While C&C has invested in a broad range of semi-automated and manual equipment, its systems are disparate and rely on manual recording of production data for analysis.
That lack of transparency in the production lifecycle means that the leadership team is unable to accurately assess operations, production timings and costs to ensure that production is as efficient and profitable as possible.
Victoria said: “As a group of brands that has always supported the UK textile manufacturing industry, we acquired C&C because we believed it was a quality business with some extremely skilled employees. However, the traditional ways of doing things and embedded inefficiencies have held back the business from keeping up with the rapid changes in textile manufacturing.
“There is a lot of knowledge and experience in the workforce, but it is in their heads, and there is no hard data to back up decision making. Everything is recorded manually and there is little collaboration. It means that vital information like pricing and production planning can lack accuracy.
“The Made Smarter digital transformation workshop process helped us acknowledge that the shop floor was a black box and the first vital step for our business was to get hold of all that valuable data so we could understand and control better the inner workings of our operations.”