Suzhou Tianyuan Garments, a major Chinese manufacturer supplying brands such as Adidas, FILA and The North Face, has delivered a telling case study in how digitalisation is reshaping apparel manufacturing economics. Following the rollout of GSDCost, Coats Digital’s method-time-cost optimisation system, the company reports sharp gains in productivity, cost accuracy and delivery performance.
The problem Tianyuan faced was common across the sector. Standard minute values (SMVs)—the backbone of costing and line balancing—were largely based on engineers’ experience, producing variations of up to 30% across production lines. New product process analysis took several days, slowing response times as orders became smaller, faster and more complex.
Digitisation changed the equation. By standardising motion analysis and embedding predetermined times across operations, Tianyuan lifted SMV accuracy to 98%, cut process analysis time from four days to one, and reduced sample development cycles by 25%. Cost-estimation accuracy rose from 75% to 95%, strengthening negotiation power with global brands.
The operational effects went beyond costing. Real-time production visibility improved on-time delivery to 96%, while material waste fell by around 2%—a modest figure individually, but significant at a scale of 26 million garments a year. For complex functional apparel, process breakdowns that once took days can now be completed in hours.
The broader implication is strategic. As wages rise and capacity shifts across Asia, competitiveness increasingly depends on process intelligence rather than low-cost labour. Tools such as GSDCost—now widely regarded as an international standard in sewn products—allow brands and suppliers to work from shared time benchmarks, enabling faster quoting, fact-based negotiation and more predictable margins.
For Tianyuan, digital transformation has become less a technology upgrade than a survival strategy. For the industry, it signals where advantage is migrating: from who can sew cheapest, to who can measure, plan and deliver most precisely.
