The Joy of Technology --- Automatic Marker Making For Free! ( July 15, 2008 )
Moving the factory to southern China (Dongguan) over 10 years ago, the garment factory owner, Mr Yeung, has experienced the rise and fall of the apparel industry in China. He has witnessed the transformation of the industry and seen profound impacts on productivity as a result of technological changes.
Since 1980s, China has been developing rapidly to become one of the world’s biggest clothing manufacture centres. After 20 years of tremendous growth, the industry found itself in a stage of consolidation, a trend that has begun in 2005 and is still continuing. In the foreseeable future, globalization is inevitably the major theme. With that, the issues confronting the industry are: free trade Vs protectionism, dumping Vs anti-dumping, cost inflation Vs value creation, competition Vs survival.
“Survival of the fittest†is the golden rule of the market economy, the garment industry is no exception. When the only certainty is change, the key to surviving the future is agility. Whether we like it or not, we have to live with smaller orders with multiple styles, rising expectation on quality standards, shorter production runs and dwindling product life cycles, etc. How can you cope without the aids of CAD/CAM technology? Automation with CAD/CAM systems, then, has become the way forward for many of the clothing manufacturers of modern China.
Mr Yeung’s factory specializes in the production of women’s fashion. Most orders come from overseas. Three seasons a year is normal. Revenue growth is steady, but due to global competitive pressure, some business has been taken away to Vietnam. That isn’t surprising, because wage level at Vietnam is just about one-forth of the Pearl River Delta Region.
To cope with the ever-increasing production costs and worldwide competition, Mr Yeung believes in technology, especially in applying automation technology to optimize workflow and production process.
Mr Yeung can still recall the scene when the company started deploying automation technology. That was 13 years ago, not long before the company was founded. The company bought its first PAD software on the suggestion of some overseas buyers. Back then, the pattern room technicians were a bit anxious as they had never been exposed to computer before. Thanks to PAD’s customized training, soon they started to get grip with the new tools. There was no steep learning curve. In about a month, they all become very proficient users.
“For us, good technology must be simple to use, and PAD is just like that!†said Mr Yeung.
In the following 10 or more years, Mr Yeung’s business has been growing from strength to strength and getter stronger year by year. It now employs a workforce of 1,000 plus. Meantime, PAD software has been upgraded from version 3.7 to the present version 4.8. From pattern making to grading, from made to measure customization to intelligent cloning, PAD has always been at the forefront of technology.
June 2008 saw another pleasant surprise from PAD. “ I got to know that a free service (www.marker-online.com) was introduced at PAD’s official website. I tried it just out of curiosity and did not really have any high expectation†Mr Yeung recalled, “ But it turned out to be a real technology breakthrough and a real productivity booster for our factory!â€
“June and July was actually one of our busiest seasons. All four pattern makers and two marker makers had been working round the work. Even frequent overtime won’t solve the problem. Marker-online came to our rescue, like a light at the end of the tunnel.â€
“We can now submit pattern files via Internet and in a couple of minutes, we get all that is expected in an email: mini marker diagram, efficiency report and complete marker files, all with no human intervention in the process.â€
“Our marker makers would perform a quality check, and perhaps make some simple changes, before passing the resulting marker file to the production department. Sometimes it was sent to another remote factory via email. The whole marker making process saves us 3 or 4 man-hours, fabric utilization also improves by 5 to 10%. And that’s also free! PAD really rocks!â€
When asked what suggestion he would like to make to marker-online. Mr Yeung said, “Can there be no limit to the trial period? The initial trial quota of 3,000 pattern pieces is simply far too less for practical purpose!â€
The question was answered the next day. Because Mr Yeung received a letter about reward scheme from marker-online and after reading it, he knew this free service would remain to be free as long as he keeps using it!
