Madelaine Cornforth assess Connected Enterprise Software for the textile and apparel industry.
Connected Enterprise Software combines plant-level and enterprise networks, and securely connects people, processes and technologies. This makes these software systems integral in the textile and apparel industry, as seamless integration is desperately required to increase efficiency, sustainability and raise margins in a highly-pressurised manufacturing sector, full of many currently siloed technologies and processes.
Software – in particular enterprise software – is fundamental in connecting supply chains. It has the ability to optimise business operations by decreasing cycle times, increasing production quality and throughput, and manipulating data for machine learning and machine to machine (M2M) communication. Thus, delivering significant competitive advantages.
However, there aren’t many companies currently using this technology in the textile and apparel manufacturing industry. At least not yet. This could be due to the newness of the technology in the market, or the market’s lack of awareness of the technology, or it may even be that the market knows about this technology but doesn’t see the benefits or see that it is a right fit for its company at the moment. Too many manufacturers think that fully integrated, connected, digital production facilities are an investment to be made by the next generation, when in fact it is an investment to be made now.
Keith Nosbusch, chairman & CEO of Rockwell Automation, an American provider of industrial automation and information technology worth over US$6bn says: “The Connected Enterprise will drive more change in industrial operations in the next 10 years than in the past 50 years.” Connecting data from the factory floor and making it available throughout a company, allowing the company to keep up with the changes and developments in a number of manufacturing facilities, across the world. Sujeet Chand, senior vice president & CTO, also at Rockwell Automation, furthers this, saying that Connected Enterprise software allows companies to leverage information and communications technologies, (any technology that is acquiring data) to “implement a system that allows them to optimise their production and their manufacturing plants.”
This type of software not only monitors machinery but connects them to all facilities in a business and creates real-time abilities that enable predictive analytics, predictive maintenance and deeper understanding of the factory floor. Businesses then have the advantageous ability to turn the data and understanding they receive into growth opportunities, increasing performance and enhancing capabilities.
Technologies
There are many different Connected Enterprise software technologies and providers out there. Rockwell Automation, for example, has a technology it actually calls Connected Enterprise, with ThinManager at the core of its client management platform. According to Rockwell Automation, there are five key stages at the base of its Connected Enterprise Execution Model. The first is Assessment; evaluating all aspects of the existing IoT/IIoT structure and examining processes and workflows that are yet to be designed. Second, secure and upgrade; securely update IoT networks and control to modernised systems and deploy technology that will deliver secure, adaptable connectivity from operations to enterprise business systems. Thirdly, work data capital, which is says is to: “Define and organise available data in order to improve decision making [and] determine how to utilise data for improving business processes.” Analytics is the fourth stage, to provide operational benefits. The company says businesses must leverage predictive capabilities to improve planning and asset management, order execution as well as quality. And lastly, optimise and collaborate. This means that an environment needs to be created that drives continuous improvement while “improving collaboration within a site and across the enterprise, including suppliers and customers” and that securely increases “visibility and access to assets, processes and subject matter experts for improved operations.”
Fellow connected enterprise software provider SAP has designed a solution for ‘digital transformation’ by integrating its diverse applications vertically to create SAP S/4 HANA. The purpose of SAP S/4 HANA is to provide new capabilities that help extend the traditional value chain into digital space. This integrated software is an automated suite, evolved from an intelligent enterprise software to empower fashion companies to focus on customer centricity and strategy.
SAP’s solution integrates the company’s intelligent applications that include SAP Leonardo machine learning capabilities and predictive analytics. SAP Leonardo is primarily focused on intelligently connecting all elements of the supply chain, ie people, business and systems. The design of this structure means after the implementation, the vertically integrated software will provide several benefits, such as freeing resources from repetitive mundane tasks, real-time insight, and business context.
As reported by Sophie Darby, digital innovation analyst at WTiN, in the report ‘Software developments in the textile and apparel supply chain’, Pacific Textiles, a knitting specialist based in Hong Kong, has used SAP S/4 HANA as a foundation for its digital transformation to Industry 4.0. The objective was to deploy a secure core to simplify the vertically integrated supply chain, to provide insight into operations from shop floor to executive level, and to offer robustness for international expansion. The solution, provided by SAP, was to horizontally integrate functional areas and to vertically integrate the supply chain. After implementation of SAP S/4 HANA, Pacific Textiles introduced automation to several manual processes, attained unprecedented visibility of value flows in real time and reacted faster to customer requirements, particularly in collaborative product design, the report continues.
Another supplier of Connected Enterprise Software is CGS, headquartered in New York in the US. It provides business applications to support global enterprises, regional companies, and government agencies. BlueCherry, is the company’s software solution. It is an entire suite configured as one integrated system that reaches across the entire organisation, and the supply chain if required. Alternatively, there is an option to select the modules individually from the platform and these can be implemented in a step-by-step manner. The software is structured to include enterprise resource planning, omnichannel planning, product lifecycle management, manufacturing specialities, shop floor control, logistics, business-to-business e-commerce, finance, and electronic document interchange. BlueCherry has been already used by companies in the textile and apparel industry such as Aerosoles, Joseph Abboud, Delta Apparel, General Sportwear, Haggar, Tommy Bahama and Komar. Additionally, Reliable of Milwaukee, a family-owned apparel and consumer goods business, selected the BlueCherry enterprise suite of solutions in May of last year (2018). Its investment included Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and B2B ecommerce. The company said it outgrew its ERP system and was seeking an end-to-end, industry-specific solution.
As the apparel industry continues to evolve, Reliable recognised the need for agility and flexibility in order to meet the needs of its customers and to changing consumer demands. With a commitment to customer service, Reliable focused on ways to improve consumer value using analytical tools and building efficiencies through the use of operational best practices. The company also sought PLM and B2B ecommerce to enhance speed to market and transparency into its supply chain.
Lisa Riley, director – management information systems, Reliable of Milwaukee, said at the time of the investment: “BlueCherry is well-known in the industry and its end-to-end solution will provide us with visibility and actionable intelligence throughout the supply chain. BlueCherry’s suite of solutions are specifically designed for the apparel and footwear market, which made it an easy choice to support our current needs and future growth.”
According to WTiN’s report, claimed benefits of the BlueCherry system include: improved speed to market; greater process visibility and control; increased productivity; operational efficiency; reduced costs; and enhanced competitiveness.
In the end, becoming a connected enterprise allows organisations to begin their digitalisation journey on a small scale, with lower risk. Investments in the technology can be made in stages as needs arise and benefits are realised, adding different layers of value and efficiency as the digitalisation process spreads throughout the business.