Consequências da mudança em curso

Leio estas linhas "No sparks - M&S is struggling to catch up with changing fashions" e fico com a sensação que a M&S ainda não viu a luz, que ainda não percebeu como se tem de actuar em Mongo.
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"M&S has been left behind by two changes. The first is the rise of cut-price clothes. In the year to April 15th around 35% of all clothing and footwear sold in Britain was discounted, up by more than a tenth on the previous year. Grocers and cut-price retailers are grabbing more of the market.

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The second change is a move to more efficient supply chains and shorter lead times. The standard bearer for this is Inditex, which runs Zara. Inditex can get clothes from designer’s table to store in 14 days, says Isabel Cavill of Planet Retail, a research firm. Other retailers have followed suit: Sweden’s H&M manages it in three weeks. This allows them to respond to the market’s taste rather than betting on what customers might want. M&S, which only recently introduced a six-week lead time on its more regular items, has suffered from shortages. Earlier this year stores ran out of knitwear and printed tops.

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Marc Bolland, the group’s chief executive, is trying to catch up with the competition. He is reducing the number of distribution centres from around 100 to four. (Moi ici: E o que vão fazer para responder ao que os clientes preferem, em vez de tentarem adivinhar com 9 meses de adianto o que eles vão gostar? Esse é o ponto-chave. Flexibilidade e proximidade são fundamentais. Quando aumenta a incerteza, a solução não é o aumento do controlo) He is also taking control of the M&S website, which is currently operated by Amazon.  (Moi ici: Já tinha lido umas coisas sobre outras marcas de renome que fizeram isto, que se puseram na mão da Amazon... deram à Amazon o acesso a informação preciosa, a base de dados dos clientes, os gostos e preferências, ... que leviandade!!!)  But if the firm is to retain its place in British fashion—and in middle-class British hearts—Mr Bolland will need to have some more tricks up his sleeve."

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Mr Bolland, um conselho:

• Lean retailing
• Sonho de um optimista ingénuo (parte VII)

Lean retailing e as suas implicações (parte III)

"The disadvantage of lower cost, slow production today (Moi ici: Sim, leu bem. Não se enganou: A desvantagem dos custos baixos) is that it is necessary to risk large inventories to provide reasonable levels of service to retailers. The omission of such costs from sourcing decisions—as well as the failure to consider the benefits a supplier gains by being in stock on certain items—will reduce a manufacturer's profitability as well as its ultimate ability to compete.
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This dilemma in a lean retailing world is summarized in Figure 7.9-

Exactly how a manager divides production between plants with different production costs and cycle times depends on the details of the situation, such as those presented in the cases above. However, at least one general rule emerges from the cases we have studied: The cycle time of a fast production facility can be no more than a week or two. Needless to say, a local, more expensive production line with long cycle times cannot compete with slower, low-cost producers, even when allowances are made for late deliveries, markdowns, and the like.
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 But as Figure 7.9 suggests, a manufacturer can pay somewhat more to make certain units—those with high weekly variation in sales—in quick production lines and still reap a better return than it would by making all of the product in a less expensive, slower plant. 
Balancing these production alternatives clearly has implications for foreign competition and the current transformation of the U.S. apparel industry. It also requires changes in internal processes, including manufacturing innovations and the sophisticated computer tools necessary to do this kind of production planning."
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Conjugar este texto geral com este caso particular:
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""Se comprarmos em Portugal é mais fácil de repor stock" ... Perante o panorama "cada vez mais incerto", diz, a solução é uma navegação à vista. ... "tenho estado em conversações com os nossos fornecedores para ter um prazo mais alargado de decisão" ... "Melhorou a rapidez de resposta, a compreensão dos fornecedores, que contribuíram para as marcas fazerem produções rápidas. "
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Trechos retirados de "A stitch in time : lean retailing and the transformation of manufacturing—lessons from the apparel and textile industries" de Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond e David Weil e de "Uma marca nacional a apostar na produção portuguesa"

Lean retailing

No livro de Suzanne Berger encontrei a referência um livro escrito em 1999 "A Stitch in Time".
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Ontem li alguns capítulos e fiquei a matutar como tudo se encaixa para explicar o regresso dos clientes que testaram a Ásia e agora voltam a comprar à indústria portuguesa:
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"Merchandising is fundamental to retailing. Though perhaps less obvious, logistics is just as essential an ingredient for success. If you can't get the merchandise on the shelves, you can't sell it. And if you don't have the right merchandise on the shelves, you'll lose that sale to a competitor that does. What goes on behind the scenes is of great importance: efficient warehousing, transportation, and delivery systems are among the elements of successful merchandising.

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Lean retailers transform the basis of competition for all suppliers by radically reducing the amount of time manufacturers have to respond to orders. That means suppliers must be able to provide frequent deliveries, in smaller quantities, of more diverse products. Moreover, they must do so with a far greater level of accuracy in fulfilling orders and meeting delivery standards than in the past. In short, the retail revolution alters the basic rules of both domestic and global competition for the apparel and textile industries

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With the advent of lean retailing, replenishing products within a selling season is the most fundamental challenge for apparel manufacturers.

Instead of specifying that manufacturers respond to a single, fixed order placed far in advance of required delivery time, lean retailers may now require that a replenishment order be filled in as little as three days.

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For all retail categories, the percentage of total dollar volumes shipped on a daily or weekly basis quadrupled—from 8.7 percent in 1988 to 33.9 percent in 1992. At the same time, the percentage of nonreplenished goods plummeted, from 61.7 percent in 1988 down to 22.5 percent in 1992."

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Continua.

Sonho de um optimista ingénuo (parte VII)

Há anos que procurava este livro "A stitch in time : lean retailing and the transformation of manufacturing—lessons from the apparel and textile industries" de Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond e David Weil. A primeira referência que o citou, encontrei-a em "How we compete" de Suzanne Berger.
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Finalmente consegui adquiri-lo e as primeiras páginas fazem pressentir mais achas para a fogueira do meu optimismo ingénuo.
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Seguem-se alguns trechos do primeiro capítulo "The New Competitive Advantage in Apparel":
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"The most surprising aspect of this story is that today's U.S. apparel and textile industries —left for dead by business commentators and economic analysts in the 1980s—have begun to transform themselves,reaping new competitive advantages.
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The transformation of U.S. clothing and textile manufacturing is very much still in progress and has by no means been successful for every company; but these industries have entered a renaissance of sorts, one that reflects new information technologies and management practices as well as the new economics of international trade.
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We contend that this revolution in retailing practices will determine future competitive outcomes in retail-apparel-textile channels. These new practices—which we call lean retailing—have compelled apparel producers to reorganize the manner in which they relate to retail customers, undertake distribution, forecast and plan production, and manage their supplier relations. Lean retailing has also changed the way the textile industry relates to both apparel producers and retailers.
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When we began our research, we were advised by American industry participants to establish better performance measures—for example, how many minutes does it take to make a shirt? The traditional view holds that because manufacturing performance is determined by the labor time required to produce an item, then what applies to cars, for example, can also apply to clothing; therefore, U.S. apparel manufacturers might be able to save themselves by improving assembly operations.
Yet after years of studying hundreds of American apparel firms, we have found that direct labor content is not the primary issue. The companies that have adopted new information systems and management practices, participating in a well-integrated channel, are the ones with the strongest performance today—not those that have simply improved assembly operations."
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Continua