FastReactPlan was chosen to digitize manual planning processes and provide a unified version of the truth to reduce raw material inventories and costly manufacturing variances in order to effectively meet more challenging customer requirements.
Coats Digital is delighted to announce that leading sports apparel manufacturer, Vertical Knits SA de CV, has selected Coats Digital’s FastReactPlan solution to digitally transform its manual planning processes into a unified single view, so that the company can optimise production processes, significantly reduce waste, promptly accommodate unexpected style changes and rapidly respond to emerging new consumer trends.
Established in 2003, Vertical Knits, S.A. de C.V. is a vertically integrated apparel manufacturer specialising in full package for renowned global athletic and lifestyle brands, such as Nike, Converse, VF Corporation, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste and Fanatics.
With factories in Baca and Tizimin Yucatán, in Mexico, Vertical Knits employees over 3500 people in the region exporting to more than 21 countries.
A Nike supplier, Vertical Knits has baked-in sustainability targets at every step of the production process to ensure the safest working conditions and highest environmental standards are met with regards to water waste and energy reduction.
It is Fair Trade certified and has secured the Global Recycled Standard, Global Organic Textile Standard, and Better Cotton Standard. The company also works with Roadmap to Zero, the Higg Index, Social & Labor Convergence and the Global Reporting Initiative, among many others, to actively support sustainability and corporate social responsibility drives worldwide.
Jorge Eduardo Kuri, CEO Vertical Knits, said: Digitizing our company is much more than simply implementing a software solution. We also needed robust industry expertise to support a succesful implementation and provide exemplary staff training so that the technology delivers benefits from go-live.
Coats Digital’s industry expertise is second to none. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Coats Digital as it works with us on a long-term basis to re-engineer our supply chain processes.”
Prior to the FastReactPlan implementation, Vertical Knits found that disconnected, manual planning processes using separate Excel spreadsheets for each department resulted in complex, time-consuming and staff-heavy procedures that made imposible to have an accuarate picture of the requirements on each manufacturing process.
As a result, it was dificult for the company to cope with increased volumes on more segregated orders, effectively manage unplanned style changes, or flag potential production issues on a timely manner.
Ricardo Valenzuela, VP Operations, Vertical Knits, comments: Some of our customers’ requirements are very specific, the depth of functionality of FastReactPlan makes possible to respond to these requirements just adjusting the configuraiton making possible to adjust the plan in real-time to factor in sudden changes.
Coats Digital offers best-in-class planning tools designed specifically for the apparel industry, their its unparalleled industry heritage and expertise makes Coats Digital the obvious choice as our core digital transformation partner.”
In addition to providing visibility of the planning operations across 2000 sewing operators, FastReactPlan will also manage product development and the detail planning of the screen print, the project will include Power BI dashboards that will provide management key performance indicators. The planning of the fabric mill will be incorporated on a second phase of the project.
Oscar Gonzalez, Coats Digital, LATAM, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Vertical Knits on its digital journey with the implemenatation of FastReactPlan. With the implementation of the solution, Vertical Knits will be able to coordinate the preproduction, manufacturing and raw materials with a single version of the truth eliminating laborious duplicte tasks.”
