When the video ended, John asked Marcia, “So, what did you think?”
This was a question that Kane would have normally asked, but he was glad that John had taken the lead. He assumed that he was only to speak when he was spoken to.
Again, whatever!
“Very impressive. I can see why Elegant has done so well. I’m from a trading company at Hampton and I haven’t had the opportunity to see many manufacturing processes, but I doubt that Hampton Sportswear is anywhere near as modernized as you are here. That alone speaks well for the merger.”
Kane remained expressionless, but his thoughts were running rampant. Not even close, sister. Elegant runs circles around you guys. It’s the one thing that might save your sorry asses when the shit hits the fan.”
Marcia returned to her notes. Her head was down when she asked, “What’s next?”
Kane looked at John, who was looking at him. Neither knew to whom the question had been directed.
Sensing their dilemma she raised her head and looked directly at Kane. “That question was for you.”
“Well you may want to start the tour with a walk-through the plant next door. That is where the fiber and fabrics are produced. It starts with materials from natural sources, like cotton and wool, from regenerative cellulose material like rayon and acetate or entirely synthetic like polyester and nylon. Elegant is unique in that they manufacture all their own thread and the fabrics are produced solely for their own consumption based on demand from confirmed orders. The processes are highly automated. Natural fibers must be cleaned, carded, combed, drawn, roved and finally spun. Manmade fibers such as rayon and acrylics are wet spun. Acetates and spandex are dry spun, Polymerics are melt spun.”
Kane observed that the technical information was beginning to overwhelm her. “Maybe we should save the fiber manufacturing plant for last. Since it’s just next door it would be the perfect place to end.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Let’s make the tour a cursory walk through for now. Any decisions we ultimately make will be based mainly on which Elegant lines we decide to continue. It will be marketing, not manufacturing, driven.”
Kane didn’t reply. Being a numbers guy he was used to making decisions based on the bottom line regardless of the which division was affected. This gal is in way over her head. What was Hampton thinking of when he put her in charge? She’s from a trading company for god’s sake. She doesn’t know squat about manufacturing. Well, it really doesn’t matter who he chose. When this house of cards collapses every one of their divisions will be affected. He looked down at her legs to see what type of shoes she had worn. He was distracted momentarily, by her shapely legs. Finally he said, “I’m glad to see you wore walking shoes. This tour covers over seven and a half miles and it’s all concrete flooring. One of our six cafeterias is around the half-way mark in case you want to stop for a quick lunch. You may want to bring along a bottle of water or juice from the table over there.”
Marcia looked over the assortment and chose one of the energy drinks. Kane picked up a bottle of water.
She thanked John for setting up the presentation and asked him to reserve the conference room for the next two days, momentarily recalling Kane’s original advice. She put the binder in her attaché case, gave the combination lock a spin and placed it on top of the conference table.
She turned to John and said, “I’ll be back for this later.”
“I’ll lock up here for now. Just have me paged when you need access again,” he answered. “I’ll be nearby.”
Marcia picked up her notebook and turned to Kane. “Lead on.”
It would require seven hours to tour the seven garment facilities. Elegant’s production plants were separated by major product lines, jackets and outerwear, combinations (suit jackets, slacks and skirts), dresses, Neo-Weaves (sweaters, suits, dresses and skirts), wraps (scarves and shawls), tops (blouses and sweaters) and bottoms (slacks and skirts). At each plant they viewed the fabric production (weaving, knitting or fusing) that was unique to the garments being produced and the measuring, cutting, sewing and finishing, all under CAD/CAM control in a continuous automated process mode. Most of the machines in the plants were Swiss built with a low incidence of down time.
Half-way through the circuit they stopped at one of the cafeterias catered by a local banquet company. Marcia nibbled on a salad and drank a cup of black coffee, Kane had a burger and a bottle of water. Conversation between them was minimal, and mostly limited to technical questions that she needed cleared up. When they left the cafeteria she picked up another energy drink.
The Neo-Weaves plant was second to last. Kane knew that Adam Hampton considered the line the “crown jewel” of Elegant Sportswear. He could tell that Marcia was impressed by the production of an entire garment as one continuous piece. Knit sweaters were on the production line when they arrived.
“Seamless one-piece construction provides the structural integrity of a single piece of fabric. Bulky stitches on conventional knit sweaters are gone, providing fit and comfort superior to any other textile product,” he proffered in his best tour guide voice.
“I’ve seen the advertising in magazines, but there is nothing like seeing and feeling an actual garment. It’s almost biblical; like Jesus’ robe. I can see now why Adam is so excited about the line. Seeing it makes you want to go buy one on the spot.”
“It’s Elegant’s fastest growing line, by far.”
Kane let his thoughts roam again. One of those knits would sure look great on that fabulous body of yours. Every curve would be accentuated. He caught himself, Where did that come from? I better keep my mind on business. Still, that’s one fine shape.
Marcia asked, “Is anyone even close to matching Elegant’s technology?”
“There are a few would be copycats, mostly Asian producers. They’ve mastered the design part of it, but they aren’t anywhere near automated manufacturing. Without machines to maintain integrity, they’re right back at item-to-item and batch-to-batch inconsistencies between runs, something that most high-end retailers won’t tolerate. I would guess that Neo-Weaves has a two to five year lead over the rest of the industry. The plant is struggling right now to fill orders within a two month lead time.”
“What will happen when a competitor finally puts it all together?”
“From an operational point I think Neo-Weaves would still have the edge. Quality remains the key issue. Elegant uses the finest fibers and their CAD/CAM processes assure integrity within sizes and batches. Also, Elegant is already experimenting with fabrics other than wool and cotton to expand the Neo-Weaves process to their other product lines. When they pull that off, it will be a real coup. No one will be able to catch them.”
They left the Neo-Weaves plant and moved next door to the last building on the tour. The Fiber Production Plant, nicknamed “FIPP” by the garment plants. The plant required the most environmental control due to the cleaning, carding, combing, drawing, roving, spinning, dying and drying of natural fibers and the chemicals used to produce manmade fibers. Huge fans were mounted in the ceilings of each process room. Exhaust from the fans was directed to a filter shed where the air was purified before it’s release into the atmosphere. Liquid washes and water used in production are piped to a treatment plant housed in the center of the Elegant complex.