Aptean Apparel Shop Floor Control
Carhartt Carhartt leverages Aptean Apparel Shop Floor Control to increase efficiency and support strategic transformation and growth. Industry
Garment Manufacturing
Challenges
» Legacy, batch-based systems lacked real-time visibility into production and operator performance, resulting in bottlenecks
» Inability to support customizations and scale created a burden for management and IT
» Calculating variable incentive pay required manual, time-intensive payroll processes, including gum sheets on the shop floor
Benefits
» Increased average production line efficiency by 13% overall, across 7 manufacturing plants providing the ability to quickly adapt to changing demands
» Delivered real-time visibility into
production and performance across the organization eliminating bottlenecks
» Saved 320 person hours per payroll and approximately $60,000 USD annually by eliminating manual payroll work
Photo credit: Carhartt.com
Carhartt is one of the most recognized brands in North America, delivering high quality, durable workwear for hard working people. Founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1889, Carhartt is well known for its signature outerwear, including jackets and overalls. But in recent years, the brand has also expanded its workwear products to serve and protect hardworking men and women both on and off the job in all weather conditions. It’s a large-scale manufacturing operation. The company is proud to employ nearly 4,000 associates across seven manufacturing and distribution facilities located in the U.S. and Mexico. Carhartt services many channels, selling direct to consumers and small businesses as well as maintaining a large wholesale retail presence and even operating Carhartt-owned retail stores.
The Need for an Industry-Specific SFC As Carhartt prepared to enter a period of rapid growth, the company lacked the strategic technology base needed to scale up and support manufacturing operations. They used an old manufacturing system that did not provide real-time production visibility, nor did it offer enough flexibility in variable operator pay calculations. “Our previous solution was all batch processes. We would print coupons which the operators applied to gum sheets, and then a day later, we would scan all those gum sheets in order to be able to update operator pay and see movement of production through the sewing lines,” recalled Carhartt’s Chief Information Officer Katrina Agusti, who is responsible for the definition, justification and delivery of strategic business IT initiatives across Carhartt. “We were always reacting a day behind and we didn’t have any insight into what was happening on the shop floor real-time.”