Page 72 - May-June-2017

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Reports On-demand apparel
manufacturing and Amazon
Digital technologies and advanced manufacturing
are transforming production, driving a new industrial
revolution known as Industry 4.0. On-demand costs.
manufacturing, sometimes called cloud
manufacturing, is a new business model that makes
it possible for vendors to provide support for in procurement and supply chain management
production, all the way from the initial concept
through final product delivery to the customer. This
is achieved using a cloud-based software platform
that makes it easy for developers to get instant
quotes, manage projects, and track inventory from
any browser, anytime. The advantages include
improved efficiency, greater revenue, and lower
On-demand manufacturing represents an evolution
thought, bringing together the best of previous
concepts, such as just-in-time manufacturing, which
focuses on streamlining operations, and lean
manufacturing principles, which seeks to drive waste
from processes. With product life cycles getting
shorter and industry trends driving mass
customization of products, on-demand
supply chain strategy. An on-demand manufacturing
manufacturing makes even more sense in today’s
system is designed to quickly produce clothing —
and other products — only after a customer order is
placed.
On-demand manufacturing responds to customers’
increasing demands for tailored products and faster
deliveries
Amazon, the e-commerce giant, has earned a patent
for an on-demand manufacturing system that would
create apparel – and potentially other products, too
– after an order has been placed. The patent was plurality of panels out from the textile sheet.” which means they can adjust their inventory to
filed on December 16, 2015 and awarded on April match trends as they happen, and it keeps them
18, 2017. The patent describes a hi-tech system Some of the key extracts form the 29-page patent from having to produce a large amount of stock in
which would quickly produce clothing — and are enlisted below. advance that then risks not selling and being
potentially other products such as footwear and • “Apparel manufacturing industry relies upon discounted.
accessories — only after an order is placed. The various resources, processes, and equipment to
company already has a tremendous apparel produce finished garments, accessories, footwear,
selection and has also started selling at least eight etc.”, with the process to manufacture a garment
of its own clothing brands, representing everything generally including “garment design, fabric
from kids’ clothes to women’s dresses to dress production and/or printing, and panel cutting and
shirts for men. sewing”.
• “Many aspects of apparel manufacturing
The system includes a textile printer, textile cutter processes are relatively time-consuming and require
and a computing device. According to the patent, the co-ordination of many different geographically
the computerized system could capture orders from dislocated suppliers, vendors, manufacturers, and products, including clothing or fabric products,
anywhere on the planet and then swiftly develop the retailers” accessories (e.g., scarfs, gloves, hats, bags, belts,
most efficient plan for producing and providing the • “By aggregating orders from various geographic etc.), footwear, bedding, curtains, towels, etc., in a
clothing. Factors that could go into determining the locations and co-ordinating apparel assembly wide variety of materials, including but not limited to
most efficient means of fulfilment could include processes on a large scale, the embodiments paper, plastic, leather, rubber, and other materials”.
geographic location, fabric type, assembly process provide new ways to increase efficiency in apparel • “Once various textile products are printed, cut and
and more. manufacturing.” assembled according to the orders, they can be
• “Using the panels cut out from the textile sheets, processed through a quality check, photographed
The abstract of the patent reads “Aspects of on the computing environment generates instructions for placement in an electronic commerce system,
demand apparel manufacturing are described. A for the assembly of the textile products defined in shipped to customers and/or stored in a materials
system of on demand apparel manufacturing the orders and coordinates an efficient assembly handling facility for order fulfillment”
includes a textile printer, textile cutter, and a process for the products” • “By aggregating orders from various geographic
computing device. The computing device is • “According to aspects of the embodiments, the locations and coordinating apparel assembly
configured to perform a process including computing environment generates and provides processes on a large scale, the embodiments
aggregating orders for products, organizing the assembly instructions to a textile assembly provide new ways to increase efficiency in apparel
orders according to a productivity factor, and production line. Based on the assembly instructions, manufacturing.”
arranging panels for products in the orders into an the textile assembly production line directs the
aggregated textile panel template. Arranging the panels to various sewing stations, for example, for If Amazon is able to get on-demand manufacturing
panels can include aligning the panels among each assembly.” up and running, it could be a powerful weapon in its
other to reduce scrap in a textile sheet or orienting • “Once various textile products are printed, cut, and bid to become an apparel powerhouse. Goldman
the panels with a thread, weave, nap, or knit pattern assembled according to the orders, they can be Sachs charted the correlation between supply-chain
in the textile sheet, for example. The process can processed through a quality check, photographed lead times and like-for-like (LFL) sales growth, and
further include instructing the textile printer to print a for placement in an electronic commerce system, the results show just how much speed matters. It
plurality of panels for the products on the textile shipped to customers, and/or stored in a materials allows brands to respond to the market quickly,
sheet based on the aggregated textile panel handling facility for order fulfilment.”
template, and instructing the textile cutter to cut the • “Applied to the manufacture of a wide array of