Rootstock Software Case Studies Unionwear: Succeeding While Others are Fleeing

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	Unionwear: Succeeding While Others are Fleeing Rootstock Software

Unionwear: Succeeding While Others are Fleeing

Rootstock Software

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Apparel
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Manufacturing System Automation
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	Unionwear, a custom-made baseball cap, tote bags, and apparel manufacturer based in Newark, NJ, operates in a challenging market. The clothing and apparel industry in America has seen a significant decline, with the percentage of clothing and apparel consumed by Americans that is made in America dropping from 95% in 1960 to about 2% today. Additionally, the apparel spending by the average US household has dropped from $4,300 to $1,700, and the percentage of household spending on apparel has dropped from about 10% in 1960 to 3.5% today. As a result, the apparel industry employment has contracted from an average employment of 902,000 in 1960 to about 136,000 today. Unionwear, however, has been able to succeed in this challenging market by embracing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. Read More
About Customer	Unionwear is a manufacturer of custom-made baseball caps, tote bags, and apparel. The company is based in Newark, NJ, and employs 120 union workers. Despite operating in a historically expensive location and in an industry that has seen a significant decline in the US, Unionwear has been able to succeed by embracing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. The company has been practicing this process for 9 years, and as a result, they have been able to triple their productivity. Unionwear's primary raw material is fabric, and customer demands require that they use a multitude of colors and types of fabric. Read More
Solution	Unionwear adopted Rootstock Manufacturing ERP, a system designed for the manufacturing environment. Rootstock is delivered from the Cloud and is the largest single native application on Salesforce’s Force.com platform. Its design facilitates fast and easy implementations, no major IT infrastructure investment, and the ability to grow with the successful manufacturer. Unionwear wanted to adopt a system that would enhance their goal of increasing value to the customer while not consuming valuable resources in the care and feeding of a complex system. Unionwear is focusing on two primary areas to continue their process of continuous improvement. The first is in the area of inventory. It is critical to plan precisely the amount of material required for production and to know exactly what is available for production at any given moment. The second area is the measurement of efficiency. Unionwear only measures efficiency in the production of finished goods, as a finished product ready to ship is value to their customer. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Apparel

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Manufacturing System Automation

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

Unionwear, a custom-made baseball cap, tote bags, and apparel manufacturer based in Newark, NJ, operates in a challenging market. The clothing and apparel industry in America has seen a significant decline, with the percentage of clothing and apparel consumed by Americans that is made in America dropping from 95% in 1960 to about 2% today. Additionally, the apparel spending by the average US household has dropped from $4,300 to $1,700, and the percentage of household spending on apparel has dropped from about 10% in 1960 to 3.5% today. As a result, the apparel industry employment has contracted from an average employment of 902,000 in 1960 to about 136,000 today. Unionwear, however, has been able to succeed in this challenging market by embracing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.

About Customer

Unionwear is a manufacturer of custom-made baseball caps, tote bags, and apparel. The company is based in Newark, NJ, and employs 120 union workers. Despite operating in a historically expensive location and in an industry that has seen a significant decline in the US, Unionwear has been able to succeed by embracing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. The company has been practicing this process for 9 years, and as a result, they have been able to triple their productivity. Unionwear's primary raw material is fabric, and customer demands require that they use a multitude of colors and types of fabric.

Solution

Unionwear adopted Rootstock Manufacturing ERP, a system designed for the manufacturing environment. Rootstock is delivered from the Cloud and is the largest single native application on Salesforce’s Force.com platform. Its design facilitates fast and easy implementations, no major IT infrastructure investment, and the ability to grow with the successful manufacturer. Unionwear wanted to adopt a system that would enhance their goal of increasing value to the customer while not consuming valuable resources in the care and feeding of a complex system. Unionwear is focusing on two primary areas to continue their process of continuous improvement. The first is in the area of inventory. It is critical to plan precisely the amount of material required for production and to know exactly what is available for production at any given moment. The second area is the measurement of efficiency. Unionwear only measures efficiency in the production of finished goods, as a finished product ready to ship is value to their customer.

Impact #1	Unionwear has been able to triple their productivity through the practice of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.
Impact #2	The company has been able to accurately measure the efficiency of their manufacturing effort based on internally developed standards measured when the product is complete.
Impact #3	Unionwear has been able to plan precisely the amount of material required for production and to know exactly what is available for production at any given moment.

Impact #1

Unionwear has been able to triple their productivity through the practice of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.

Impact #2

The company has been able to accurately measure the efficiency of their manufacturing effort based on internally developed standards measured when the product is complete.

Impact #3

Unionwear has been able to plan precisely the amount of material required for production and to know exactly what is available for production at any given moment.

Benefit #1	Productivity tripled over 9 years of practicing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.

Benefit #1

Productivity tripled over 9 years of practicing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.

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Overview

Unionwear: Succeeding While Others are Fleeing

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit