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Conference Focus: Improving Visibility, Connectivity in Supply Chain
By Kathleen DesMarteau, Jordan K. Speer and Tracy Haisley, Apparel.
NOVEMBER 01, 2003
As apparel sourcing continues its global proliferation and the supply chain becomes more complex, some tried-and-true tenets for success remain the same: quality, efficiency, speed to market and competitive pricing.
This is the verdict of some leading industry suppliers who will participate this month in Tech Conference 2003. Each sponsor of the event reports it will offer up solutions — with a strong technological foundation — to help apparel businesses bring innovative goods to market while mastering these crucial business basics in a more complex global playing field.
This article, which is part two of Apparel's two-part preview to Tech Conference 2003, explores issues and opportunities in apparel manufacturing, sourcing, logistics and transportation. Part one of this preview, which appeared in the October issue and is available online at www.apparelmag.com, focused on solutions for design, development, IT and retailing.
The perspectives shared in this article are those of sponsors of Tech Conference 2003, which is co-produced by Apparel and [TC]2, a leading research, development and demonstration organization and producer of the SizeUSA national size survey.
Heightened focus on visibility.
Tech Conference sponsors interviewed for part one of our preview emphasized that effective communication is a vital component of strategies for streamlining design and development. The same can be said for manufacturing, sourcing, logistics and transportation. In these arenas, the word "communication" is almost synonymous with "visibility."
At the conference, FedEx will stress the benefits of using technology-based transportation solutions along with other types of supply chain systems to improve collaboration and communication, says Mark J. Colombo, vice president of strategic marketing for FedEx.
FedEx will demonstrate the capabilities of FedEx InSight, which allows apparel businesses to track shipment status from pickup to final delivery, online and in real time. No tracking numbers are necessary to utilize the system, which can provide a view of clearance delays on incoming international shipments, including the reason for the delay.
Colombo says he sees apparel manufacturing moving toward a "virtual manufacturing" model, in which the core competency of some parties in the "virtual chain" is keeping others in the chain informed of how physical pieces are moving or should be moving through it.
Dr. Kenneth Wang, founder of Alva Products and developer of the Alva Garment Visualization System (GVS), also points to a future with "virtual factories," or technical centers responsible for developing product and simplifying the instructions for production to terms and conditions achievable by manufacturers in developing countries.
Wang says new article numbering initiatives being incorporated by the European Article Numbering (EAN) organization and the Uniform Code Council (UCC) also will produce dramatic results in terms of supply chain visibility and tracking capabilities — from the retail selling floor to the factory to the fabric mill and vice versa.
John Mayer, director of sales for apparel and soft lines at Demand Management Inc., concurs with Wang on the significance of the Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN) and Global Location Number (GLN) initiatives. Mayer says he sees a renewed level of interest in vendor-managed inventory (VMI) programs and other types of collaboration between apparel vendors and retailers, and now with raw materials suppliers.
In early October, Demand Management announced that its store-level replenishment and point-of-sale (POS) analysis tool, Demand Solutions Stores, complies with all data structures for the GTIN and GLN initiatives. (See the "Press Center" of the Online Tech Showcase at www.apparelmag.com for more on this development.) As the firm's president and CEO Mike Campbell stated at the time of the announcement: "The impact of the Sunrise Initiative [GTIN] and GLN is enormous for CPGs, hard lines and apparel. If you want to start down the compliance road today, your company can be utilizing GTIN or GLN within a few weeks' implementation time."
Demand Management also is launching a Web-based version of its Demand Solutions demand planning and forecasting software in response to the need for global collaboration.
Web-based communication and commerce also are at the heart of the technology offered by QuestaWeb, a customs-certified provider of software for managing import clearance, including documentation, classification, compliance with Homeland Security and customs rules and the real-time monitoring of quotas, among other things. Vice President of Sales Wayne Slossberg explains that an apparel importer's global contractors could access the QuestaWeb solution via a Web browser to complete an online commercial invoice template and transportation documents, which in turn would automatically generate and transmit a shipping manifest. For importers who are accepting advance ship notices (ASNs) from contractors, QuestaWeb can accept the ASN and automatically use the ASN data to populate a commercial invoice. Contractors also can log into QuestaWeb to notify their customers of where shipments are in the delivery process. "They can control compliance and visibility," adds Leon Turetsky, CEO, QuestaWeb.
In addition to helping apparel companies ensure that their import documentation complies with government requirements, QuestaWeb's solution provides users with information designed to help them avoid placing production with factories that have been cited for illegal activity, such as transshipping. Another feature of QuestaWeb is its product database, which can house critical compliance and historical information related to firm's imports. This data can be useful if U.S. Customs questions the valuation or classification of shipments, even as late as five years after the shipment was imported, Slossberg says. "This is the ultimate time for [apparel and footwear firms] to take back control of their import/export profit," he emphasizes.
Making it easier to go global
Right up there with "communication" and "visibility," "connectivity" is another buzzword when it comes to apparel manufacturing, sourcing, logistics and transportation. Why all the buzz? It's because making things happen globally is a lot easier said than done, and you often need technology to make the connections much easier, Tech Conference sponsors say.
FedEx, for example, will discuss how apparel companies can more easily identify global shipping costs. Colombo says information-rich tools such as the firm's Global Trade Manager "take the complexity out of international shipping."
Global Trade Manager, available for free on FedEx's Web site, is designed to help small- to medium-sized businesses identify the documents needed for international shipping and estimate the duties and taxes. ...
For more information, please call (908) 233-2300
or visit http://www.questaweb.com
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