Modular manufacturing: an alternative to improve the competitiveness in the clothing industry

The change that occurred in the last years in the manufacturing environment of the clothing industry has motivated the redesign, in many cases, of its organizational and productive structures. For the companies in this sector, every time it becomes more necessary to reach satisfactory levels of competitiveness, as it is the only way of remaining in the market. For this, the adoption and implementation of different strategies that act on several links of the supply chain are required. One of these key links is the production function. In this paper, the advantages of the “just‐in‐time” philosophy for the clothing industry are mentioned, and more specifically the ones of modular manufacturing. This is based on the authors experience in relation to its use in the clothing industry, showing its superiority over the traditional in‐line manufacturing.