The apparel industry is one of the evergreen sectors in the world. According to official research, the global apparel market is expected to surpass $652 billion in 2023. It is projected to generate a revenue of over 1.7 trillion dollars in the year 2023. Though the sector is constantly growing, it brings many challenges for business persons in terms of managing inventories and ordering processes. There, ERP for apparel industry lends a helping hand!
It is way more difficult than before to mark your presence in a thriving apparel business due to increasing competition. If you want to make your apparel brand the first choice for customers, you need to get the assistance of evolving technology. You can opt for a robust ERP like SAP Business One solution to get a competitive edge and streamline various processes in your apparel entERPrise.
In this blog, we are going to discuss the scope and benefits of ERP solutions for the apparel industry. Let’s start from scratch.
Why do you need an ERP for the apparel industry and Its advantages
An apparel industry consists of many departments including production planning, CAD, merchandising, accounting, fabric, sampling, production, quality assurance, and HR department. Also, you need to maintain the warehouse and inventory for managing the supply chain effectively. For a business person or an entrepreneur, it is quite a task to streamline all the processes across different divisions and simplify complexities.
Here is an example. A seller who owns a warehouse or uses a 3PL requires robust inventory control and management. It is not sufficient these days to know that all black trousers are in aisle 15 when tens of styles and sizes are available in different shades of black! In this scenario, managers should exactly know what is available in the warehouse and where is it in real time. Here, a seller can count upon ERP software for the apparel industry.
Most apparel industry owners tend to establish separate systems for different departments. However, this can not only kill productive time but also remains expensive. It is not viable for setting up a separate system for accounting and another system for order management. What if you want to expand your business and open a new franchisee or branch in a different region? This is highly cumbersome, and therefore, it is imperative to have a single solution.
An ERP for the apparel industry can serve this objective effectively. Here are the top business benefits of ERP solutions for the apparel industry.
Streamlined Operations
One of the biggest challenges for the apparel industry is to manage raw materials effectively. A feature-rich ERP software like SAP Business One can help you address this challenge by giving real-time information on different aspects like labeling, packaging, printing, and sewing to streamline manufacturing processes.
Hassle-free Payments and Receipts
Just like other industries, the apparel industry also involves multiple payments and related complexities. When it comes to managing multiple customers or preparing many orders at once, it is cumbersome for the account department to produce varieties of bills and receipts quickly. A customized ERP system can create a multi-rate pricing list with prefixed discount to
Reduced Operational Costs
Proper planning and execution can save money for your apparel company. ERP software can remove unnecessary human effort by bringing automation and streamlining processes. It also makes it possible to reduce the risks associated with human errors while standardizing functions like inventory control and audits.
Real-time Reporting
This is one of the most remarkable benefits of ERP solutions for the apparel industry. The cloud-based ERP system offers high visibility into sensitive information and analyzes the data to show the reports in the real-time. Sales and marketing executives of your apparel industry find this feature highly useful for expanding business.
Better Planning for Production
An ERP for the apparel industry is designed to enhance production planning. You can manage the supply chain more effectively and get complete control over the production. An ERP solution can assist you to keep all the departments on the same page for better coordination and planning for production process and other activities.
Improved Inventory Management
Customized ERP software is useful in handling inventory by arranging products into different size, color, design, and vendor availability. Thanks to the ERP solution, you can dynamically handle the stock activities and ensure that stakeholders or customers can receive the right product on time.
Increase in Sales
A feature-rich ERP system for the apparel industry enables users to track the customer’s information including frequency and transactions. This data can enable the apparel industry’s owner to understand garment trends and people’s interests. Also, an ERP system is useful to handle loyalty programs and promotional offers. All these aspects contribute to increase in sales.
What are the Key Operations in an Apparel Company?
The apparel industry is full of various activities. Here are some of the top sections of an apparel company that helps it run various processes seamlessly.
Production Planning Department
Once the sample is approved and the order is confirmed, this department schedules a pre production meeting with heads of other departments. Here, they plan order quantity, plan cut date, and operation breakdown etc. on the basis of the order size.
CAD (Computer Aided Designs) Department
It collects various inputs including fabric details, pattern, tech pack, etc. and come up with the report on output design as well consumption of material per garment.
Merchandising Department
It gets the data related to the buyer’s interest and likings to make things as expected by customers. It involves planning, developing, and dispatching the order to the buyer.
Accounts Department
It acts as a lifeline for the apparel industry. It manages the letter of credit, invoices, and receipts while preparing financial reports and managing expenses.
Fabric Inspection Department
It analyzes fabric defects using variour methods and protocols. Usually, 4-point inspection methods and 10-point inspection methods are in practice for assessing the quality of fabric.
Production Department
We can consider it as a center of the apparel industry. The production departement is the largest unit in the industry and it strives to achieve the maximum productivity with minimum wastage to meet the deadline.
Maintenance Unit
This unit ensures zero breakdown by practicing preventive maintenance. This unit attempts to reduce downtime and increase the equipment’s lifecycle.
Quality Assurance Department
It is aimed at maintaining and controlling the quality. It divides the quality assurance task into four different stages- pre-inspection, inline inspection, end line inspection, and final inspection.
HR Department
It recruits new employees as per the requirements of different departments. They look after employee engagement, salary, and other policies.
Apart from these departments, the apparel industry has a separate fabric department, design department, and industrial engineering department for improving productivity and quality.
How ERP can help apparel manufacturers save time and money
ERP for the apparel industry can save a significant amount of time and money for textile and garment manufacturers. Features like real-time tracking and reporting of resources can help to reduce the costs. The ERP system enables the apparel industry to make better planning and thereby reduce administrative costs while improving business process management.
ERP solutions like SAP Business One have inventory management features along with the supply chain management functionality. It assists manufacturers to fulfill purchase orders quickly and assign tasks to the most suitable resources. It helps the industry reduce errors and avoid manual repetitive tasks that save a lot of time.
Benefit of implementing SAP Business One for the apparel industry & How can you overcome the challenges of the apparel industry
SAP Business One is one of the most preferred ERP solutions for core business sectors including manufacturing, retail, chemical, healthcare, and apparel or fashion. It has different modules like production, operations, inventory, CRM, analytics, and finance to meet the typical challenges of the apparel industry.
Here are the five ways SAP Business One solution benefits the apparel industry and assists it to overcome various challenges.
Effective Supply Chain
Most apparel industries have customers spread globally, and therefore, they need to manage the supply chain more effectively without compromising on quality. SAP Business One can provide users with supply chain efficiency by coordinating different departments and activities. A centralized database and demand forecasting tools make the supply chain robust and resilient.
Reduced Operational Costs
SAP Business One ERP solution can increase the productivity of employees and keep all the stakeholders on the same page. Also, it is easy to leverage the benefits of cloud technology with the SAP B1 solution. Altogether, SAP B1 contributes to mitigating the additional costs related to the installation of hardware and software while reducing operational costs.
Efficient Manufacturing Process
Streamlined processes are essential for every industry and the apparel industry is no exception! The apparel industry needs an integrated response to demand fluctuations, customer expectations, and even last-minute hiccups in raw materials. Here, SAP Business One can assist the apparel industry to optimize its processes to meet all the challenges effectively.
Better Customer Experiences
Seamless customer experiences with an omnichannel strategy are a must for thriving in the competitive environment of the apparel industry. Better inventory management, compliance-related features, and higher visibility of SAP Business One enable apparel industry owners to offer high-quality customer experiences with responsive performances.
Improved Return Product Management
It is necessary for the retail and apparel industries to streamline the returns process. You need to manage and control return policy terms, shipping, and account credits-related processes. SAP Business One provides users with a consolidated database for return products to manage agreements and handle returns to improve customer relationships.
5 Most Sought-after Features of ERP for the Apparel Industry
A tailored ERP system for the apparel industry can integrate various processes, streamline workflows, and increase visibility. It also offers a range of features that enable your apparel enterprise to thrive in a highly complex scenario.
Here are the top five features of the ERP for the apparel industry-
Material Requirements Planning
Also known as MRP, this feature is helpful for gaining complete control over raw materials and inventory. It also facilitates you to manage bills of materials across different categories. MRP-based systems can handle the entire timeline ranging from conception to procurement to production. It results in better planning and resource allocation.
Inventory Management
Varieties in colors and sizes of clothes make this industry more challenging and unique than other industries. Also, the apparel industry deals with trends and interests of customers. Therefore, you need to stay ahead of the demand curve every time. With the ERP solution, you can easily achieve this objective using inventory management tools.
Vendor Management
A dedicated vendor portal in the ERP software can streamline production operations while ensuring an effective vendor communication. You can easily upload images or write comments to notify vendors about the changes you want in the specific items. The vendor management portal also includes features related to procurement and bidding to simplify complexities.
Demand Planning
It is almost impossible to predict fashion trends and customer expectations when it comes to the apparel industry. Market trends and apparel life cycles keep on changing, and therefore, you need to focus on creativity. ERP software for the apparel industry has the necessary forecasting and demand planning tools that integrate with historical data and sales forecasts to get a clear picture on the customer’s purchasing decisions.
Warehouse Management
An apparel ERP has a built-in warehouse management functionality. It assists you to track and control the warehouse activities. The ERP solution needs to be scalable so that it can grow with the increasing business. Advanced ERP like SAP Business One solution has additional capabilities including returns managements, shipping -and logistics integration, etc.
Conclusion
Silver Touch Technologies is a reputed SAP Business One Partner in India. We have gained fame for installing tens of hundreds of SAP Business One software across different industry sectors globally. As a leading SAP Business One solution provider in Ahmedabad, we take care of every aspect of the workflow and daily business activities while providing users with advanced SAP ERP solutions.
We also develop add-ons for SAP Business One for the manufacturing industry and other industry sectors. Silver MFG for manufacturing and Silver Warehouse Manage
ment System are some of our popular add-ons in core industry sectors globally. Do you want to schedule a free demo for our SAP Solutions? Simply drop us a line at sap@silvertouch.com to and we will get back to you with your demo of an SAP solution.
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