Sourcing Time Lines

Sourcing Time Lines

1. How long will it take for the factory to make your order? The standard answer is “Exit factory 90 days after issue PO and All Approved.”
2. Here’s the real deal. You almost never can wait until everything is approved before you cut the PO. Yes, I lived with “line freeze” and all the other “death if you change something” commands but if the customer changes their mind, you jump through hoops to deliver or go home defeated.
3. The time line is determined based on what supplies are standard and available and the Quantity of garments needed in the PO.
4. What the factories REALLY LOVE is to base load a sewing line. For example have a team of 9 sewing operators sewing the same style 24/7 for years. It’s possible with larger volume brands but for most of us, we’re in the “spot” order business.
5. With Base Loaded volumes, every week you would order and the supplier would ship the same volume of a given style. Think of a line graph and the base load is a straight line of safe volume below the actual volatile retail sales orders line.
6. You can cut your “Make to Order” cycle time by committing to a safety stock of supplies like Yarn, Greige Fabric, and Dyed Fabric.
7. For example, always keep x pounds of panty fabric in White, Nude, Black and Pink. In week One, PO is placed to cut 2,000 pounds of White fabric and to Sew and Inspect it in Week Two and Ship in Week Three. Now instead of 90 days, it’s only 3 weeks but you’re committed to the fabric and other supplies like packaging.

All for now!
Sincerely,
The Underwear Maven
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