The solution will also enable the company to forge even stronger relationships with its customers through greater transparency around labour costs, thanks to GSDCost’s incorporated fair wage tool, the two companies said in a joint media release.

Established in 1972, in the Lang Giang district of Bac Giang Province, Vietnam, LGG is a leading global manufacturer, producing over 28 million jackets and trousers a year. The company has six factories across the region and employs 6,800 people. Its customers include Uniqlo, Walmart, Gap, Target and Bosideng. With strong values around community building, promoting fair wages and protecting the ecological environment, LGG has already employed several initiatives to increase its value to brands, such as the installation of 3-story house systems, with central air conditioning based on European standards.

Using complex time measurements based on time studies and historical data found in a myriad of Excel spreadsheets, LGG also needed a standardised solution that would accurately record SMV through effective, standard motion digitised codes to optimise the costing process and significantly enhance manufacturing efficiencies.

Luu Chung, CEO, LGG, said:  The textile and apparel industry is becoming increasingly more competitive and we are all under pressure to lower costs effectively. To do this, however, we need to realise a high level of standardisation. GSDCost will certainly help us achieve this, by standardising our SMV calculation and costing processes. In parallel, we expect GSDCost to deliver improvements of at least 5 per cent in production efficiency, to give us a truly competitive edge.”

With plans to also increase its Free on Board (FOB) production manufacturing offerings, with price quotes to include all shipping and delivery costs, LGG wanted to additionally enhance the trust and transparency it shared with customers, by showcasing its fair labour wage policy, across its factories.

Coats Digital’s GSDCost method analysis and pre-determined times solution is widely acknowledged as the de-facto international standard across the sewn products industry. The solution supports a more collaborative, transparent and sustainable supply chain, in which brands and manufacturers establish and optimise ‘International Standard Time Benchmarks’ using standard motion codes and predetermined times. This use of a common language and standards supports accurate cost prediction, fact-based negotiation, and a more efficient garment manufacturing process, while concurrently delivering on CSR commitments.

Coats Digital’s enhanced feature of a globalised fair wage tool combines the international standard time for any given style, with detailed factory efficiencies, contracted hours and the fair living wage for the country. This added tool enables brands and manufacturers to quickly agree the fair living wage allowance for any given garment, in any factory in the world.

Manjula Jeevananda, project manager, Coats Digital, said: “It is a great pleasure to be partnering with LGG in their journey to modernise and digitise business processes to provide enhanced services to their customers. As the fashion industry starts to recover from the pandemic, recent research shows that nearly 50 per cent of brands are planning to decrease the size of their supplier base by up to 25 per cent, in the bid to forge more exclusive, closer partnerships with top-performing, digitally automated manufacturers with robust corporate social responsibility credentials. Use of GSDCost will greatly assist LGG to capitalise on this trend, by effectively future-proofing its business efficiencies and increasing the levels of transparency that brands and retailers are starting to demand.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)