The "Transformation Campaign" Of The Foundries Is Very Simple.

The British luxury brand Burberry (Burberry) has invited a "teacher" to a small factory of 200 people.

Audited by Burberry, the factory has problems such as messy environment, low efficiency and confusion in storage. Each worker works longer than 110 hours a week.

The commissioned FM consultancy recommends that the factory convert two of the traditional lines into "one piece flow" and increase production efficiency. After 6 months' guidance, the overtime hours of factory workers were reduced to 80 hours, and factories were in good order.

The factory also OEM Burberry, LeCoqSportif (French cock) and other international well-known brands, and Burberry orders accounted for less than 1%.

In the past, Europe and America Brand dealer More is to supervise the production of representative plants through auditing, and now, designated transformation is a new method. The same brand also includes Adidas, Nike, Walmart, Disney, H&M and so on.

Fair Labor

A long term mentoring agency, head of the consultancy company in Guangzhou, introduces the following three situations: the international brand consultancy company guides its representative factory: the brand specifies a consultant company to guide the factory transformation; two, the brand lists the list of several consultant companies, so that the factory can choose one of them as a reformer; three, the A brand sees the B brand's rectification effect on its representative factory is good. OEM Factories are also involved.

It is understood that Brand Company believes that a factory needs to be transformed because the initial audit is not done, or the new quality control and procurement requirements need factory execution. The cost is paid by the factory itself.

Burberry is a member of the European FLA (FairLabourAssosiation fair Labour Association). The association was founded in 1999 and is committed to ending sweatshops worldwide. It has established a brand accountability system, and enterprises have an obligation to facilitate the implementation of this guideline in factories that produce their own products. The first group included Adidas and so on. Ethics in European and American countries Trade The importance of brand enterprises has been under pressure in foreign markets. The consumer's conscience website (www.ethicalconsumer.org) lists a long list of boycott lists in addition to brand companies. Brand Company uses kangaroo fur as material and misleads consumers to replace breastfeeding with milk powder. Consumers are urged to improve their products by refusing to consume the brand products.

At the very beginning, international brands supervised their factories' employment and sent their own staff to inspect factories. In the view of the foundries, they are very good at cheating. Later, we hired a consultant from Hongkong to check the factory. "These people are not good at cheating, but they are good at bribery."

After the exposure of Apple sweatshop in 2010, brand owners attached more importance to the real situation of the factory. Wang Weicheng, the boss of the Nantong subsidiary of a large garment group in Hongkong, said, "before, I just asked the underneath people to write the report with the same gourd. But now I can't do that. The headquarters is very strict. I write it myself now.

In fact, the relevant supervisory alliance has been reflecting on the feasibility of its monitoring methods. In its 2009 annual report, FLA said: "FLA has carried out a lot of factory management and investigation among its workers in more than ten years, and has continuously developed new methods. Based on this experience, FLA found that it is not enough to simply assess whether a factory has reached the international labour standards. "

The designation of transformation has undoubtedly become a new way. For example, the consulting firm in Guangzhou is increasing in volume and needs more staff.

Transform production

Miss FM, project manager of the consulting firm, said: "Brand Company has not forced the factory to rebuild. However, if there is no rectification, Brand Company will reconsider whether to send these factories. Moreover, if some factories do not transform, it is difficult to survive under the requirements of brand satisfaction.

In order to cope with the factory inspection, some factories are playing cards and punching machines. The difficulty of the factory lies in its backward production management mode. The factory thought it was planned, but in fact, the plan was very unstable. An order was started, raw materials were not in place, and the next order had to be hurried. Workers and other materials, such as the completion of a previous process, a lot of time spent, which is one of the reasons for overtime.

Commissioned by a luxury brand, the consultant set up a production line for the foundries, adjusted post personnel and made production plan management system. This is also the main direction for consulting firms to help factories.

In one case, in May 2009, the factory workers worked up to 51011 hours a week, and the figure dropped to 32700 hours by October 2010. The median reduction is 18311 hours, or 36% of the working time.

Correspondingly, the number of workers has also decreased from 771 to 654.

"How much money will your factory save if you reduce the working time by 36%?" the publicity list of this consultant company is printed on this account, because cost is the most important issue for factory owners.

Due to the shortening of overtime time, there is also a reduction in overtime costs paid to workers by factories. As a result of the late arrival of goods, the cost of speeding up delivery is also reduced.

However, not all factories can be continuously improved. From December 2009 to June 2010, the Shanghai Yi run dress for a period of six months "single piece flow" rectification, during the period of efficiency improvement - decline - ascension process. Chairman Mao thinks that to transform the process, there must be the following conditions: first, the staff is determined; two, the order quantity should be large enough, for example, 5000 to 10000 pieces; three, the management level of the supervisor, workshop director must be highly coordinated; four, there must be a stable IE department. {page_break}

When the teacher is in, the effect is obvious. The productivity of each group increased by 5%-30%. What's more, the rework rate is more prominent. Only two hundred or three hundred pieces of work are usually found, and now 20 problems can be found and corrected. Ms. Mao said.

After the consulting company left, the employees complained that the work flow was tired and not free. At this point, we must resolve our grievances through team cohesion and stick to it.

Ms. Mao mentioned that there are many benefits to the brand in terms of production and transformation. "Brand is always a contradiction. We must standardize production and reduce prices to factories. The transformation can satisfy the brand requirements to a certain extent, especially at the time when foundry is so difficult. Ms. Mao said.

"Therefore, we hope that brand enterprises can undertake a certain number of orders after the rectification, instead of canceling orders." Ms. Mao further said.

Stable supply chain

In addition to obeying the code of ethics, the contradiction between brand reliance on China's foundries and the deterioration of domestic OEM environment determines that brands need to use a more direct way to ensure stable and effective operation of factories.

Insiders revealed that Coach, one of the handbag brands, has more than 500 foundry factories in China. This is because its annual growth in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 three years is over 11%, and the main growth is in Asia, especially in China. In order to avoid transportation difficulties, Coach has increased its manufacturing capacity in China, or even transferred the distribution center from China to China. The brand also recommends that its Chinese foundries be reformed.

The pursuit of Asian emerging market share is the same practice of many international brands. According to a market report from Coach, by 2013, the market for handbags and accessories in mainland China, Hongkong and Macao will probably exceed $2 billion 500 million, which is more than two times the current US $1 billion 200 million.

"Brands value sourcing (Procurement) in China." "Although some factories have moved to Vietnam and Indonesia, China still has an unparalleled, mature material supply and processing chain as the first choice for brands," said Miss LAN, project manager of FM consulting company.

In Guangzhou, the management details of a handbag factory over 20 years old reflect the escalation of brand requirements.

Zhou Ming, a factory master, has worked in the factory for 8 years. He feels that the production process is refined every year. The raw materials and tools are collected and handed out by the special person, and the finished handbags are changed to be taken away by the special person and sent to the next group. In addition to lowering his head to zipper and accessories, he does not need to do other redundant actions.

The risk prevention is prudent in the 1000 factory area where handmade luxury handbags are made. "If a sewing needle falls into the handbag and is sold together, it is a great thing." Zhou Ming said. The factory has gradually formulated a set of rules: if the worker needs a new sewing needle, he must apply directly to the factory director. The factory director will be able to issue new sewing needles after he finds out what is wrong with the original needles and ensures that he has not dropped the finished products.

Factory security is tightening further. Workers enter the factory every day at 7:15 a.m. to 11:45 noon, and afternoon to afternoon. Each group has a Commissioner to stare at the monitoring system to understand workers' in and out situation. A large number of security guards lined up at the door during rush hours.

In the past few years, employees secretly sold luxury brand handbags or models out of factory sales to factories in neighboring cities. "Not at all now," Zhou Ming said. "Even though no body is searched, the handbag can't fly out of the factory."

Only a factory that is so strict can make brand owners feel assured of placing more orders on their hands.

A bad factory may include: there are no intervals between the two pits in the washroom; the fabric of the driver's clothing is dragged onto the floor, full of dyestuffs; workers see beautiful clothes, secretly open the boxes and try them on.

Once these things are exposed, the brand image and brand status of the brand will be greatly reduced every year. The more brands there are in China, the more sensitive they are to these risks. " Andrew, a foreign consultant company, said.

However, Miss Lan also admitted: "Brand Company usually care about first-class suppliers (finished suppliers), and hopes to enhance their capabilities, while suppliers of two or three class pipe materials rarely ask directly. Because the first class suppliers are exposed by the media, the products that appear in the photos are likely to be brand logo.

At the same time, the domestic generation industry is experiencing pressure on materials and labor. Insiders say that the profit margin of Coach is only around 2%. Wang Wei, the boss of Nantong subsidiary of Hongkong large garment group, said that the profit margin for European brands is only about 3%, and the average industry level is only 5%-6%, and it has been able to recruit more cheap labor force.

"The brand's external transformation is for social responsibility, and we think it is for the brand and the sustainable development of the factory," Andrew said. "Not to mention anything else, if there are strikes and other accidents, the brand enterprises will have the pressure to receive the goods, and may need to intervene in the coordination with the local government or related institutions."

Efficiency management of every material, strict packaging and storage of goods, strengthening the concentration of workers' work and speeding up the flow of products are, at present, an option. It not only saved the factory's jobs, but also reduced the potential risks of the brand.

Beyond efficiency {page_break}

Outside the production efficiency, the brand also commissioned the relevant agencies to supervise the factory from the aspect of social psychology.

The WH workers' hotline in Guangzhou is commissioned by 15 international brands to contact the workers directly by telephone and QQ to monitor whether there is any harm to the workers' rights and interests in the factory. The Brand Company pays the worker hotline on a monthly basis.

Unlike those exposed to sweatshop reports, the WH worker hotline is able to resolve possible accidents through case counseling. The founder, Mr. Li, said: "if the workers and factories are on the same plate, the idea of our organization is like playing the dishes, and the two must be balanced so that they will not fall off."

There were more than 60 poisoned apples in 2010, and in 2011 almost two times the number of poisoning victims in the previous year.

"Has anyone ever asked why the same thing happened in Jiangsu, or even the same factory, but the number did not drop?" Andrew, manager of foreign consulting firm, believes that for some Brand Company, as long as the price is right and the goods are qualified, it will be possible to care about anything outside the efficiency, which is bound to cause problems.

"Among the many OEM industries, the textile industry has the strongest mobility and the most important rights awareness." Mr. Li said.

In February 2008, the workers in the handbags factory went on strike because of their dissatisfaction with the base salary and did not go up in accordance with the minimum wage standard in the city. The Swat participated in maintaining the order at the scene. Because there are a large number of workers in a county in Chongqing, the county has set up an office to help employees from this county fight for their rights and interests. How to make more than 6000 workers in this handbag factory live in harmony with factories is clearly not the solution of the code of conduct.

The WH worker hotline was commissioned to supervise the factory.

WH workers hotline will receive three cases of red, yellow and green. Red represents a more serious incident and needs to be reported to Brand Company on the same day. "We have the ability to allow the brand to postpone the order to the factory so as to give the factory pressure to correct it immediately." Mr. Li said. While yellow is an individual labor incident; green represents other events, including workers' emotional problems, difficulties in choice, and so on.

Mr. Li believes that the proper protection of workers' rights and interests is also for the sustainable development of brands and factories.

On the wall of the office, four active digital cards are constantly updated to show that the number of counselling cases has reached more than 6900.

"In 2010, there were 13 cases of Foxconn jumping off the building. During this period, we succeeded in preventing the same number of attempted suicide cases." Mr. Li said.