textile testing
The key to China's garment manufacturing growth-intelligence
by:GESTER Instruments
2021-08-24
The key feature of 'intelligent manufacturing' So what exactly is 'intelligent manufacturing'? Academia and the industry have various concepts and terms to interpret. Take the apparel industry as an example. Now we usually buy clothes in offline stores or e-commerce platforms. A shirt usually has 4-5 sizes. There are about 4 different colors, so a shirt can only have 20 options at most for customers to choose from. And manufacturers only need to schedule manufacturing plans, purchase raw materials and carry out production based on these preset options. In the era of intelligent manufacturing, customers will place orders directly to brand manufacturers through the Internet. Users only need to enter height, weight, and some physical characteristics to get the precise net body size. At the same time, customers can also make the most personalized choices for almost all configurations such as collar, sleeve, pocket, version, placket, embroidery, etc. according to their preferences. The order will be sent directly to the factory through ERP, and it will be produced and delivered to the user in a short time. At the same time, customers can use Internet tools and VR technology to 'try on' clothes that have not yet been produced in the digital world. Each node is visible, and customers can track the production situation at any time after placing an order. Not only that, the entire manufacturing process will no longer be done centrally by a single manufacturer, but will be done through the collaboration of decentralized upstream and downstream 'manufacturing alliances'. Combining the case, based on the commonality, we can roughly summarize some of the key features of intelligent manufacturing: 1, from large-scale mass production to small individual customized production (flexible production); 2, information transparency, rapid response (digital production capacity, Process visualization, process Internetization); 3. Transition from centralized production to remote collaborative production (decentralization). What about the final form? It's still unclear. After all, the development of intelligent manufacturing is a long-term, gradual process. But one thing is certain: the cornerstone of intelligent manufacturing is to build an industrial Internet on the basis of digitalization. The bigger you do, the faster you die? Around 2000, automated sewing machines, cutting machines, dyeing and printing and other automated equipment began to spread in factories, and production efficiency increased rapidly. With the opening up of China's foreign trade market, clothing factories live very well by doing 'large foreign trade orders'. Beginning in 2005, the development of PC software, office software and hardware equipment has gradually been completed. The factory has increasingly used IT solutions in the management process. Later, it has gradually combined with smart hanging, smart cutting, RFID and other hardware. The stories of the pioneers of the deep transformation of garment factories, such as the Saint Angelo, continue to this day. The economic recovery after the 2008 financial turmoil and the prosperity of domestic e-commerce have given survivors new opportunities: around 2013, the fast fashion apparel supply chain represented by the wholesale market ushered in a new prosperity. During the ten years from 2008 to 2018, many factories chanted 'transformationIt went directly to the road of 'piracy'. Sino-US trade war, clothing production returning to Europe, rising raw material prices, difficult employment, heavy taxation, environmental inspections... It is really difficult to be the boss of the apparel manufacturing industry under internal and external difficulties. Consumers are changing and pursuing personalized consumption expression. The mobile Internet has further shortened the distance between brand owners and consumers, leading to the development of clothing in the direction of 'fast iteration, small batches, and multiple styles'. 'It used to be normal for an order of tens of thousands of tens of thousands of pieces. Now, many of the original designer brands that are just starting out only make a dozen or dozens of pieces. This kind of order is not easy to take.' In the past, profit was made by scale. Factory, once the order volume drops, it will not be able to maintain a balance of payments. In this context, the flexible supply chain that has returned to small workshops and small unit production models has instead moved upstream. This has also given birth to the 'quick reaction revival' represented by the 'quick reaction factory' behind the Guangzhou Shisanhang wholesale stalls. . Guangzhou Thirteenth Line is adjacent to the largest fabric accessories market in Asia-Zhongda Fabric City, surrounded by a large number of 'quick-reverse factories'. The stalls are directly connected to these factories. From design, pattern making to production and delivery, an average of 3 It will be completed in days, no more than 10 days. Under this extreme supply chain, others cannot copy your money, and there is basically no inventory. This is the reason why the thirteenth line has a strong position in the Chinese apparel industry. Apparel supply chain wants to turn against the wind, intelligence is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed. The design and development of clothing is a highly collaborative work. A piece of clothing is often the crystallization of collective wisdom after countless overturns and re-starts. The cost of communication in this process is high. Relying on the PLM Ru0026D management system, Joniu Cloud Factory systemizes the design steps, pre-sets the approval personnel for each node, combines graphics and text, communicates online, and efficiently collaborates, which can flow directly to the procurement and production links. The MDF commodity planning system can connect retail data, planning data, and production schedules to form a closed loop, and truly achieve sales-based production. In terms of material management, through the MRP material management system, fast, intelligent (automatic) and accurate procurement can be realized, and the system can support a multi-material/refill BOM system.
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