Fashion Incubator » Lean Manufacturing

Fashion Incubator » Lean Manufacturing http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Is mass customization in apparel possible? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:11:16 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10810 I've been seeing more and more mass customization type apparel companies and they have been mostly men's formal (shirts, suits, etc.). What are your thoughts on that? I have your book and have been reading your blog and I believe you have written about just-in-time manufacturing/custom manufacturing in years past. Now that technology is improving and costs of overseas manufacturing seem to be rising with some "hard line" products coming back to the US. What are your takes on "mass customization"? Could it be done with apparel? Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Sorry, that isn't funny but it was the first thought that came to mind. Yes it is possible within given parameters and I'll answer it in the context of a start up business option. Other than the obvious, there are two central issues with respect to Mass Customization -or MTM for Made to Measure (manufacturing)- that must be determined. The first is timeliness and the second is product diversity. With respect to timeliness, how quickly do you plan to ship to your customer? In a day, a week, a month, two months, more? There are no set criterion but much of the discussion of MTM seems to imply that delivery should be relatively fast. If long lead times (a month or more) aren't an issue, it is typical for MTM enterprises to have their production outsourced off shore. If you want to deliver more quickly, it will probably have to be domestic and you'll have to be the one doing it. If you're asking whether it is possible for you to do it cost effectively domestically, the answer is yes but again, there are a few hurdles that I'll get into further down.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/feed/ 6 Open tabs 3/8/11 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:25:27 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8848 seyed_alavi

Too often I don't share what I've been reading or finding across the web but several sites compel today's effort. That and I have too many tabs open in my browser. Typical. On the heels of yesterday's entry I found three textile glossaries courtesy of Textilesmithing, glossary one, glossary two and glossary three. There's a fourth but it's not loading for me. Textilesmithing is a newish blog featuring topics on surface design, weave, pattern and with a healthy smattering of stuff you should have known a long time ago. Such as, sharkskin suits are not made of sharkskin. Yes indeedy! I imagined they weren't made of shark skin but I didn't really know what they were made of and so now thanks to the internet, I can pretend I always did. Be careful though or you can waste a whole day there -speaking of the Lexus carbon fiber circular loom that amounts to nothing less than autie-porn. The photo above is Sayed Alavi’s Flying Carpet installation at the Sacramento Airport, again courtesy of this entry on Textilesmithing. If you follow Seth on twitter, you can pick up more tres cool stuff like this gizmodo story about a brief history of bulletproof fabric.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/feed/ 15 Pop quiz: Lean-ify this iPad case pt.2 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:10:06 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8739 gold_star_on_FI

We got some excellent responses to yesterday's challenge, I'm very pleased and appreciate the time you took to watch the video and record your responses. And here is your gold star! I should have started passing those out long ago. Now for analysis from your responses. Cherry wasn't first but she provided our only product assessment which was exactly the context we needed. She agrees the case is nicely made but said the elastic closure is losing recovery. She suggests a wider elastic, perhaps 1/2". Nearly everyone mentioned workplace set up, that equipment wasn't placed optimally for efficient flow. Paul mentioned the cause of this problem in an earlier entry saying

[...] what happens in real life is that as things change, are added, or removed over time, people just expand into the next available empty space rather than rearrange to keep the whole thing most efficient. It seems too disruptive to rearrange. So you end up with a really bad arrangement and materials are moved a long way from each step to the next, and you have to go through a major/expensive project, or keep on being inefficient.

Here is a summary of the specific items you mentioned:]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/feed/ 6 Pop quiz: Lean-ify this iPad case http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:04:22 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7298

Your challenge: watch this video and figure out however many ways you could think of to streamline production of these iPad cases made by DODOcase. It is neat to watch practiced people doing their jobs so smooth and neatly. That's evidence of the muscle memory of experienced craftsmen at work. The video was a companion to this blog post; the video at the top of the page is a song and dance about why the sponsor (an online software product called Shopify) is dandy. I'm not suggesting the product isn't great (I would love your opinion if you've used it), I only mention it so you can skip that video for the one I linked to in the first line. Then scroll down and read the feedback from the various manufacturer contestants who participated in the project. When each (respectively) were asked about their "Key manufacturing and marketing lessons learned", responses mostly focused on marketing rather than manufacturing. Pity.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/feed/ 7 Prevent mistakes with better sorting http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:25:53 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7901 garden cart kit that Mr. Fashion-Incubator bought. As you know, DIY construction from store bought kits can be an exercise in futility if not frustration but this garden cart kit was designed to minimize confusion in one ingenious way; namely through hardware sorting and organization:

]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/feed/ 7 Who sells the most at market -and why http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/who-sells-the-most-at-market-and-why/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/who-sells-the-most-at-market-and-why/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:38:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7508 California Apparel News newsletter contains ungated links to free content. Last Friday's edition had numerous articles about the recent MAGIC and satellite shows in Las Vegas. The one element that is increasingly common -practically a clamor now- based on interviews with attendees and exhibitors alike is that immediates are selling best. This isn't anything new, I've been saying immediates (meaning, product delivery within 4 weeks) are the singular advantage you have over everyone else but DEs, in their struggle to be as profitable as the big guys, are copying what they think is most profitable about those models when what they're really doing is copying the most obvious. This is a mistake. If the big outfits could, they'd try to be littler in terms of shortened delivery windows, smaller lots and higher prices. DEs are ideally suited to produce immediates; you can get more money for them because they are rare. Cutting to order prevents a stockpile of inventory diminishing the value of your product that you are forced to sell -and probably for less than you anticipated. Zara never has a sale, their inventory turns in two weeks or less. A lot of DEs are making up product in advance of orders. Unless they have a track record and proven distribution already, most of them go broke. At best, they bleed money until they get lucky but most don't. Get lucky that is. Making it is never a question of luck! Most DEs who adopt this model fail but their failure is invisible because they don't last long enough to serve as a warning to other startups. DEs only see the outliers that get lucky enough to peg the market just right which builds the expectation that if you only hit the trends, you can make it too. In this way, the rare performer becomes the norm that everyone tries to copy. Worse, DEs aspire to producing large lots. I can't tell you how many people say they have to make do with producing domestically until they get the numbers to go overseas when a different perspective could change their entire plan for the better.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/who-sells-the-most-at-market-and-why/feed/ 17 Do sewing operators refuse to change? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/do-sewing-operators-refuse-to-change/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/do-sewing-operators-refuse-to-change/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:54:01 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6984 her post last week that brought this issue to a head. I sent her some links of previous material and she agreed the subject deserved another airing. Regardless of whether you are producing in house with a traditional batching system or using a sewing contractor who is, this is about understanding work psychology, not a production system. Understanding the psychology of work dynamics can help you prevent or manage production sewing crises. Here's the context from her entry (snipped): It’s one thing to read about how lean manufacturing works, but it’s another to see it in action. Americas 21st had a cluster set up to make tote bags. I wanted to see what happened when something went wrong. Len Egan explained the operators came from one of his customers in the Atlanta area. None had previously worked together and their day-to-day job was not making tote bags. In other words, three operators familiar with sewing in a cluster, but not with each other, were making a product they hadn’t made before. I asked Len how transitions go when a cluster is first set up. I had expected him to explain that operators were resistant to change. Instead, he said that operators transition completely in 3-4 weeks and actually prefer the new system. Len said those most resistant to changing to the lean cluster system are supervisors. He said that under the batch system, supervisors run around putting out fires. They have to find ways to make things work when conditions aren’t optimal, which leads to a feeling of importance. Without them, work would stop. Under the lean system, supervisors are trained to watch how things are going, to look for weaknesses, and to find ways to overcome those weaknesses. While the supervisor still has a role to fill, some may perceive it as less important because they have fewer crises to solve.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/do-sewing-operators-refuse-to-change/feed/ 7 SPESA Trip Report: Denise Silveira, Point Clothing Co. http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-denise-silveira-point-clothing-co/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-denise-silveira-point-clothing-co/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:00:32 +0000 Guest Author http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6970 Point.Clothing, a manufacturer of business casual clothing for women at moderate to better price points. Her career began in fashion, she then transitioned into a career in online training for corporate clients. After 14 years of online training and finding it difficult to patch together the elusive business casual wardrobe, she came full circle to meet the styling and fashionable needs of professional women in the workforce. --------------------------- I went to SPESA to learn as much as I could about garment manufacturing tools and technology, and to meet other F-Iers. It was a great to meet everyone and I learned lots. I attended several seminars. The biggest take away for me was how to manage your business through effective communication and process which is facilitated by an effective business model, tools and data management. This certainly isn’t anything revolutionary—these are the things all organizations reckon with.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-denise-silveira-point-clothing-co/feed/ 1 SPESA: Lawson for Fashion http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:00:11 +0000 Stuart Friedberg http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6863 lawson fashion banner

I wasn't planning to look at software while at SPESA, but fell into a conversation with Marie-Pascale Authie at the Lawson booth. Lawson sells Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to a variety of industries with about 4,500 customers world-wide. "Fashion" is one of their target industries, with about 350 customers in this area, explaining why they were showing at SPESA. ERP software suites are targeted at companies whose operations are complicated enough to benefit from some paperwork automation. Usually, those companies are much larger than a DE operation, with hundreds or thousands of employees. However, that's not a rigid rule. Marie-Pascale indicated the smallest customer of Lawson for Fashion has 15 employees. And I want to focus on some specific features that would benefit even the smallest company engaged in just-in-time, make-to-order production with a stream of small orders. One caveat before jumping in deep: This is a description, not a review or a recommendation. I haven't used Lawson's suite nor do I know what their competition is like for the fashion industry. Looking over the Fashion-Incubator members' forum, I see references to

and I probably missed some. They all play in the ERP space, but have vastly differing functions, complexity, specialization to fashion, and prices. I am not competent to compare and contrast them.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/feed/ 1 SPESA: Trip report on machines and Lean from Lisa Blank http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-on-machines-and-lean-from-lisa-blank/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-on-machines-and-lean-from-lisa-blank/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:18:55 +0000 Guest Author http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6860 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-trip-report-on-machines-and-lean-from-lisa-blank/feed/ 5