Linkage and Structure of Segments and Functioning of Chain on Order Fulfilment Process

In this section, we will develop and discuss the linkage of activities and the functioning of the chain in relation to the order fulfilment process. Later we will identify various time elements in the order fulfilment process and analyse them for improvement of time performance. The process should present a logical approach to analyse the time performance of various segments linked in intra-company and inter-company setting in the chain. The linkage of chain segments and activities is shown in Fig. 49. The discussion on order fulfilment under various product environments will continue in the following sub-section and subsequent sections.

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Figure 49: Structure and Linkages of the Segments in the Supply Chain and Their Response Times

It can be observed in Fig.46 and Fig. 49, that the company has developed a mature supply chain network of a woven shirt manufacturing value-chain within an intra-company set-up. In Fig.49, the structure of the fabric manufacturing segment is shown in detail at the central part, under the heading of Intra-organization. Supply, delivery, and outsourced activities including yarn supplies and manufacturing, yarn and fabric dyeing and finishing and garment manufacturing etc. are also briefly attached on the network with their fixed lead times which will help us to study various

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types of order flows in the fabric manufacturing. Further, in this part of the figure, the continuous lines with arrows show the existence of material and information flows whereas the broken lines with arrow represent the sharing of information through activities. Various order fulfilment flows like Available-to-Promise (ATP) and Capable-to-Promise (CTP), are also identified with diagonal lines on the activity boxes. Some boxes are linked through multiple continuous lines which represent the process flow options. Various activities including data and information management, execution of plans, control of activities and processes, communication etc. are supported with central management execution system.

Let us observe the functioning of the chain on different types of order fulfilment process and the role of the various functions and segments.

V.2.3.1. Functioning of the Chain on Order Fulfilment Process

The commercial function is the outer link of the chain segment to customer markets. It receives enquiries and consults customers to define their needs including design and delivery times. When the needs are defined, the orders are entered into the system to check their fulfilment feasibility under ATP and CTP order fulfilment strategies. After the orders are entered into the system, logistics and planning function take control of these. The system monitors the flow in every function of the fabric manufacturing facility but it does not cover other segments of chain. The system facilitates integrated planning and management of customer orders, information sharing and decision making in the scenario of huge number of customer orders flowing through the value chain segment, which is rare in such facilities elsewhere. We have identified some aspects of the decision environment at different levels of the order processing activity in Fig. 49 at the right most part of the figure. They cover the general decision making process on these stages.

The flow of orders in the preparation, production and other stages is controlled by the planning function which is responsible for the induction of all customer orders into the process. The planning function serves two objectives; at one side it assists the logistics for checking the availability of delivery dates for new orders and to insert the new orders into the production process. On the other side it monitors the flow of orders in the process and exercises the authority to introduce and/or perform updates on deviations of the schedules in the actual flow of orders.

The role of planning department should be very important in the situations of quick response as it is the main decision making authority in the delivery dates decisions. Collectively, planning and

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logistics have the key to implement various order fulfilment strategies in the value chain and they can provide the transformation from existing order fulfilment strategies towards quick response strategies.

The production status and productions plans are updated regularly in the system at required stages of the process; such inputs include for example the production data and status of quality and time schedules. Meanwhile, all the information including progress on orders is available to the concerned departments and decision makers in real times. The system also identifies the constraints on the resources, which help to decide the appropriate delivery times and to arrange required resources at various levels of the process at due time. When the production phase is completed, the logistics and commercial manage the delivery with the cloth store and dispatch function. The dispatch process is systemized to provide better delivery quality and better inside controls.

The system does not provide the information on production or other delays to the logistics or commercial functions and, as a result, the information do not pass to the customers in case some adjustments are needed and thus the information cycle breaks in the order control system and do not fulfil the objectives of sharing information across the systems. Although, the planning function accommodates deviations of plans within the system but at times it should worth more that such information is available to logistics function that normally has better knowledge on the customer requirements and their reaction on delay. Keeping in view the number of orders, it should not be easy to develop such feedback system at various levels of process but it should be important when focusing the time based performance of the customer orders.

It was observed that the management practices are not yet standardized in accordance with the advance planning system which is searching for management confidence to approve its authority and utilization.

V.2.3.2. Structure of the Fabric Manufacturing Segment

The process of fabric manufacturing is separated into the preparation and main production stages.

Yarn store is responsible for yarn stock and availability. The procurement of yarn is arranged on the basis of production plans which are updated regularly for the future production and the historical consumption of yarn is also taken into account during the process. Winding, warping,

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slashing, drawing-in, knotting and mounting operations schedule their plans to meet the starting date in weaving thus they react to feed the production at weaving stage. We can say that the weaving stage is the active stage in the planning system and most of the processes before it are reactive ones. There is slack capacity available at the preparation stages. Mounting and drawing-in processes are the madrawing-in capacity bottlenecks especially drawing-in high design change seasons of peak demand and collection development. GPAC is the main program for management execution and control of activities and resources to respond to the customer orders. It is developed internally and its main components are captured in Fig. 50.

Figure 50: Production Planning and Execution Program (GPAC)

Like many other planning programs, it is based on the spread sheet modelling and takes into account the constraints on resources of the chain. In the above figure, the Gantt chart in the lower part shows the schedule of planned and running orders on the weaving machines. The sections in the central right part cover the mounting and drawing-in activities including their schedules, capacities and resources short comings. The central parts provide the control and planning of warps in preparation sections. The sections at top deal with the design and material requirements.