BUS606: Operations and Supply Chain Management

The textile processing phases are long and extensive. A generic textile SC has for its primary raw material vendors, cotton growers and/or chemical suppliers, depending upon whether the end product is cotton, polyester or some combination of cotton and polyester garment. In this chain, materials usually flow in one direction, and excluding minor quantities for testing materials and designs, starts with fibre production. The textile processing starts with the fibre production which compose the final apparel product. Therefore properties of final product have an impact very deep in the chain. Fibers are usually classified into two groups: natural and man-made. Cotton is cultivated around the world which is transported to spinners either domestically or internationally. Man-made fibers (i.e. synthetic fibers) are another very essential fiber source which accounts for nearly 60% of the apparel product at the time of analysis. Both natural and synthetic fibers become yarn through spinning. Spinning is the final, most costly part of the conversion of fiber into the yarn. Whether or not the spinner is vertically integrated with the weavers and apparel manufacturers, it produces the yarn as required by the weavers to meet the retail buyer's specification. From SC perspective, typically yarn suppliers are chosen by weavers, but often spinners develop new yarns by their specific competence in this field which may motivate retailers for developing new products.

After the extensive fibre processing, weaving transforms yarn into fabric by interlacing lengthwise warp yarns and widthwise filling yarns at right angles. Fabrics produced by weaving or knitting required good and constant yarn quality. Because of the advancement of weaving and knitting technology, equipment are faster than before which need high-quality yarns to reduce the yarn breakage rate and efficient production. The warp yarns are at times dyed with the yarn dyeing process before the weaving. A typical example is denim fabric where warp yarn is dyed with indigo through yarn dyeing. Warp dyed or raw yarn is woven with numerous constructions by various weaving methods. Yarns are transformed into fabrics also by knitting and Non-woven processes. Non-woven processes involve compression and interlocking fibers by mechanical, thermal, chemical or fluid methods.

Yarn processing and fabric manufacturing also influenced by the present fast track trend. Chen & Harlock state that textile industry is facing ever-increasing competition in the global market, which demands production flexibility and quick response to customers. It means that the market is demanding more variety of fabric styles, smaller order sizes, and shorter delivery times. However, there is a significant difference between textile processing and apparel making. Textile processing stages are often batch or continuous processing which has a minimum limit to produce, whereas apparel products are produced in pieces.

Weaved and knitted fabrics are called "greige" contains impurities and requires further processing. The typical fabric processing stages involve pre-treatment of textiles, dyeing or printing and finishing. Seuring interprets textile industry is a global one where fibres might be produced in one country, yarns may be in other, fabric may be woven in a third country and stitching in somewhere else. He also adds that the textile chain is based on supplier and buyer relationship and it neglects the multiple sidelines employed to build these products, e.g. the chemicals needed in the production process or sewing yarns. Chemical suppliers at different stages in textile-apparel SC play a very important role and have a direct impact on product quality, process improvement, new technologies, new finishes etc. All of the textile processing stages like yarn processing, sizing, pre-treatment, dyeing, finishing are chemical intensive.