Case Study Zara the Technology Giant of the Fashion World
Question and discussion
As complete as possible, sketch the supply chain for Zara from raw materials to consumer purchase.
Raw material – High tech automated cutting facilities – Small workshops – Ware houses – Stores – customers – Stores – Commercial managers
Raw material
Zara makes 40 percent of its own fabrics and produces more than half of its own clothes (maximize time efficiency)
Cuts fabric in-house
As it completes designs, Zara cuts fabric in-house. The cutting is done in Zara’s own high-tech automated cutting facilities.
Local co-operatives
The cut pieces are distributed for assembly to a network of small workshops (350 workshops, 11,000 workers). Workshops are provided with a set of easy to follow instructions, which enable them to quick sew up the pieces and provide a constant stream to Zara’s garment finishing and packing facilities. Thus, what takes months for other companies, takes no more than a few days for Zara. Clothing items are wrapped in plastic and transported on conveyor belts to a group of giant warehouses.
Ware houses
Zara’s warehouses are a vision of modern automation as swift and efficient as any automotive or customer electronics plant. The computerized system sorts, packs, labels, and allocate clothing items to every one of Zara’s 1,495 stores.
Stores
For stores within a 24-hours drive, Zara delivers goods by truck, whereas it ships merchandise via cargo jet to stores farther away. Each stores receives deliveries twice a week, so after being produced the merchandise does not spend more than a week at most in transit.
Commercial managers
Everyday store managers report hot fads to headquarters. Thus, store managers help shape design by ensuring that the creative teams have real-time information based on the observed tastes of actual customers.
What the garment will look like?
What fabric it will be made out of?
What it will cost?
What price it will sell?
Discuss the concepts of horizontal and vertical conflict as
As complete as possible, sketch the supply chain for Zara from raw materials to consumer purchase.
Raw material – High tech automated cutting facilities – Small workshops – Ware houses – Stores – customers – Stores – Commercial managers
Raw material
Zara makes 40 percent of its own fabrics and produces more than half of its own clothes (maximize time efficiency)
Cuts fabric in-house
As it completes designs, Zara cuts fabric in-house. The cutting is done in Zara’s own high-tech automated cutting facilities.
Local co-operatives
The cut pieces are distributed for assembly to a network of small workshops (350 workshops, 11,000 workers). Workshops are provided with a set of easy to follow instructions, which enable them to quick sew up the pieces and provide a constant stream to Zara’s garment finishing and packing facilities. Thus, what takes months for other companies, takes no more than a few days for Zara. Clothing items are wrapped in plastic and transported on conveyor belts to a group of giant warehouses.
Ware houses
Zara’s warehouses are a vision of modern automation as swift and efficient as any automotive or customer electronics plant. The computerized system sorts, packs, labels, and allocate clothing items to every one of Zara’s 1,495 stores.
Stores
For stores within a 24-hours drive, Zara delivers goods by truck, whereas it ships merchandise via cargo jet to stores farther away. Each stores receives deliveries twice a week, so after being produced the merchandise does not spend more than a week at most in transit.
Commercial managers
Everyday store managers report hot fads to headquarters. Thus, store managers help shape design by ensuring that the creative teams have real-time information based on the observed tastes of actual customers.
What the garment will look like?
What fabric it will be made out of?
What it will cost?
What price it will sell?
Discuss the concepts of horizontal and vertical conflict as