How to ensure speed & agility in your apparel supply chain

Maintaining a streamlined supply chain is crucial for success in the apparel industry. Supply chain management includes the planning, implementation, and control of the flow of materials and information, from the initial procurement of raw materials to the final delivery of finished goods.  

Speed and agility in the supply chain are key to success for any business, but especially for apparel companies as the pressure to reduce their speed to market keeps mounting.  

Even so, production delays are not uncommon in fashion. Fashion businesses regularly suffer from frequent delays due to poor planning, time zone differences, fragmentation, communication hurdles, and mismatched quality expectations within the clothing supply chain, which causes frustration for both manufacturers and buyers.

The foundation of supply chain management in the apparel industry lies in efficient ‘Time and Action’ calendar management. Time relates to the speed at which goods and services are delivered, while Action refers to identifying tasks, planning how to complete them, executing them, and assessing if they were carried out as planned. 

To foster speed and agility, WFX ERP’s Time & Action Calendar module offers a cloud-based platform for managing every aspect of the apparel supply chain. The solution provides complete visibility into all time-sensitive processes on a single screen, helping manufacturers stay ahead of the game. Let’s explore how you can ensure speed and agility in your business with WFX’s T&A module:  

1. Use T&A to plan and monitor your apparel production calendar 

Time & Action (T&A) calendars aid apparel manufacturers in planning and monitoring each and every event that is part of the fashion lifecycle. From the initial design and inspiration stage to shipment tracking, T&A is a comprehensive tracker for all fashion manufacturing stages—making it an important tool for managing workflows, resources, and priorities throughout the business.  

It also helps track time against tasks based on costs or profit margins. This helps synchronize resources across multiple departments so that each department knows what to do to complete their own tasks and contribute towards meeting deadlines for other departments.  

Overall, the T&A module gives teams an overview of events as well as their progress through the clothing supply chain at any given point in time – thereby enabling faster decision making and better outcomes for both the company and its customers.   

2. Boost operational efficiency with T&A tracking  

WFX ERP’s T&A module enables efficient operations by reducing the need for manual data entry and avoiding double work. It automates the tracking of order receipts and provides real-time visibility into critical information such as styles, quantities and status. This enables companies to stay on top of their operation.  

T&A also helps ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and best practices by automating key tasks like tracking against critical dates, managing change requests and other administrative processes.  

As soon as a customer order is received in WFX ERP, it can automatically trigger T&A tracking templates based on the customer order receipts. This ensures that all information related to materials needed for production is captured automatically within just a few clicks of your mouse (or taps on your screen). The result? Reduced time spent managing orders; more accurate delivery forecasts; fewer errors; less risk exposure; more accurate reporting capabilities—the list goes on!  

3. Get complete visibility of all processes with T&A  

The T&A module’s visual dashboards provide complete visibility into all time-sensitive processes on a single screen. This means you don’t have to spend valuable time searching through multiple windows or tabs trying to find out where something went wrong or who needs what from whom. Employees can quickly get an overview of all tasks, their due dates and statuses. The modules also allows you to see which team member is working on which project.  

You can see what is due and when, who’s working on it, and how long each process will take. This means that employees know exactly how much time they have left to complete each task before moving onto another one. Managers are also able to better spot any bottlenecks in the workflow that might slow down the process or make them feel more stressed than necessary, allowing them to address problems quickly before they become big roadblocks.  

Learn more about how Garment ERP software can give your apparel business a boost!  

4. Utilize time and resources more efficiently with T&A 

Another key benefit of the T&A module is that it allows team leaders to track the workload of each team member. This can be used to help plan for future projects, as well as manage current and past projects more efficiently.  

For example, if you know that your company is going to be signing a big contract and hiring more employees, it will be useful for you to know what their workloads are going to look like before they start working. 

The Time & Action module is an important part of apparel supply chain management because it allows companies to make sure that they’re planning their workforce properly and making sure that everyone has enough resources available when they need them.  

5. T&A benefits managers across all levels in the organization 

The T&A module is an ideal tool which can be used by managers of all levels in the organization. It allows them to plan and monitor their fashion supply chain, understand the status of their tasks, allocate resources, identify potential problems early on. The T&A module also enables WFX ERP users to create automated schedules (automation), which will help them to save time & money as well as improve quality control.  

As a manager, you can manage your team’s workloads effectively by assigning them different roles within different projects. You will also be able to see how much time has been spent on each task or project so far, allowing you to better prioritize tasks for your team members as well as identify potential problems early on.  

It also makes it easy for managers to generate reports based on different filters such as ‘Project by Stage’ or ‘Task by Person’ and so on. This gives team leaders clear insight into what needs more attention within their project portfolio.  

WFX ERP’s Time & Action module is the ultimate tool for apparel supply chain management and inventory management. It allows manufacturers to easily track all important data—including stock levels, sales volumes, and lead times. What’s more, it helps them make informed decisions about how best to keep their business running smoothly by providing real-time insights into how workflows are progressing across departments.  

It is an essential tool for apparel manufacturers who want to ensure timely delivery for every order without compromising on quality standards. If you want to learn more about the different features of WFX ERP and how they can help your business, send us a message and we’ll be in touch!