Lean Operation and Supply Chain Management Textile Industry

Lean Operation and Supply Chain c atomic number 18 Textile Indus raiseThere is an increasing concern on slant motion and provide twine management in the textile and fit industry which has changed signifi brush asidetly oer last decades, due to global sourcing and price competition. One of the main reason for the interest in tack string management ca customd by apparel industrys unique characteristics, such as desist dash and short increase lifecycle. At present, lean exe strokeion and fork up chain management played an essential role in textile and apparel. This essay illustrates how an apparel alliance, Zara, achieved a tremendous success by hold in reward of the practice of lean operation and impart chain. Lean operation mainly localizees on eliminating waste and minimizing the time amid a clients beau monde and deli real. Lean conception is a much faster, better and less-expensive way of blend in the right done at the right place. It not solitary(preno minal) attempts to head off material waste, but also the reduce time in say to enhance efficiency and improve processes. In another(prenominal)wise word, Lean operation all last(predicate)ows Zara to get low hail good and short lead clock over its competitors.2.Zaras operation management practiceZara demonstrates clear expediencys over its rivals by lean operations. Zara applies the latest software application and unique business strategies to reckon that its over exclusively capabilities are developed to their full potential. This leads Zaras business procedures performing to a greater extent(prenominal) cost-effectively throughout all levels of the business. This allows Zara to not lonesome(prenominal) update all relevant schooling, but also monitor and evaluate information such as sales, returns or pricing. These enhancements mean that efficiency is improved in all aspects of the supply chain. sales stop be precisely monitored at POS terminals crossways all st ores allows Zara to recognize when necessary strategic decisions need to be light upon in relation to supply and demand. Such communication between stores and other levels of the supply chain .This in turn makes sure that the alignment between the demand at store level and the supply at its home plate is optimal. Therefore stock control is more precise shipment and replenishment is more efficacious and fiating time is minimal.Zaras success is partly reckon on such lean operation and effective communication from customer to store manager, from retail sector to endeavor section and from outpution to statistical distribution. it takes advantage of lean operation in order to take control of most every aspect of shape, marting, harvest-homeion, retailing and distribution. A constant cooperation throughout every step of Zaras supply chain provides belligerent advantages to Zaras fast fashion strategy, information flow transfer among customers, store managers, commercialisei ng employee ,designers, production employee, warehouse managers and distributors managers, and so on. Zara has make significantly efforts to ensure individually progress is very efficient and information flow transfer easier to facilitate operational procedures, mathematical process assessment, and the localization of every store and office layouts. It shows that operation management is one of study activities for Zara to support its fast fashion system. it is effective solution to connect all of Zaras operations worldwide network and automating processes. this lean practices is entirely compatible to Zaras supply chain. Zara use such system to differ substantially from its competitors. Zara invests on incite lean pratices. To keep up with fast reaction to business adjectival changes, supply chain management give probably ensure flexibility and quick response.2.1 Lean operation used in design progessToday, many an(prenominal) people still take a narrow view of lean opeario n, they view lean operation as cost reduction, mainly in terms of the costs they can save. Cost control is definitely an important part of lean operation. After all, if your rivirals can produce their products at a much lower cost, they could easily take over the market. However, roughly yen company view lean operation as their marketing fancy and adding judge for their customers. For instance, Zaras design involves in many efficient lean practices which only design products the customer demand. All processes performed just for the sake of creating customers Value. The lean manufacturer minimizes resources that are not only raw materials but also hands and time. The lean criteria is that all activities, movement, resources and other input convert into final product efficiently. Zara has applied such lean criteria successfully. Product evolution is constantly on the job(p) in order to adapt to refreshed fashion trends . Designers and managers attend postgraduate-fashion fai rs and exhibitions to get fashion information and then convert the latest fashion trends of the lenify into their designs. Other sources of design inspiration come from TV, Internet, film content or trend spotters. product development squads focus on venues such as university campuses and clubs around the world to capture fashion trends and customer preferences. Zaras product development teams have frequent dialogue via their internal IT system. Zara gave significant autonomy to each store manager in deciding the quantity of product need by each store. Moreover, the store manager is qualified to decide which product to display in their stores and which product is to be sold at a reduced price. The managers responsibility is to make these decision based on market research and sales trends. Moreover, by employing young and fashionable member of lag ensures that employees also contribute by helping to report the sales analysis, the product life cycles, and the store trends to the designers.There are specialized teams in military headquarters to analyze feed maskings and information from each store, then design and produce their products. These sales analyses allow the designers to develop the right products to meet consumer Demand.Design team issues up to approximately 12,000 vernal design styles per year. Such a design concept apparently depends on the regular creation of new design. For example, Zaras designer team came up with approximately 40,000 new designs per year, from which only slightly more than one-quarter of them for production. Zara ofttimes follows the fashion trends of the high-fashion houses and erects similar products at much lower prices by development less expensive fabric. It also attempts to offer more colors and big range of sizes to meet the need of consumers. After a prototype of new design was selected, a computer-aided design system is used to refine colors and textures.Limited number of new items were produced and presented in authentic stores for a campaign period and large volumes of the product are produced only if customers reaction is positive. As a consequence, failure rates on new products is only 1% which is less than the average rate of 10% of other fashion retailers.2.2 Lean ManufactureIn fashion industry, the demand changes very fast due to new fashion trends and a volatile market situation. This demand is unpredictable and could vary and change completely in a short time, creating high difficulties for supply chain. To establish a lean supply chain is one crucial way for textile and apperal retailing company to enhance its performance and to dupe hawkish advantages. Zara has adopted lean manufacturing and combine this with practices in supply chain management for fashion retailing. In some extend, the lean manufacturing and supply chain management have become an habitual solution in the apparel and textile industry.Zara has been able to obtain magnificent success due to its lean man ufacturing by vertical desegregation and fast fashion business strategies which provide Zara with a competitive advantage over traditional fashion retailers in the industry. Generally speaking, apparel retailers always try to keep lower costs by outsourcing production to developing countries where the terminal labor could reduce its manufacture cost. On the other hand, Zaras underling retailing chain adopted a successful diverse manner of doing business through working through the whole value chain by in-house design, production, distribution and retailing. Highly capital intensity and vertical integration is a distinctive feature of Zaras business model.From the upstream value chain, a subsidiary of Zara company, Comdietel, funnels fabric and other input supplied by outer suppliers. More than half of the fabric was undyed which provide maximum flexibility to produce in-season clothes. Comdietel is able to dye and process gray fabric into certain pattern within only one week to meet the indispensability of downstream value chain.Zara has 20 fully owned manufacture factories across the Europe. These factories use capital intensive production processes and provide cut coiffure and semi-manufactured products to approximately 500 in-house workshops. The relevant cutting machines and other systems produce semi-manufactured items and cut garments which will be transited directly into workshops. The progress looks rigmarole, but it is quite efficient because bar codes track the cut pieces through the every production steps. Workshops are located in labor-intensive areas across Europe such as Spain and northern Portugal. These workshops manufacture clothes in small scale to offer specialization in product type. The sewn clothes were sent back from these workshops to various product line under different brands. The aggregate will inspect, iron and fold before sending finished garment to distribution center.The secret of Zaras success is that vertical integratio n leads to short unconnected times and great flexibility. By implementing in-house production, zara has obtained high level of variety, quantity and absolute frequency of new styled clothes. Zara adopts market orientation by reducing lead-times and increasing flexibility. Zara is able to upgrade products in its stores within 10 to 15 days from design to stores. Vertical integration decreased Zaras stock to a stripped level and reduced fashion risk. In the mean time, providing small measure of products in a great variety of styles rendered Zara shorter lead times and high level flexibility. As a consequence of offering fewer measuring stick of product more often, Zara obtains larger percentages of the full price due to in-season administer and thus achieve higher net margins on sales.By cerebrate on shorter response times to fashion trends and keeping up with fashion. Zara made efforts to make sure that its stores are able to offer latest fashion items that consumers desired at a given time. Zara can move from overture up a design to having clothes in its stores within 2 weeks. Short lead times is Zara one of the most important competitive advantages over its competitors. When Zaras retail stores provide consumer with latest fashion items and gain huge amount of sales, its competitors have still struggled to catch up. In comparison, HMs lead time is more than 20 days. Traditional retailers use 4-6 months .2.3 DistributionExcellent supply chain management mainly focus on the understanding and balancing three key dimensions of flexibility, inventory and cost. Zara is obvious example for it by managing these trade-offs efficiently. Zaras supply chains has improved business performance and drive competitive advantage. Improving supply chain management is considered as its thebusiness model which resulted in rapid growth and profitability.A more systematic approach to inventory distribution is another feature of Zara. distributively retail chain has its ow n centralized distribution system. Distribution center is located in Arteixo and small satellite centers across the world. In order to keep its stores refreshed with new merchandise every two weeks, the warehouses of Zara is just now a place to transfer merchandise rather than store them. down the stairs Indetexs distribution system, most of merchandise stayed at the distribution centers for only few hours. Products are inspected and shipped immediately in distribution center. Store managers can check lists of items available to be shipped to their stores. Based on their store inventories, they can request quantities and type of products. However, Zaras international expansion required constant adjustment on distribution. Zara schedules the shipment by time zone to make sure distribute effectively. Zara uses this method to gain a competitive advantage by minimizing the lead times.3.ConclusionsZara is experiencing significant growth and has great opportunity to exsert that growth by its efficient lean practice in design and manufacturing process and effective supply chain management that is completely contrary to the rest of the clothing industry Zara has possess a competitive advantage for itself in the sense of low prices and quick cycle times, introducing new fashions. For Zara, supply chain management is a strategic differentiator that leads to a competitive edge. Supply chain management is more than a new induce for logistic. Lean operation is not just concerned about cost control, Zara views its lean operation and supply chain as key strategy of its business models. The case study on Zara