FUTURE TRENDS IN SUPPLY MANAGEMENT TOWARDS IT

TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Globalization is forcing textile producers to use information technology. It applies

throughout the textile production cycle, from cotton, to yarns, to finished clothing. SCM is the
foundational IT system. SCM is the management of material and information as they travel
from suppliers to producer to retailer to consumer. It involves using information technology to
form strategic alliances among all participating companies in the supply chain. The top goal of
SCM is to speed up data interchange among companies, reduce inventory and generally serve
the customer more efficiently.
Information technology is the capability to electronically input process, store, and
output, transmit, and receive data and information. It plays a very important role in today's
business world. New technologies evolved in retailing are Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID), Smart Operating Solution Smart Ops, and Point of Sale (POS) etc. Today information
technology has become an integral part of the Garment Industry.
IT is not only important tools but essential for the doing the business. Where we need
real time data/ information we can't think anything without IT application. To name some uses
of IT in garment industry are CAD/CAM, ERP, Mailing, Voice chatting, Online FIT approval,
Semi-automatic and fully automatic sewing machines and other machineries etc. An ERP
covers all of the jobs done by various departments. ERPs are now become intra organization
as well as inter-organization. All imported purchasing is done through ERP systems and
recently many buyers pushed supplier to update operations on their EPR so that buyer can
access the status of their orders sitting in the country office every day.
Information technology in all its guises lies at the heart of much of the new thinking.
An explosion of capabilities in that area is now shaping patterns of development through the
1990s and into the 2000s. The application of these new technologies is having a profound social
impact, not only upon the total numbers and location of those employed in clothing
manufacture, but also upon the skills, training and management needs of organizations.
Today, textile companies employ many information technology solutions, including
supply chain management (SCM), material requirements planning (MRP), data warehousing,
e-commerce and e-tailing. The goal is to make information processing, order processing and
product distribution more efficient.
TECHNOLOGY USED IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY:
1. Lack of information on demand and supply aspects

It is hard to believe, but the biggest polluter after the oil industry in the world is Textile.
The next big thing to expect in the textile industry is the inclusion of technology Just In Time
(JIT) where after order is placed by a customer on screen via Augmented Reality the garments
would be created and trying a sample would be done for the same. This will provide several
options to the customer to pick from multiple prints/colors/embroideries without the garment
being manufactured in the first place thus, saving resources for the unsold apparel.

2. Omni-channel
Omni-channel is a new trend to market & sell the product, the new approach such as
visual trial rooms will soon be adopted in the retail sector. The discovery of big data will be
utilized to analyze and monitor customer purchasing habits, tracking customer’s location, and
an intimation SMS would be dropped if customers pass by near sites of retail stores.

APPARELS BY 2050

1) In the upcoming years, there will be the use of several unusual materials that are not
being in use today. This will be a revolution of the Textile Industry. For instance
substances such as sustainable polyester threads along with organic and environment-
friendly materials will be used for manufacturing the garments in fashion.

2) According to the Forrester survey in 6 countries, more than 20per cent of fashion
consumers were excellent with the smart sensors clipped to clothes while only 15per
cent were in favor of embedded technology in garments. In our nation, the wearable
technology will be available latest by 2050. This technology will help fashion lovers to
be able to pick &change the garment’s color/pattern as per your day’s needs and mood.
The technology will let the garment to switch the color according to the environment
or weather outside.
3) The fashion industry in the future will be more about the experience instead of
appearance. It will be a task for brand owner and key market players as consumers will
be more critical about the experience than mere looks. So, there will be a paradigm shift
from appearance to fashion with lifestyle solutions.
ROLE OF IT IN DAFFODIL CLOTHING
Excess inventory is considered as one of the common problem faced by the managers
which further results in poor sales, low price, less demand and all these finally leads to customer
dissatisfaction. The procurement process in DAFFODIL CLOTHING is extremely slow.
Thus the management needs to focus on demand and recognize consumption trends at the very
initial stage. Not having clarity about future leads to early stock out and overstock. They mainly
focus on global opportunity for trading clothes. They implemented the Software for trading
world trade.

1. ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING:

For maintaining higher efficiency and productivity along with the quality of end
product, it would be necessary to think of a solution which will help the organization right from
the purchase of raw material to the sell its final product. ERP solution provide effective
monitoring and control, accurate planning and scheduling of orders, better data predictions,
quick response to query and on-line detailed information of orders.

1.1 Benefits of ERP:

Management Employee Customer
Supplier benefit
benefit benefit benefit
Cost savings, Satisfaction in
Information in
improvement in working and Good services.
time about
savings. Good achieving goals Good quality at
material to be
customer with good team cheaper price.
provided.
relationships. work.

2. COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN:

Although most designers initially sketch designs by hand, a growing number also
translate these hand sketches to the computer. CAD allows designers to view designs of
clothing on virtual models and in various colors and shapes, thus saving time by requiring
fewer adjustments of prototypes and samples later.

3. ELECTRONIC DATA EXCHANGE

One method to enhance the communication of information between trading partners is
electronic data interchange (EDI). With EDI technology, business data communicated by
mail or fax can be transmitted electronically. This system
allows replacing paper documents with electronic documents as well as eliminating
the time delay associated with using mail services and paper handling.
Key Challenges in Adopting Information Technology to Improve the Efficiency of the
Supply Chain in the Organization.

The Indian textile industry is facing challenges in terms of govt. policies, fragmented
structure with the dominance of the small scale sector, rising interest rates and transaction costs,
foreign investments are not coming in as the overall factors influencing the industry are not
investment friendly, logistical disadvantages in terms of shipping costs and time pose serious
threats to its growth and supply chain integration. Supply Chain Management (SCM) involves
the way businesses interact with their suppliers and partners to obtain the necessary resources
and raw materials used to manufacture finished products to distribute to market.

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING - For maintaining higher efficiency and

productivity along with the quality of end product, it would be necessary to think of a solution
which will help the organization right from the purchase of raw material to the sell its final
product. ERP solution provide effective monitoring and control, accurate planning and
scheduling of orders, better data predictions, quick response to query and on-line detailed
information of orders.
CPFR - CPFR helps trading partners to forecast and replenish more effectively by identifying
any discrepancies that may occur between forecasts devised by the retailer, and those
developed by a supplier. If one company's forecast varies significantly from that of its trading
partner, a software application will trigger an alert and identify it as an 'exception', so that the
matter can be resolved by forecast analysts on both the retailer and supplier sides.

RFID - In the Textile & Apparel supply chain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
technology promises to offer significant benefits both in terms of operational efficiency and
more accurate tracking and tracing of goods. However many companies are still biding time,
mainly because of a lack of confidence in the investment profitability.
Companies operating in the Textile & Apparel industry can benefit from RFID in several ways:
better production management (e.g. work-in-progress monitoring), more precise inventory
management (e.g. product availability, running capital productivity), higher visibility, brand
protection and anti-counterfeiting, and eventually reduced thefts.
ADVANTAGES OF USING IT IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY:
1. Globalization
IT has not only brought the world closer together, but it has allowed the world's
economy to become a single interdependent system. This means that we can not only
share information quickly and efficiently, but we can also bring down barriers of
linguistic and geographic boundaries. The world has developed into a global village
due to the help of information technology allowing countries like Chile and Japan who
are not only separated by distance but also by language to shares ideas and information
with each other.
2. Communication
With the help of information technology, communication has also become cheaper,
quicker, and more efficient. We can now communicate with anyone around the globe
by simply text messaging them or sending them an email for an almost instantaneous
response. The internet has also opened up face to face direct communication from
different parts of the world thanks to the helps of video conferencing.
3. Cost effectiveness
Information technology has helped to computerize the business process thus
streamlining businesses to make them extremely cost effective money making
machines. This in turn increases productivity which ultimately gives rise to profits that
means better pay and less strenuous working conditions.