How can automation help in apparel manufacturing supply chain management?

Effective supply chain management is essential for businesses of all types, including apparel manufacturing. This article largely focuses on how automation can help in apparel manufacturing supply chain management, including expenses and increasing production speed. 

Smart and systematic supply chain management is vital in a competitive, fast-paced industry like apparel. Proper management of the manufacturing processes in the apparel industry especially tends to be the driving force behind a successful fashion season and majorly impacts the ability of a brand to pivot to the latest styles quickly. As the industry deals with high consumer demands and short product lifecycles, a technology driven, robust supply chain management system in the apparel industry is the need of the hour. Apparel manufacturers have to create fibres, textiles, and finished garments, and make sure that all these processes are carried out seamlessly. 

Using automation 

Automation has enabled supply chain operations within apparel manufacturing to perform tasks with minimal human interaction or intervention. In the traditional supply chain system, all the phases acted as autonomous processes that did not have adequate visibility into the other segments of the chain. However, with automation, the apparel manufacturing supply chain can be streamlined from end-to-end, making it simpler for all different pieces of the chain to be managed in tandem. Good supply chain automation software shall provide real-time traceability for discerning supplies, materials, and finished goods at every critical point of the apparel production process in the factory. 

Reduced costs

Automation helps increase productivity and efficiency at a factory, while reducing costs over time. Firstly, manufacturers are able to get more out of their existing workforce by automating certain tasks. This allows them to increase their production volume without having to increase the labour expenses beyond what they have in place already. 

Secondly, with automation, manufacturers can reduce human errors in the discerning supply chain processes. Lesser mistakes imply fewer scrapped products, as well as lesser waste in the system. The time spent on costly rework will majorly go down as the technology is used to automate supply chains in apparel manufacturing, and allow the employees to dedicate their time and efforts to more important value-added tasks.

Increased speed

Apart from reducing expenses, automation can actually speed up almost every phase of the supply chain process. Machine and production like software can be used to manufacture goods at high speed by predicting bottlenecks and streamlining operations. It facilitates a leaner process which ultimately increases the production efficiency. 

PO status and supply availability

With supply chain automation software, it becomes easy to enable check-points in every production process. This allows employees to prevent materials from getting lost and confirm if the materials are completed or on track. Maintaining such a system offers the assurance of to-end traceability of all purchase orders (POs), in order to steer clear of supply shortages and under-shipment to the clients. In addition you can also use our automated warehouse management system software tool.

Wrapping up 

Automation can have a major impact that has urgency and complexity, and apparel manufacturing supply chain management has both. A supply chain management system involves a number of moving parts, both outside and inside an organization, while high customer demand increases the pressure on the manufacturing process. Supply chain automation helps apparel manufacturers across multiple dimensions, starting from reducing labour and capital expenses to speeding up delivery times. Ultimately, it can play a major role in boosting the competitive advantage of apparel manufacturing.