The Apparel Industry

Introduction

The Apparel industry had the highs in the eighties and again in the late nineties, which increased the competition in the industry. Sportswear is a company that performs the assembly operations and supplies to the apparel manufacturers without having to outsource work to outside of the continental Unites States. Profits and sales revenue of the company remain high even after facing the recession in the economy. The purpose of this memorandum is to discuss whether or not a sourcing manager from Foxtrot (Ms. Leslie Olivera) should purchase Sportswear, after the owner Mr. Charles Richards has just made her an offer.

Sportswear’s current process

Sportswear has distinguished itself by showing its ability to respond to clients’ requests for apparel in a timely fashion. Sportswear utilizes a job shop process, where specialized equipment performs specific tasks respectively and production steps are grouped into clusters. In the Sportswear all the women's products have the same assembly process and the time is decided by the company Foxtrot, whom its supplies. All Sportswear’s workers are all cross-trained in each of the functions of Sportswear’s production line/process. In the first segment, belt loops are attached to the garment via special equipment, which takes a total run time of 5 seconds. The next task after looping is pressing and serging the garment in which equipment for serging is capable to process six numbers of units in one minute. Only one worker performs these steps of looping, pressing and serging for each garment. A bundle is created after every five units have been through looping, pressing and serging processes, and the operator ensures that units are sort by pieces and color. Seamstresses then assemble the bundles and put the units through the button placement machines. One worker is designated to perform the button placement and buttonhole making steps. Lastly, pressing is done to the complete the units. Now that the units are complete, prices are attached and an examination is performed for quality checking by a single operator. Packing of the garments is in clear plastic coverings and blue plastic is used for defective products. These processes are continuous in which after completion of one job, next is performed.

Analysis

For Sportswear to handle the increase in orders both smartly and cheaply, it needs to employee more workers and maximize efficiency (Sasser, 1976). Sportswear’s current process is very reliant one operation being successive only when the prior operation is completed