The Mumbai-based Maxwell Industries designs, manufactures and retails affordable, quality undergarments for men, women and children. The company produces over 37 million pieces a year for brands such as VIP Innerwear, Frenchie, Frenchie X and VIP Feeling. Approximately 70 per cent of its product is destined for more than 110,000 points of sale in the local market, including the company-run stores, while the remaining 30 per cent is exported to different countries.
Maxwell Industries wanted to expand its presence in India and its two other main markets, namely, Africa and the Middle East. For the purpose, it needed to replace its partially-outsourced, manual process with an automated lean pre-production process that would streamline operations and reduce costs, without sacrificing the quality on which the company had built its reputation.
Maxwell Industries sought Lectra’s help to improve the development process and boost productivity at its cutting room at the Thingalur plant. After conducting an in-depth analysis, Lectra experts worked with the company to create a customized action plan that would allow it to move all the cutting in-house and automate certain aspects of development and production.
Once the changes had been made, the company was able to speed up its development process, reduce its fabric consumption by five per cent and, thanks to fewer errors, produce a better quality product. This gave Maxwell the agility it needed to pursue its goals for expansion. “We are now very much convinced that we made the right choice in selecting Lectra as our partner for our technology solution needs,” says Mr. Kapil Pathare, Director of Maxwell Industries.
Maxwell Industries is a vertically-integrated fashion company whose activities span from raw material sourcing to in-house design to retail. The company was already a household name in the local undergarment industry, but in order to expand, it needed to rethink its way of doing things. “We not only wanted to streamline our process and improve quality, we also wanted our plant to be as lean and green as possible,” explains Mr. Kapil Pathare.
Maxwell Industries knew it needed to make major changes in its manual way of working, but this was easier said than done. The company had no experience with automated processes and needed a good partner to help it with the transition. “We outlined our specific challenges in production, pattern and marker making, and Lectra helped us address and find solutions for each one,” recalls Mr. Pathare. “Their experts walked us through a detailed project plan and explained the methodology behind it. Then, at each milestone, we reviewed the objectives together and made the adjustments needed.”
With Lectra’s support, Maxwell was able to automate its pattern making, marker making, spreading, cut planning and cutting. Lectra’s integrated solutions also streamlined communication across the company’s different departments. “Because workflow improved in the cutting room, it improved in sewing, which gave us a smooth process from beginning to end,” says Mr. Pathare. “Thanks to Lectra’s patternmaking technology, we eliminated paper patterns, which saves us a great deal of time and fits in with our green initiative.”
Seeing an opportunity for improvement, Lectra experts helped Maxwell Industries redefine the workflow in the cutting room based on lean methodology. “Our cutting operation used to be extremely labor intensive. We have now drastically reduced the number of people needed in the cutting room and redistributed them to other departments where they add more value,” says Pathare. The company has also been able to move all of its cutting, previously partially outsourced, in-house.
Between automation and a new efficient process, Maxwell has reduced its fabric consumption by more than 5% and seen a 1% drop in rejections due to poor quality.
Focus on quality
Maintaining high quality standards was a big concern for Maxwell Industries. The company had worked hard to build a reputation for itself and wanted to be sure this new endeavor didn’t compromise years of careful brand building. At the same time, the Indian group was under pressure to keep up with the demands of today’s market.
“Not only does our customer expect a certain standard of quality from our brands, we need to deliver it on shorter and shorter deadlines if we want to maintain our position in the marketplace,” explains Mr. Pathare.
Lectra’s dedicated cutting-room technology allowed the company to automate menial tasks and achieve more consistent results in its cutting room, with less time wasted on re-cuts. “We have been able to improve on quality and cut down on manufacturing defects. This adds value to our whole operation, as we can continue to provide a superior product to our customers in a timely fashion,” Mr. Pathare observes.
Forging ahead
Maxwell was so impressed with the results at its Thingalur plant that it has chosen to roll out a similar project at its Umbergoan facility. The future looks bright for the Indian company, which is ready to take up its ambitious expansion plan.
“We are very satisfied with our partnership with Lectra. Thanks to their integrated technology solutions, we are able to execute orders successfully and with fewer delays. We also have a better understanding of our plant capacity and can more accurately predict what resources we will need, which helps us better plan for production,” attests Mr. Pathare.
There has been a more than a five per cent drop in fabric consumption, thanks to Lectra.
A Lectra in Fashion
With 40 years’ experience in fashion and apparels, Lectra’s mission is to provide a complete spectrum of design, development and production solutions to meet the 21st-century challenges. From first creative spark to final product, its professional services address an end-to-end process. It supports the day-to-day operations of its customers in over 100 countries for round-the-clock process optimization. From fast fashion to luxury to ready-to-wear, Lectra’s 23,000 customers in markets as diverse as casual, sports, outdoor, denim, and lingerie, represent every development and sourcing model imaginable. Beyond suppliers and manufacturers, they are the brands you love and the stores where you shop.
“We have a better understanding of our plant capacity and can more accurately predict what resources we will need. This helps us better plan for production,” adds Mr. Kapil Pathare.