Top Form adopt GSDCost to benchmark manufacturing time and cost and optimise garment costing process

Coats Digital’s GSDCost solution will help Top Form establish and optimise standard manufacturing method and time, to support an efficient manufacturing process and enable accurate garment costing.

Established in 1963, Top Form International is a leading developer and manufacturer of ladies’ intimate apparel. With a workforce of 8,000, the company produces a wide range of high-quality ladies’ intimate apparel and accessories from factories in China, Thailand, and Cambodia.

The Challenge

Standard Time or Standard Minute Value (SMV) is the time required for a qualified worker at standard performance to perform a given operation. Since SMV forms the foundation of key business processes for a manufacturer such as line balancing, capacity calculations and production planning. It is essential to maintain SMV accuracy and consistency.

Prior to implementing GSDCost, Top Form relied on estimates and historical data for SMV calculations. Since estimates and historical data rely heavily on materials, styles, machinery and people, which tend to change with time, the data quickly became inaccurate and obsolete, and costs were derived from guesswork rather than fact-based data.

The inaccurate data used in the business directly affected Top Form’s efficiency calculation, capacity calculation, line balancing, labour and garment costing, and ultimately business profitability.

Establishing a manufacturing standard

By implementing GSDCost, Top Form will be able to ensure garments are designed and developed to the right price point, thereby optimising margin, while ensuring fair labour costs are accurately reflected, thus benefiting both the business and its workers. GSDCost’s scientific manufacturing method analysis process, through the application of motion codes with Predetermined Time Standards (PTS), will help Top Form to accurately and consistently establish ‘Standard Time’ throughout its factories.

GSDCost’s scientific and fact-based approach to calculating the standard time will help the Top Form team standardise every step of each operation to create an accurate method database which will further help in better planning, balanced production lines and improved quality. The Top Form team will also utilise GSDCost’s method standards and advanced methodologies to reduce the ‘Standard Time’ of each operation in the production line and boost productivity even further.

The introduction of fact-based, scientific approach in this critical area of the business will eliminate guesswork and subjectivity in garment costing and optimise the costing process to avoid over or under costing, improving business profitability.

Stephen Dodgson, Sales Director of Coats Digital for South-East Asia commented: “We are proud to be working with Top Form International and supporting the business in ensuring that it remains flexible, resilient and strong while being innovative and forward looking. The adoption of best practice and digitization of key processes will play a key part in this journey, and GSDCost will support the business in establishing and optimising sustainable manufacturing methods and times, supporting accurate garment costing, and improving productivity.”

GSDCost training and next steps

Phase-1 of the GSDCost training was conducted onsite at Top Form’s Product Development and R&D Centre where the team was guided through the various levels and applications of the GSDCost Predetermined Time Standard (PTS) system. The programme included a detailed analysis of the system and practical visualisation exercises which are carefully structured to aid the team in the interpretation of the GSDCost codes.

This was followed by the GSDCost software training where the participants were guided through the software user interface and features, combining the GSD methodology with the speed and depth of the GSDCost solution.

The newly licensed GSD practitioners were then taken to the production floor where, under guidance, they applied their newly learnt skills in a working environment using a core style. They were quickly able to adopt the new software given the logical and user-friendly interface.

During the final phase of the GSDCost training, the Top Form team will implement the GSDCost standard in all its production facilities to benchmark manufacturing time and costs, thus accelerate the company towards manufacturing excellence.