Fast-fashion product development

Product-development cycle time is the time between designer s concept and when the style is released for production. As the number of seasons increases, and as the diversity of most product lines expands, the need to shorten the time required to develop new products becomes more important. Companies with an efficient PD process may have cycle times in the 1- to 3-month range for fashion garments and in the three- to four-week range for basic garments (Senanayake and Little, 2001). However, fast-fashion companies today have PD cycle times that range from a few days to a few weeks. It is not only a PD measure but also a measure of merchandising excellence. 

Zara is one of world s most successful clothing manufacturers and retailers. They have achieved this leadership position through creating a value proposition around the idea of Fast Fashion . Almost uniquely they have developed supply chain processes that enable them to capture ideas and trends in the apparel market and to translate them into products in amazingly short lead times. Zara s target time to take an idea from design to store is between three and four weeks. 

Customers requirements, changing fashions and technological developments involve a shortening of product life cycles. So, the manufacturers turn to materials that allow fast and economic design and easy adaptation of the production equipment. 

A coolant channel is guided through the metal block in a serpentine fashion so that reactant and coolant flows are orthogonal [272]. A thermocouple measures the temperature at the product outlet. This microreactor was developed for the (very fast) fluorination reactions with elemental fluorine. Therefore, the surface of the microchannel was inactivated by exposure to the increasing concentration of fluorine in nitrogen. 

Our compilation of biologically/therapeutically relevant microbial-derived natural products given in Table 7.2 contains compounds that are under development or have already been marketed. One important question for a successful future remains what rationale could be used to guide the selection of specific microorganisms to furnish new chemical entities in a fast and economic fashion ... 

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