SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION IN A PANDEMIC AND THE BENEFITS OF A DIGITAL WORKFLOW
IMAGE CREDIT: KORNIT DIGITAL
In the current climate, the challenges of supply chain uncertainty have forced many of us to both revisit and perhaps now move to reconfigure our supply base in order to protect against future exposure and business interruption.
But do we need to do more than just seek diversity? Do we not need to radically restructure our manufacturing processes?
As the world’s textile industry looks to resolve the current health challenges, and battle with supply chain disruption, these unprecedented events are going to force a radical reset.
Globally the world is united, and faces the same dilemma, and as history has shown, often we need an out-of-the-ordinary environment to force us to leave our comfort zones; we are all forced out of the comfortable “normal.”
A sustainable supply chain addresses a new textile paradigm and the future of production:
DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING technologies offer the supply chain reduced inventory and lean manufacturing. Is it time to think beyond the constraints of your existing production legacy and re-equip? IMAGE CREDIT: KORNIT DIGITAL
The current textile supply chain is both complex and global, with an extensive carbon footprint, but that doesn’t have to be the case. The Silk Roads of the past don’t address the needs of an eco-conscious generation, and so we need to re-establish new, carbon-efficient vendor chains and move towards sustainable supply. Building a future-safe supply chain will empower flexibility in uncertain times, and will become a critical factor in future pandemic business plans across all industries.
Manufacturers, regardless of location, need a new flexible toolbox, built to reverse the negative impact of channel disruption and equipped to flex and meet the demands of a new marketplace.
Is it time to think beyond the constraints of your existing production legacy and re-equip?
Digital technologies offer a suite of tools for retailers and manufacturers that harness and deliver the associated benefits of sustainable customised production—the new Digital Silk Road.
As the fashion industry labours to meet the requirements of a new generation of consumers and a demand for product diversity alongside sustainability, the traditional stock workflow is no longer relevant; it resides in the past. The current fashion cycle and its supply chain must adapt; it must reset and free itself from legacy production.
As an industry sector, fast fashion accounts for more than its fair share of the world’s pollution, ranking 2nd as a global polluter and consumer of the earth’s natural resources.
In a fast-paced world, we now demand instant supply, forcing many brands and retailers with complex supply chains to hold stock. However, overstocks are bad news for businesses large and small, and must be controlled and fine-tuned to meet demand. On the other hand, out-of-stocks are lost sales, so what’s the solution?
Fulfilment must be managed to secure sales and meet demand, and, importantly, retain the customer loyalty you have worked so hard to create. Customised production, and the benefits of a lean, efficient supply chain utilising digital technologies release the energy of on-demand production and free the supply chain from burdensome stock.
Real-time data drives “just-in-time” manufacturing and reduces inventory and risk:
The DIGITAL SMART FACTORY utilises a suite of technologies that facilitate “just-in-time” manufacturing. Driven by collaborative data from deep within the supply chain, the manufacturer has access to the technologies and the necessary information to provide flexible, efficient production and generate customised orders, at any scale, manufactured to meet client demand.
A digitised workflow delivers “real-time” information and allows both the retailer and the manufacturer to flex production to meet market demand and supply chain interruption. To do so it must be transparent and unite all stakeholders.
In the main, the textile industry has faced up to its accountabilities, and welcomes a new, positive era of change, and a generational swing towards sustainability. But to change the practices of the past and production process takes time, while both the industry and the consumer are impatient for change. The supply chain must also adapt to offer best practice and re-equip as required for sustainable supply to meet the industry’s requirements.
The most successful brands are those that offer intense diversity and flexible production, manufacturing in real time, using intelligent metrics, and to do so they operate utilising digital technologies. Utilising a digital workflow offers essential control and it reaps cash rewards, with the commercial benefits of efficient production.
The manufacturer must now adapt to a new workflow, one that can and will change the future of textile production, and in doing so, will deliver sustainable manufacturing.
The digital smart factory utilises a suite of technologies that facilitate “just-in-time” manufacturing. Driven by collaborative data from deep within the supply chain, the manufacturer has access to the technologies and the necessary information to provide flexible, efficient production and generate customised orders, at any scale, manufactured to meet client demand.
Carbon neutrality is a must for the supply chains of the future. Alongside the benefits of speed and ultimate flexibility, nearshore production also simplifies the value chain, and offers a reduced carbon footprint. Reduced inventory, ultimate control, and automatic stock regeneration now also reduce the requirement for carried stock, alongside the requirement for large-scale warehousing and, importantly, free redundant capital by taking back control of the supply chain.
Building digitised communication allows businesses to take control of the supply chain:
In a VIRTUAL, DIGITISED WORLD, web-to-print solutions offer an automated print workflow, with no human intervention or administration and represents the only true platform for sustainable production.
Cloud-based solutions support the industry’s growth within both physical retail stores and the virtual e-commerce marketplace, and are essential to all stakeholders as they offer real-time metrics that can accurately predict sales. The buyer is now electronic, placing orders into a production mainframe that’s purposely built for customised manufacturing to service accurate demand, on demand.
In a virtual, digitised world, web-to-print solutions offer an automated print workflow, with no human intervention for administration. Stocks, consumables, print orders, and shipping are automated, and importantly are only delivered into the production cycle when triggered by the sale—“print on demand,” by definition, delivered at speed to an online consumer. Third-party fulfilment offers a “hands-free” production process and meets the demands of the e-commerce marketplace.
As we move forward into a new era of consumer-driven transparency, the fashion industry and its supply base have the technology at their fingertips to deliver a sustainable solution and bring about change. The requirement for sustainable supply and the operational efficiencies of the digital workflow offer the fashion industry new entrepreneurial growth at any scale.
As the current climate now teaches us, we must restructure our supply chains and adapt to new environments, embrace digital disruption, and prepare our textile industry for a sustainable, digital future.
