Vietnam's Son Ha Garment JSC adopts Coats Digital's GSDCost

The implementation has greatly reduced unnecessary staff hours that were wasted on demanding and burdensome manual tasks; improved on-time deliveries; significantly increased production efficiencies and ensured that a fair wage can be negotiated into accurate and transparent costing proposals, Coats Digital said in a media release.

Established in 1969, and located in Hanoi, Vietnam, Son Ha Garment JSC employs a 3,400-strong workforce and exports 60 per cent of its jackets, trousers, sports apparel and T-shirts to the United States, and 30 per cent to the EU. Its customers include Columbia Sportswear, Umbro, Walmart, Costco, Quicksilver, A&F, Kohl’s and Levi’s.

Prior to implementing Coats Digital’s cost optimisation solution, GSDCost, Son Ha suffered poor data visibility, lost purchase orders and complicated cost negotiations with customers since its cost, sourcing and planning processes were manually created and stored across a variety of sources within different departments.

Le Huu Phong, CEO, Son Ha Garment Joint Stock Company, said: “Our capacity and cost planning reports were often inaccurate because the data was based purely on historical experiences and this information was not easy to find by all members of the team who needed it. The lack of accurate costing data not only made it difficult to reach a definitive agreement with customers, but our analogue approach also meant that we were wasting hundreds of people hours on unnecessary manual processes.”

Son Ha Garment required a standardised solution that would accurately record SMVs through effective, standard motion digitised codes so it could optimise its costing processes, enhance manufacturing efficiencies, introduce achievable performance targets to improve staff motivation and performance, and ultimately increase sales to optimise its profitability.

Le Huu Phong added: “The results have been fantastic. We have initially realised a 10 per cent productivity performance increase and expect this to elevate to over 50 per cent in the near future. It has made a huge difference to the business having our cost planning reports fully digitised and all in one place. Our teams now have a single view providing the access they need to make fast, informed business decisions based on accurate data, wherever they are. Son Ha Garment JSC is absolutely committed to robust equality policies, employee wellbeing and fair wages, and the adoption of GSDCost has also meant that we can factor in a fair wage into all our new, fact-based cost negotiations with our customers.

“We are excited about our future collaboration with Coats Digital. The experience has proved a very promising start on our digitisation journey to improve our operation so that we can future-proof our business effectively and ensure we remain a leader in the fashion manufacturing sector.”

Coats Digital’s GSDCost method analysis and pre-determined times solution is widely acknowledged as the de-facto international standard across the sewn products industry. The solution supports a more collaborative, transparent and sustainable supply chain, in which brands and manufacturers establish and optimise ‘International Standard Time Benchmarks’ using standard motion codes and predetermined times. This use of a common language and standards supports accurate cost prediction, fact-based negotiation, and a more efficient garment manufacturing process, while concurrently delivering on CSR commitments, the release added.

Coats Digital’s enhanced feature of a globalised Fair Wage Tool combines the international standard time for any given style, with detailed factory efficiencies, contracted hours and the fair living wage for the country (data provided by the Fair Wage Network). This added tool enables brands and manufacturers to quickly agree the fair living wage allowance for any given garment, in any factory in the world.

Patrick Chau, customer success manager, Coats Digital, said: “We are absolutely over the moon that Son Ha Garment JSC has realised such amazing efficiency results following its adoption of GSDCost. The textile and apparel industry is becoming increasingly more competitive and with constant pressure to lower costs, whilst offering smaller orders with more style variations at the same time, the only way that fashion manufactures can stay ahead of the game, is to digitise their processes quickly. Standardising SMV calculations is a sure-fire way to increase manufacturing efficiencies, introduce fact-based, stable cost negotiations, reduce overtime costs and material waste, whilst incentivising employees with achievable performance targets and responding to more complicated orders demands in a timely way. We look forward to partnering with Son Ha Garments JSC on a long-term basis to ensure they are well-positioned to embrace a rapidly changing industry environment with more certainty.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)