Apparel industry production systems

In the apparel industry, production orders tend to split into smaller orders with different product features in response to growing requests for product customization. In order to shorten product time-to-market, apparel manufacturers work hard in the direction of just-in-time production. In the apparel manufacturing process, the effectiveness of fabric-cutting schedule planning extensively influences downstream assembly operations, and thus, in turn, is critical to the overall system performance. However, the demand from downstream operation... 

The recycling of the waste in examples 1 and 2 above can be viewed as OLR when the textile waste is used as material in other product systems. When examples 1 and 2 are recycled for use within the apparel industry, this is CLR addressed in greater detail in Section 6.4. 

There has been considerable success with OLR in utilising the textile waste from apparel in other product systems, such as into building insulation. Similarly, in the specific case of PET bottles, the apparel industry has had success in integrating waste from another product system, the beverage industry, into textiles. 

Some commercial PPS systems only provide a platform for conducting PPS arrangements, but carmot automatically provide scientific and optimized solutions. PPS decisions in the apparel industry still rely heavily on production schedulers experience, intuition and assessment rather than a scientific and systematic approach. 

In the new world of ever-developing technology and techniques, organizations must consider how to deal with the issues of increased competition, rising customer expectations, and increase in product variety. This chapter will discuss about various production systems, production planning in the apparel industry, supply chain and inventory management and various tools to improve the productivity in the apparel industry. 

Berg et al. (1996) studied the differences in performance between two widely used production systems in the apparel industry (i.e., bundle and modular systems). They interviewed managers from different apparel companies and surveyed workers to understand their reaction towards the use of production systems. The result revealed that the modular system is the most beneficial to manufacturers in every aspect. 

At present, there is no universal care labelling system. In the United States, the Wool Products Labelling Act (1938), the Fur Products Labelling Act (1951), the Flammable Fabrics Act (1958) and Rule on Care LabeUing (1972) are in force. The JIS (Japan Industrial Standard) for care labelling came into force in 1962. Similarly, in Korea, the rule on Quality Labelling came into force in 1969, and the use of symbols for care labelling of apparel products was published in 1972. 

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