UK's Coats Digital launches FastReactFabric to reduce fabric waste

With FastReactFabric, the apparel industry can reduce the fabric required which will have a positive impact on the environment while boosting profits – putting people, planet and performance into the very core of the fashion supply chain.

FastReactFabric combines Coats Digital’s previous industry-leading IntelloCut and IntelloBuy solutions into one single platform, providing a closed-loop, continuous 360-degree feedback ecosystem between buying and cutting operations, so that fashion manufacturers can accurately procure and utilise fabric effectively – reducing waste, boosting efficiency and significantly increasing their bottom line.

“We listened carefully to what our customers were saying about the fabric challenges they face, and realised that it made perfect sense to amalgamate and enhance our fabric cutting and buying solutions into one comprehensive single platform to eradicate key pain points in one swoop. With 70-80 per cent of fashion manufacturing outlay attributed to fabric costs, the digitisation of fabric-related processes is the most fundamental way that apparel manufacturers can make a real difference to their profits, as well as reduce the impact of fabric waste on the planet. We are very excited to be launching a comprehensive fabric solution that, will prove instrumental in redressing some of the financial damage suffered during the pandemic, whilst helping the apparel industry future-proof against incoming global legislation around waste and sustainability compliance, at the same time,” Akash Shah, managing director, Coats Digital, said.

FastReactFabric will increase fabric ultilisation significantly by automating and optimising the estimation of fabric consumption at the buying stage, together with accurate cut planning and execution on the production floor, to eliminate time-consuming manual tasks and reduce fabric, water and energy consumption. The new offering will ultimately unlock fabric buying and cutting data to deliver meaningful insights that drive confident decision making - enabling fashion manufacturers to optimise operations, make fast data decisions and streamline processes.

FastReactFabric delivers accurate fabric forecasts by applying advanced intelligence to fabric data. These insights help apparel manufacturers to quickly overcome the challenges caused by complex new styles, increasing colourways and shrinking lead-times. FastReactFabric uses advanced algorithms to generate optimised cut plans from millions of possible combinations in one click. Manufacturers can gain complete control over their cutting rooms by optimising key processes such as the generation of cut and lay plans and the allocation of fabric, the company said in a press release.

From today, September 8, FastReactFabric will provide access to accurate data for both operations to ensure manufacturers can make the right decisions about their buying and cutting processes at the same time. Unlike other fabric purchasing solutions, FastReactFabric aggregates historical, past performance and real-time data from fabric utilisation processes, so that manufactures can always have the most accurate, up-to-date view of the cutting floor.  The real value of using accurate, digitised historical data is that it enables manufacturers to predict their precise needs in the future, which greatly helps to support effective longer-term planning and trend projections.

“Ultimately, our unique, new solution will deliver much greater customer value to both new and existing customers alike. Buying too much fabric is a costly mistake. In such a volatile trading environment, fashion manufacturers simply cannot afford to buy the wrong amount of their largest cost investment, if they want to keep up with increasing consumer demand for fashion in a variety of style and colour choices. A more streamlined production process using accurate fabric data significantly frees up warehouse and shop floor space, reduces inventory, and enables manufacturers to adapt effectively to increasing garment complexities and colourways, and we expect our new solution will prove a highly compelling proposition to companies looking for a sure-fire remedy to mitigate rising costs fast,” Wesley Ekman, senior sales director, Coats Digital, said.

“Using a production-grade cut plan and floor parameters to derive booking consumption, we have been able to replicate the actual production scenario at the time of booking and reduce 2 per cent of our fabric buying expense. We are happy to see the continuous improvement in our fabric booking process,” said Shajedur Rahman (Mithu), CEO, Epyllion Group (Bangladesh).

“We believe the Cut module of FastReactFabric is the best solution to manage all cutting processes automatically and systematically. The solution has greatly helped factories save more fabric, reduce operational lead times and improve both material management and working conditions,” said Quang Bui Viet, CEO Song Hong (Vietnam).

“While fabric saving was the highlight, it was the Cut module of FastReactFabric which made the largest difference to us, as it streamlined processes significantly and enabled us to generate precise automated reports,” said Kalpan, owner, Dekko Group (Bangladesh).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)