The day 2 of Lectra fashion event themed ‘Winning Over the New Fashion Consumer’ started with the same zeal and curiosity by all the show attendees. The day’s activities started with the guest presentation prepared by Craig Crawford who took his discussion on ‘Mass Personalization’ to the next level from where he concluded it on the day 1. Craig explained the journey of the luxury fashion brand Burberry in personalization. While most of the brands are now going with trend of customization and Made to Measure, Burberry opted for it back in 2010 in its iconic trench coat which was entirely a design based on MTM.
“Burberry further strengthened this concept using the optimal use of social media as well as apps such as WeChat (in 2014) which gave the brand a massive success in China and other big fashion retail markets such as Hong Kong,” said Craig. He further added that the pace of technology adoption has never been faster than in last 2 years.
“Amazon filed for 7 technology patents in January 2018 which include AR and visual recognition mirror, supply chain UV fluorescent inks, 3D on-demand manufacturing, airborne fulfillment centre serviced by drones, fabric storage totes for use in manufacturing, tech to recognize hand poses as computer interface and voice controlled light switches,” elaborated Craig.
He, however, emphasized on the fact that designers are still not working in collaboration with pattern makers and until this situation changes, the trend of customization, MTM can’t see the worldwide growth.
This was followed with an interactive discussion by two of Lectra team members; Frédéric Gaillard, Product Marketing VP, Cutting Room Offer; and Christine Dandieu Sales Director, Fashion, on ‘Lectra Strategy for Fashion & Apparel: The Digital Transformation’. The crux of the session was that there is need in the fashion industry for collaboration, automation and simplification. The all new ‘Fashion On Demand’ system of Lectra is a solution which caters to this need. Frédéric Gaillard took the responsibility in his hands to explain what Fashion On Demand is all about. “This solution combines 3 packages within it including Made to Order, Made to Customize and Made to Measure,” he said.
The Fashion On Demand presentation was followed by Voice of Customers session in which Master of Ceremony Mark Antoine took a small interview of representatives of Lectra’s customers Groupe Mark and Balsan (Uniform manufacturer). Both the representatives underlined that Lectra’s solutions have helped in achieving greater productivity. They stated that less consumables are being used as well as enormous cut down in manpower is there and reduction in fabric cost is another significant benefit they are getting out of Lectra solutions.
Frédéric Gaillard again came to the stage for one on one interactive session with Mark Antoine where he explained about the packages offered in Fashion On Demand solution and also responded on each and every question asked by the audience.
This QA session was followed by the demo of Lectra’s Virga cutter. Interestingly, this cutter does not use any paper or filmsy material to hold the fabric layer while cutting operation rather it creates vacuum on the cutter’s bed due to which fabric layer gets adhered to bed. By this technology, Virga saves cost of the paper and plastic materials which are commonly used during cutting process by apparel manufacturers.
Factory Visit
After demo, a factory tour was organized by Lectra in 2 different groups. AS part of it, the visitors closely observed manufacturing processes, assembly processes, packaging and dispatch process of different machines offered by Lectra. The factory is exemplary in the sense that it uses manpower as less as it can. For spare part and inventory handling, Lectra is using Omron robots which has 4-5 trays in it and all trays carry some small metal parts (rivets, nuts, bolts, spanners etc.) which are further used to assemble machines. Omron robots are studded with 2 sensors which can sense a human’s movement uptil 1.5 meter near the robot’s zone and once sensed, the robots automatically get stopped.
Lectra has divided its factory in different segments, each of which takes care of a particular industry. For example the machines for airbags are manufactured and assembled in a different zone in factory while machines dedicated for garments are being taken care in different area in the same premises.
The factory visit concluded the 2-day event with Lectra bidding adieu to all its guests and customers with a small token of thanks.
