Challenge: Founded in 1972, Romanita is one of Romania’s biggest apparel manufacturers, producing clothing for an impressive list of international brands that includes H&M, Zara, Massimo Dutti, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Primark. The company employs 800 people at its 3,800m2 production facility and produces 8,000 pieces a month. Romanita had built a reputation for rigorous standards and an ability to deliver high-quality clothing at relatively low production costs, but after more than 40 years in business, the marketplace had changed. Between shortened deadlines and shrinking profit margins, the company was struggling to turn orders around quickly enough to keep up with demand. They needed to make their cutting room more efficient to minimize unnecessary losses and continue delivering on time, so they could keep the trust of their customers, which they had worked so hard to earn.
Solution: Romanita’s first priority was to reduce fabric waste and improve operational efficiency by finding ways to cut large volumes of fabric faster and more accurately, and reducing machine downtime related to technical issues. After consulting with Lectra’s experts, the company decided to begin using markermaking software Diamino to create more fabric-efficient markers, and invested in two Brio automatic spreading machines and two Vector cutting machines for its cutting room. The new equipment and changes to their process cut down significantly on wasted time and material, reducing their error rate by 25% and saving them 2% in fabric. Romanita is so happy with the results that they have decided to replace their existing CAD solutions with Lectra’s patternmaking software Modaris, which will allow them to speed up their product development process.
Markets: Menswear, womenswear
Location: Romania
Lectra Solutions: Brio, Vector®, Diamino® and Modaris®
Romanita is first and foremost a family business, and many of the 800 employees at its factory have parents who used to work in the same space. The company has come a long way since its humble beginnings and now boasts one of the largest and most technically advanced clothing factories in the country. As the Romanian group sets its sights on attracting more international customers, CEO Iuliana Tihon Dinoiu knows that finding better ways to work will be crucial. “If you want to have a future in this business, you have to invest in technology,” Dinoiu affirms.
Making The Cut
Romanita knew that it needed to modernize its cutting room if it wanted to continue delivering quality product on its customers’ tight timelines — but how to choose the right technology partner from the myriad of options on the market? “We looked at and compared a lot of different cutting systems, both abroad and in Romania. In the end, performance and rapid service were the deciding factors,” explains Dinoiu. “Our customers are working on a fastfashion schedule; orders have to be processed as soon as they come in, without errors, and quickly. Technical problems in the cutting room need to be solved right away because any delay in the process not only causes production losses, but also costs us credibility if we can’t deliver when we say we will. Lectra has a comprehensive service program and they are committed to providing us with the support we need, when we need it.”
Producing More With Less
After consulting with Lectra’s experts, Romanita decided to install two Brio spreading machines and two Vector cutting machines at its production facility. The new technology allowed them to cut larger volumes of fabric accurately in a shorter amount of time, with fewer quality issues and errors, so that less time was lost to time-consuming redos. The machines also reduced the number of personnel required to do menial tasks in the cutting room, which meant they were available to perform more added-value tasks elsewhere. Next, the company began using Lectra’s marker-making software, Diamino, to generate markers that made the most efficient use of fabric, attacking waste in pre-production before orders even hit the cutting-room floor. The changes have made a huge difference. “Our cutting is more precise, faster and better, and with Diamino, we’re consuming less fabric and making fewer cutting errors,” attests Dinoiu. “We estimate that we’ve reduced our error rate by 25%, waste by 3%, and fabric consumption by 2%. Our clients are thrilled.”
A Full-Package Solution
As Romanita continues to grow its business, it has begun expanding its offer in response to customer demand for fully developed clothing collections, rather than straightforward production runs. With this in mind, the company has now turned its attention to optimizing its product development process and is in the process of replacing its current CAD system with Lectra’s patternmaking software Modaris. “It makes more sense to use solutions that can communicate with one another, so that we are working on a common platform,” explains Dinoiu. “Brands are increasingly requesting full-package sourcing from suppliers; this will enable us to meet that challenge head on.” As for its future with Lectra, Romanita has become one of the tech company’s biggest advocates in the region. “We would like to become Lectra’s ‘showroom’ in Romania, and open up our manufacturing site to customers who are interested in learning more about the latest in fashion hardware and software technology. If other companies want to know more about the ‘how to’ behind clothing manufacturing, they can visit Romanita to see how we’ve optimized our Lectra solutions, and get a first-hand look at the ‘best in class’!” smiles Dinoiu.
January 18, 2018
Customer story courtesy of Lectra
