Rawlinson’s knitwear is the UK’s largest school wear manufacturer. They recognised that they had to fight to keep up with their growth plans because resources were being badly allocated.
As a result of this the company were struggling to meet demand and quality on a number of products. They would jump in too quickly with products that didn’t sell or mis-calculate demand and they were often receiving complaints.
They realised that honing their resources at new product development was bad for their business and should instead consolidate the product and market they already had.
In 2009, the company then introduced an in- house project management scheme, called A.S.A.M (Advanced Skills for Advanced Materials), to try to get the company back on track and more successful.
Two course leaders took four of the team into hand and were instructed to scrutinise all available company data to make them understand the inefficiencies, weaknesses and waste in the company processes.
They had many discussions followed by practical and interactive exercises altered to fit the business.
On each product process they put a scoring system into practice. They were giving points out of ten across a six criteria, for the business strategy and costing. This allowed the team to make decisions to decide which products should or shouldn’t be taken on to the next stage and it also allowed them to assess the merits of each product.
“We were genuinely shocked at the results,” says Chris. “We had no idea that just doing these simple scoring exercises would instantly improve our buying strategy and give us a lot more clarity on a strategic level.”
A number of working models were refined, over the next few days, to reduce the waste. This included dual sourcing, which ensured a constant alternative supply. Also it included balance sourcing, which considered if the materials should be supplied off shore or domestically.
“We now use those technique’s every day,” says Chris. “If we’d done this sooner we wouldn’t have produced so many right-offs and we would have saved cash.”
The ASAM scheme has worked so successfully that it has won funding to start a new foundation degree at Blackburn College in product management and it is now being offered to business by the college.
NKSA- New York- is a national knitwear and sportswear company. They believe that their home country is where the profit is so they have decided to move retail back to the United States. They have been promised a higher net profit line.
Although the initial market is much higher for retailer’s imported knitwear compared to the items domestically purchased, bigger margins are not much higher on imported goods and profitability may favour domestic sourcing.
The managing director together with the management review team shall be responsible for selecting the quality objectives needed to meet the requirements of the organization and its products to ensure complete customer satisfaction. He/she must publish and communicate the findings throughout the organization.
The organization must ensure that the customers’ level of expectation is clearly understood by all personnel and that the products provided meets both the needs and expectations. The organization should adopt a business plan approach that cascades though the departments, team, with individual targets. Top management shall review the progress towards the targets, the processes needed to reach the targets and the resources during regular review meetings.
Top management ensures that all personnel in the organization understand their responsibilities and authority, and the interaction and interrelation of the processes within the organizational structure.
The company must continuously strive to provide quality products and services to enhance their customers’ long-term profitability and growth through understanding and anticipating their future needs. For example if a knitwear manufacturers is supplying their product to Marks and Spencers they must be first class quality as that is Marks and Spencers perception within the retail industry.
‘Serving the customer’ is the most important ingredient. As a customer focused organization all employees are committed to the development and strengthening of partnerships with internal and external customers and suppliers. Promises must be kept, any problems resolved, quick responses to their demands and reliability are paramount.
A safe and pleasant work environment can influence the motivation, satisfaction and performance of all the organizations personnel and potentional enhance visitors (e.g., buyers) perception of the organization.
Managers should designate suitably qualified personnel within the organization to be responsible for the training of employees internally. Such personnel shall monitor the progress of the employees under training and access the levels of competence.
My conclusion is that the above procedures drive profitability and form the basis of all successful knitwear manufacturers.
An Investigation into what
Drives profit In a Knitwear
Manufacturers
Sarah Jessica Kuczynski
0809530
5AD009 Professional Experience 1
5AD009 Professional Experience 1.
