Automotive industry style

The automotive industry has placed increased pressures on OEM suppliers to improve their productivity, quality and cost of the polyurethane articles which they produce. Styling changes, complex designs and OEM productivity demands for automotive seats have necessitated the need to produce more open foam in all-water blown TDI- and... 

Showa Best Glove is global manufacturing powerhouse in the hand protection industry. With U.S, headquarters and extensive research and development operations in Menlo, Georgia, and manufacturing and sales operations in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Rim, the company manufactures more than 1,800 individual glove choices in a variety of styles for use primarily in the construction, industrial, automotive, healthcare, retail and commercial fishing industries. 

Guess how many different models of an automotive brand are introduced per year Will that be a couple of two- and four-door sedan models, a few cross-over models, a few SUV models, a few convertible models, and a couple of sports models with a few colors Now compare this with an apparel brand, which produces many product lines each with many styles in multiple colors/prints, in multiple sizes, for a number of seasons per year. In most situations the brand may also have different product lines for different markets with different price points. The number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) produced by an apparel brand per year cannot be meaningfiiUy compared to the SKUs developed by an automotive brand. Now if you think of the product-development (PD) efforts for these two industries, it is quite clear that the PD for an apparel brand is quite complex. The PD gets further complicated with the time pressure to meet market demand for fashion items. Therefore, it is important and beneficial to understand the apparel PD process for anyone interested in careers in the apparel industry. 

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