</strong>g. The o<strong>the</strong>r advantage is sav<strong>in</strong>g of material because <strong>the</strong> garments are ready madedirectly <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> knitt<strong>in</strong>g mach<strong>in</strong>e; thus no cut-loss is produced. The textile technology <strong>and</strong> <strong>production</strong>issues are taken <strong>in</strong>to consideration <strong>and</strong> implemented <strong>in</strong> a fast fashion logistics system. The <strong>in</strong>put <strong>in</strong><strong>the</strong> system is customer dem<strong>and</strong>s for fashion products. This dem<strong>and</strong> creates a range of constra<strong>in</strong>ts,such as quality, cost, time etc. In <strong>the</strong> transformation process dem<strong>and</strong> fulfilment is <strong>the</strong> key issue. Allparameters as quality, cost <strong>and</strong> time should all be <strong>in</strong> focus, but often factors such as delayed rawmaterial or wait<strong>in</strong>g time <strong>in</strong> transportation have a negative <strong>in</strong>fluence on <strong>the</strong> results of this process. kTheideal output from <strong>the</strong> system should be perfect products delivered at <strong>the</strong> right time <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> right place,completely fulfill<strong>in</strong>g customer dem<strong>and</strong>, but this is not always <strong>the</strong> case due to <strong>the</strong> problems describedabove.This paper shows that <strong>the</strong> Time to Market is <strong>the</strong> sum of seven different elements;t Design time,Production time <strong>and</strong> Transportation time, each of which elements consist of value add<strong>in</strong>g time <strong>and</strong>non-value add<strong>in</strong>g time. Design Time has also order<strong>in</strong>g time, <strong>the</strong> time it takes to h<strong>and</strong>le a new modelthrough design <strong>and</strong> pre-<strong>production</strong>. This order<strong>in</strong>g time is excluded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case of replenishment of anearlier designed <strong>and</strong> produced product. In that case <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation could move directly to <strong>production</strong><strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re is no need for design work or any pre-<strong>production</strong> of garments to see if <strong>the</strong> design <strong>and</strong> qualitycan be fulfilled.The real benefit of <strong>the</strong> complete garment technology, as discussed <strong>in</strong> this paper, comes when thistechnology is implemented <strong>in</strong> a fast fashion <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong>. This because <strong>in</strong> a fast fashion <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong>for knitted products, time to market for <strong>the</strong> products is essential. The complete garment technologymakes it possible to reduce time for <strong>production</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong>. Processes are removed <strong>and</strong> nonvalueadded time between processes is elim<strong>in</strong>ated. If <strong>the</strong> whole <strong>bus<strong>in</strong>ess</strong> system <strong>and</strong> <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> isdesigned to respond quickly to customer dem<strong>and</strong> for new fashion products, <strong>the</strong> complete garmenttechnology becomes be an important part of <strong>the</strong> system.Complete garment technology implemented <strong>in</strong> an effective logistics system could make <strong>the</strong> orderfulfilment lead times shorter. This could be done by design<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> <strong>bus<strong>in</strong>ess</strong> system <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> whole<strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> to customer dem<strong>and</strong> for fashion products at <strong>the</strong> right time. Many l<strong>in</strong>ks have to beadjusted <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> logistics cha<strong>in</strong>, from raw material to <strong>the</strong> when products are on <strong>the</strong> shelf <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> shop,ready for <strong>the</strong> customers. Manufactur<strong>in</strong>g lead time could also be reduced employ<strong>in</strong>g complete garmenttechnology, <strong>and</strong> toge<strong>the</strong>r with a strategy of postponement <strong>the</strong> effect could be a higher customerservice level <strong>and</strong> reduced lost sales. Postponement, for example postpon<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> dye<strong>in</strong>g of garmentsas late as possible to <strong>the</strong> POS, means that <strong>the</strong> risk of unsold products due to wrong colour is lowered.Mass customisation could also be ga<strong>in</strong>ed us<strong>in</strong>g this technology, due to smaller batch sizes <strong>and</strong> evenhttp://www.autexrj.org/No4-2007/0219.pdf 273
AUTEX Research Journal, Vol. 8, No4, December 2007 © AUTEX<strong>the</strong> <strong>production</strong> of s<strong>in</strong>gle garments. The technique could also work toge<strong>the</strong>r with o<strong>the</strong>r techniques, suchas pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g, to accomplish an effective <strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> for knitted products.References:1. Mowbray J. A Quest for Ultimate Knitwear. Knitt<strong>in</strong>g International 2002;109 (1289):22-24.2. Wilson, B. Systems: concepts, methodologies <strong>and</strong> applications. 2 nd ed. New York: John Wiley& Sons; 1990 p.10-21.3. Skyttner, L. General systems <strong>the</strong>ory, Ideas & Applications. S<strong>in</strong>gapore: World ScientificPublish<strong>in</strong>g; 2001 p.75-82.4. Hoover, W. Eloranta, E. Holmström, J. Huttunen, K. Manag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>-<strong>supply</strong> cha<strong>in</strong>. NewYork: John Wiley & Sons; 2001 p.7-37.5. Björnl<strong>and</strong>, D. Persson, G. Virum, H. Logistik för konkurrenskraft (Swedish). Malmö: Liber-Hermods; 1996 p.7-37.6. Christopher, M <strong>and</strong> Peck, H. Market<strong>in</strong>g Logistics. 2 nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-He<strong>in</strong>emann;1997 p.67-84.7. Armstrong, G. <strong>and</strong> Kotler, P. Pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of Market<strong>in</strong>g. 8:th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall;1999 p.151-157.8. Darnton, G. Darnton, M. Bus<strong>in</strong>ess process analysis. London: International ThomsonBus<strong>in</strong>essPress; 1997 p.178-195.9. Mattila H. Merch<strong>and</strong>is<strong>in</strong>g strategies <strong>and</strong> retail performance for seasonal fashion products. PhDDissertation. Lappeenranta University of Technology; 1999 p.48.10. Christopher, M. The Agile Supply Cha<strong>in</strong>: Compet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Volatile Markets. Industrial Market<strong>in</strong>gManagement 2000;29,(1):37-44.11. Fralix, M. T. From Mass Production to Mass Customization. Journal of Textile <strong>and</strong> ApparelTechnology <strong>and</strong> Management 2001;1 (2):1-7.12. Fralix, M. T. Explor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Digital Supply Cha<strong>in</strong>. Techexchange.com.http://www.techexchange.com/<strong>the</strong>library/explor<strong>in</strong>g.html; 2003.13. Graceful Design. Knitt<strong>in</strong>g International 2005;112 (1324):38-38.14. K<strong>in</strong>g, R. E. Hunter, N. A. Quick Response Beats Import<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Retail Sourc<strong>in</strong>g Analysis. Bobb<strong>in</strong>1997;38 (7):22-30.15. Christopher, M. Lowson, R. Peck, H. Creat<strong>in</strong>g Agile Supply Cha<strong>in</strong>s In <strong>the</strong> Fashion Industry.International Journal of Retail <strong>and</strong> Distribution Management 2004;32 (8):367-376.Editorial noteThis paper has been presented at PLAN, Research <strong>and</strong> Applied logistics Conference <strong>in</strong> Borås,Sweden, 22 August 2005.∇Δhttp://www.autexrj.org/No4-2007/0219.pdf 274
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