Case Studies - Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa

Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa is a privately owned Durban-based clothing manufacturing company with 30 years of history. Starting with just 20 employees in 1981, Vimal operated as a "cut, make and trim" (CMT) factory which established a comprehensive understanding of the apparel business. Their primary manufacturing output has always been apparel, although they did experiment with furniture and other initiatives.

After 30 years of growing, they now have over 500 employees with annual revenues of over ZAR35 million ($5 million). Vimal is no longer classified as a "Small, Medium, or Micro Enterprise" (SME), which brings both excitement and fresh challenges. This economic milestone is one which many hope to achieve.

Every company faces challenges, and to be successful, these must be overcome. As a wise man once said "You can't expect to meet the challenges of today with yesterday's tools and expect to be in business tomorrow." One needs to face today's challenges with solutions of today.

One of the major challenges today that a manufacturing company faces is the ability to be organized, punctual, efficient and hence reputable. The Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa, has also faced this challenge, and has overcome it.

This has been done through ApparelConnect, an ERP solution that transforms the management of garment and clothing manufacturing.

It must have got you wondering, how can software contribute to a company's success? How can software be an integral part of a company? Well, Vimal's story is an example of how well designed software has worked hand in hand with management and a committed workforce to enable a company to grow beyond an SME to the next level.

The way ApparelConnect functions enables companies to operate in a well managed, cost controlled way. The basic function starts with a Cost Sheet, and then information is added from the marker, pattern card, spec sheet, and samples. Once this information is entered, the system uses it to create Sales Forecast and confirmed Sales Orders. The orders then generate a Bill of Materials, from where users also have the ability to adjust consumption quantities and other information, such as suppliers. Then, with a single click, the stock items required for that order will be allocated or purchase orders generated, and details passed to production planning.

This is a basic overview of some functions of ApparelConnect, out of many others, which together work together to lead a company to success. Before ApparelConnect, Vimal had problems with storing their data. The company had to use different software for different portions of their manufacturing. This was slow and painstaking, and also had a risk for errors.

But with ApparelConnect, all the information could be easily stored and accessed, and this technology has reduced errors in the company. On top of these major benefits was an even bigger one, efficiency.

Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa has enjoyed an increase in efficiency ever since ApparelConnect was installed to their company. The manufacturing process has become smoother without output volumes and efficiency rates rising, and costs have gone down too. Many companies find it hard to always be punctual, but with ApparelConnect, being punctual is easy. With increased efficiency brings increased punctuality, which then leads to building a good reputation for a company.

A major issue with installing software which controls the data of a company is the user interface. Teaching how to use an application to employees can be a difficult job, but with ApparelConnect that is not an issue.

ApparelConnect provides an easy to use interface, which everyone can learn easily. This is mainly because its production planning interface has been adopted from that of Microsoft Outlook, which is an easy interface of which many already know, and there is a consistent interface throughout all the modules. Vimal's employees have easily adopted the interface of ApparelConnect. In just a short period of time, they have been able to master the software.

A goal of Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa has been to strive for reduction of costs, and with ApparelConnect, this is another goal of Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa which has been achieved. ApparelConnect offers an incredibly detailed, comprehensive and effective costing module, with unlimited cost sheets per style, unlimited spares per style, unlimited, fabrics, colourways, sizes, trims, embellishments and variable costs per style. Vimal Clothing Enterprises has found the flexibility and power of this costing model has led to a 29% increase in job costing accuracy. And with the implementation of new technology, production has sped up and wastage has been further reduced.

Ultimately, ApparelConnect success in managing garment and clothing manufacturing is due to the people behind it. Vimal Clothing Enterprises made the choice to select a product that has been designed by professionals who have been working in the garment industry for over 30 years. They know the garment industry, and ApparelConnect does too.

With technology ruling over every market in the world, keeping up with up-to-date technology is an important part of succeeding. This has been understood and put into use by the Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa, who have said that their "experience over the couple of years has indicated that we must alter our production strategies to rely less on human behavior and more on the increased accuracy and efficiency of software solutions." With Appare lConnect, Vimal Clothing Enterprise c.c., South Africa has grown and will continue growing.