Made Smarter, a collaborative industry initiative supported by the UK Government has developed a guide to help fashion and textile sector stakeholders adopt digital solutions.
It’s been created to incentivise small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to address potential supply chain issues which can be particularly problematic during the holiday season when demand grows.
The document, titled ‘Is digital technology the key to success during busy periods such as Christmas?’, makes a case for businesses to adopt solutions to plan production and capacity, oversee and manage the workforce, forecast demand, and inventory needs, manage stock levels and optimise picking, and automate the packaging process.
Made Smarter says the transition to digital processing technologies can greatly benefit companies large and small, but particularly the latter which might be priced out of quick fixes should issues arise.
Donna Edwards is the programme director for Made Smarter’s Northwest programme, and said: “For manufacturers the Christmas rush will highlight bottlenecks and other issues with their processes. The Made Smarter team can work with them to identify potential solutions to these challenges and support them to develop an implementation plan to ensure success in 2023.”
Since its launch in 2018, the initiative’s work in the UK’s northwest is said to have supported more than 2,500 manufacturers, offering tailored guidance as to where digital solutions could improve their operations.
As a result, those same companies have reportedly created a further 1,250 jobs, upskilled a further 2,300 and added more than £175 mn to the region’s gross value.
