Ouvimos os sindicalistas falarem do "dumping social".
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Ouvimos os políticos prognosticar o fim do mundo com a abertura das fronteiras da UE às importações dos países pré-emergentes.
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Ouvimos os economistas receitarem a redução dos salários para que a indústria portuguesa possa ser mais competitiva.
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Ouvimos o presidente do Forum para a Competitividade receitar a inevitabilidade de reduzir os salários dos trabalhadores para que a indústria portuguesa possa ser mais competitiva.
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Ouvimos as associações empresariais vociferar a favor do proteccionismo como forma de salvar a indústria portuguesa.
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Ouvimos falar da necessidade de aumentar a produtividade. E quem o faz só pensa na redução de custos, no aumento da eficiência, em fazer mais do mesmo.
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Toda esta gente faz parte do problema e não da solução. Gente que não estuda, gente que não investiga, gente que não observa o que está a acontecer na realidade. Por exemplo, cada vez mais importamos mobiliário baratucho made in Malásia e Tailândia... and yet: as exportações de mobiliário este ano subiram 26% face a 2009, as de metalurgia subiram 16%, as têxteis subiram quase 5% e as de calçado 1,4%.
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O nosso futuro não assenta na defesa do passado mas num novo presente. Seguem-se alguns 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, que ilustram a revolução em curso:
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"the demand uncertainty and risk associated with today's apparel industry offer new opportunities for U.S. firms.
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Proposition 1: The retail, apparel, and textile sectors are increasingly linked as a channel through information and distribution relationships.
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Instead of gearing planning and production decisions to forecasts and guesses made months in advance of a selling season, firms now receive periodic ongoing orders based on actual consumer expenditures.
And companies in transformed retail-apparel-textile channels have established a complex web of computer hardware and software, other technologies, and managerial practices that have blurred the traditional boundaries between retailers and suppliers.
Proposition 2: For apparel manufacturers, the key to success is no longer solely price competition but the ability to introduce sophisticated information links, forecasting capabilities, and management systems.
The conventional wisdom holds that the basis of competitive performance for apparel manufacturers is lowest price—period.
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Fortunately, clothing production today is more than a simple price/cost game. Successful apparel manufacturers must now focus on their capability to respond accurately and efficiently to the stringent demands placed on them by new retailing practices. (Moi ici: E há tanto por fazer a este nível, linhas de montagem que têm de ser removidas, novas formas de organização do trabalho para facilitar o trabalho com pequenas quantidades) This requires establishing systems to handle electronic, real-time orders, as well as creating management and information systems capable of using incoming information to forecast, plan, track production, and manufacture (or source) products in a flexible and efficient manner. Needless to say, these new skills were not part of the management arsenal of traditional apparel firms.
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Proposition 3 The assembly room—the traditional focus of attention for industry competitiveness—can provide competitive benefits only if other more fundamental changes in manufacturing practice have been introduced.
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Garment assembly is typically done by "bundle" production, which entails breaking garment-making into a series of worksteps or operations. Each operation is assigned to a single worker, who receives a bundle of unfinished garment parts and undertakes her single operation on each item in the bundle. Completed bundles are then moved forward to the next operator in the production process. To foster productivity (physical output per worker) and constrain supervisory costs, wages are paid on a piece-rate basis, providing incentives for rapid completion of the operation.
Many industry participants have sought to improve assembly productivity, the holy grail for U.S. manufacturers. This generally involves modifications to improve the efficiency of the bundle system, using a variety of methods:
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The emphasis on labor productivity that has preoccupied practitioners and analysts in many industries—such as the total labor minutes required to assemble a car—no longer makes as much sense now that information technology has revolutionized retailing in many product segments.
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Proposition 4: Instead of fashion as the saving grace of the channel, basic and fashion-basic products will prove critical to its long-term survival.
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Basic and fashion-basic apparel categories now constitute the lion's share of industry sales, accounting for approximately 72 percent of all shipments.32 This implies that a far larger portion of the industry may be viable in the long run than the part that could be saved by "quick response" at the fashion end. Bear in mind, however, that this viability depends on manufacturers using information to plan and execute production in a more sophisticated manner than usual for this and other industries.
Similar dynamics are cropping up in nonclothing areas as well. Grocery stores now stock a profusion of toothbrushes, Home Depot has shelves and shelves of different light bulbs, and Dell offers custom-configured personal computers. The growing presence of fashion-basic elements in myriad consumer products means that all retailers and suppliers may find new competitive opportunities using replenishment.
Proposition 5: Even with full implementation of GATT, a viable apparel industry can remain in North America, drawing on a range of production processes in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
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Even here, the channel perspective tells a somewhat different story. When domestic channels reduce lead times to market, particularly with basic and fashion-basic products, the comparative advantage of imports declines—despite the lower wage costs of foreign competitors, elimination of quotas on imports, and tariff reductions. This means that the U.S. apparel industry is not necessarily doomed by high direct labor costs, at least for certain products. In fact, we expect a resurgence in certain sectors because of the innovative practices being pursued by some manufacturers and their retailers.
To be sure, the international sourcing arrangements that have been created by retailers and manufacturers over the last twenty years reflect a quest for minimizing unit labor costs. But the long lead times they require will increasingly challenge such arrangements. Manufacturers and retailers that rely on international sourcing will therefore have to reassess the total costs associated with offshore production and revise existing arrangements.
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Going to India or China for low prices alone is no longer the smartest course of action for American manufacturers. Increasingly, they will factor in demand uncertainty and product proliferation when making such sourcing decisions."
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Quando não se muda, quando não se está atento ao que muda e como podemos aproveitar essas oportunidades... colocamos a "culpa" nos outros e lutamos para defender o "status-quo", somos um empecilho e não tiramos partido das oportunidades...
