Avery Dennison – as a clothing label and trim supplier to apparel brands - is transforming how we manufacture, and manage our supply chains, by harnessing the power of data and digital solutions. Even the products we produce for our fashion customers are taking the form of digital solutions, which will underpin circularity and sustainability in the years to come.
Data insights for reactive production
Data insights are informing our factories around the world, helping us avoid product defects, be better prepared for seasonal peaks, and be more accurate in our supply chain planning. Because textile waste is such a problem in fashion, we have a duty to adopt smart manufacturing processes that will reduce supply chain waste and minimise the resources we, and our customers, use.
Using forecasts from our customers, combined with historical demand data, we’re working to improve capacity utilisation and service. In the future, we have the potential to apply other factors like weather and macro-economic considerations into models to improve forecast accuracy. It all starts with using data to build predictive models.
Fashion is famously cyclical with two big annual demand spikes – in spring and late autumn. Just ahead of those peaks, production ramps up, but when outside influences unexpectedly kick in, significant inventory waste issues come into play.
For instance, if it’s unseasonably warm in September and October, the inventory requirement for winter ranges can be reduced dramatically. Rather than be left with unsold goods, manufacturing should align more closely to current needs, and AI-driven data analytics is proving to be the key to this more accurate, timely and sustainable model of production.
All the way through the supply chain, fashion suppliers need to respond to demand fluctuations with speed. Our bespoke labels for fashion brands are required to be reconfigured if the inventory mix is altered at late notice. Material composition and wash care instructions might change for thousands of items coming through the supply chain. So, we need adaptability powered by digital systems to make those last-minute production adjustments possible.
Product performance testing using data
Historically, every heat transfer label Avery Dennison develops is tested across multiple fabric and application combinations. That testing process is lengthy and costly. Through years of following that process, we’ve created a mountain of performance testing data. Using that data, we’ve recently built a tool, based on machine learning, to predict the performance of our products under different fabric and application conditions. In the spirit of agile development, we started with a small data set and predicted the performance of our products with up to 85 per cent accuracy.
We’re now expanding our data sets to improve that accuracy, with the goal of using predictive analytics to eliminate the need for costly physical sampling. That will save thousands of hours of test time and help us realise potentially over $1m in savings.
Industry 4.0 essential for the circular economy
There is growing interest in the fashion sector for IoT-enabling technologies that authenticate product history, provide tracking and inventory solutions, and support richer consumer encounters. Product information – digital product passports – can be accessed by stakeholders simply by scanning a QR code on a garment’s care label with a smartphone, and accessing composition data and care advice, stored in the cloud.
The World Economic Forum[1] says the only way to bring about climate neutrality by 2050 is to create a global circular economy. Digitalisation is the lifeblood of this economic model.
Manufacturers are operating today in a world of big data and massive amounts of information, so innovations such as intelligent labels provide much-needed transparency, showing how a connected world can be a better world, full of greater possibilities.
The fashion industry’s aim is for all garments to carry digital product passports that will give customers and textile recyclers vital information. In time, clothes recycling will become part of everyday life for us all. Legislation is on the horizon that will fast-track this circular model, and help reduce fashion’s unacceptable carbon footprint.
Our intelligent labelling technology, which includes QR codes and RFID, is already being adopted by fashion brands around the world to start making this a reality. The ‘digital twin’ technology also drives manufacturing and supply chain efficiency, improves transparency and enhances product authenticity.
Every manufacturing sector has high hopes that emerging technologies will tackle age-old industrial objectives. These include boosting productivity, cutting waste, improving quality, saving energy and reducing equipment downtime.
Even the largest and most visionary manufacturers still have further to travel on this digital journey. My big hope? That a focus on the intersection of physical product and the digital world, and an emphasis on leveraging data to make decisions, will help us create compelling solutions that will unlock latent value for us all.
Michael Colarossi, VP, Innovation, Product Line Management, and Sustainability at Avery Dennison
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/digitalization-critical-creating-global-circular-economy/
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