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Volume XXI No. 3 • www.spesa.org • September 2011 |
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Conference on "Advancements in Manufacturing Technology" SPESA will host a conference entitled "Advancements in Manufacturing Technology" to an audience of apparel and sewn products manufacturers on December 8, 2011 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons in Greensboro, North Carolina. The full-day conference – targeted at mid-level and upper-level managers and supervisors – will provide vendor-neutral, factual information to help manufacturers improve their quality and manufacturing efficiency while at the same time reducing their lead-time required in today's production environment. Among the topics covered are spreading, cutting, sewing, work measurement, and material handling. Registration information is available at http://www.spesa.org/Documents/RegistrationFormOnline.pdf. New SPESA Arrival SPESA Treasurer and Board member Nina McCormack of Dürkopp Adler America and her husband, Chandler, announce the birth of a daughter Stella Madeleine McCormack on September 17, 2011 at 2.02 pm. "Stella" weighed in at 7 pounds + 10.8 ounces and measured 21.0 inches. According to Nina, everyone is doing well.
Scovill Fasteners to Enter Brazilian Market New SPESA member Scovill Fasteners announced the formation of a Brazilian business unit headed by former SPESA president, Lou Melocchi, who will be based in São Paulo. "We are very excited about the opportunities the Brazilian market represents and believe that Lou Melocchi's thirty-plus years of experience in this market combined with Scovill's reputation as the market leader in apparel hardware will enable the company to enjoy strong growth in this important region" said Brian Moore, Scovill's vice president for apparel sales. Brian is SPESA's key representative for Scovill. The Clarkesville, Georgia-based Scovill has operations in Asia based in Hong Kong. They have made snap-closure buttons for consumer and military clothing since 1802. Scovill's products represent the cutting edge in form, fit, and function in the closure fastener industry. For high fashion, infantswear, career apparel, designer jeanswear, leather products, and sporting goods, medical devices, and safety equipment, Scovill snap fasteners button closures and zippers meet the demands of today's market application requirements for quality, durability, and delivered value. Scovill Fasteners, Inc. – founded in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1802 – is a manufacturer of engineered closure products that have wide use in global apparel and industrial market segments. Their brand portfolio includes products with high brand recognition in the many markets that it serves. Included in the portfolio are: Gripper®, Duramark®, DOT®, Pull-The-DOT®, Lift-The-DOT, Common-Sense®, and DOT Durable™. Scovill actively sells and services closure products in the Americas, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. For more information, contact: Brian Moore, Scovill Fasteners, Tel: +852 (9199) 7658, Email: bmoore@scovill.com Textile/Apparel Executives Meet with N.C. Governor Perdue On July 27, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue hosted a lunch for textile executives in the state to discuss issues facing the industry at the state level. NCTO members included Andy Warlick of Parkdale Mills, Allen Gant of Glen Raven, Jerry Cook of Hanesbrands, Jason Copland of Copland Industries, Doug Albert of Beacon Manufacturing/Pneumafil, Hank Byrd of Schneider Mills, John Bakane of Frontier Spinning, and Tony Almeida of Duke Energy. In addition, Mike Hubbard from NCTO, Dave and Benton Gardner from SPESA, Dr. Blanton Godfrey from NC State University, Mike Todaro from AAPN, and a small number of non-NCTO member companies also attended the lunch. Members discussed taxes, the growing state regulatory burden that is driving up energy and water costs, infrastructure needs, economic development incentives, and how state governors can work together to influence federal policy. The hour-long meeting provided the opportunity to show the Governor an industry that continues to adapt and reinvent itself through extensive investments, research, and new product offerings. U.S. textile mills have stood out among major manufacturing sectors as this sector has continued to add jobs throughout the last year. The Governor has pledged to work on these issues. New Poll Shows Higher Support for More Manufacturing Jobs, but Increased Doubts that Washington is Doing Anything to Help A follow-up poll by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) shows the public is even more convinced that new manufacturing jobs are key to restoring the country's economic health but skepticism has also increased about Washington's ability or interest in doing anything to help. The poll also showed a huge increase in U.S. manufacturing companies' favorability rating. This poll is a stark reminder that while official Washington goes back and forth in our newest crisis, Americans still feel no one is focusing on the real problems that matter to them: losing jobs, losing our manufacturing base, and the decline of our position in the world, said Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM). Paul added that voters see manufacturing as the key to recovery, and though it may surprise some pundits, this is the clear message from every voting demographic, including Tea Party and Republican voters. Paul was a speaker at the NCTO (National Council of Textile Organizations) 2011 annual meeting. The 2011 poll shows sharp increases in voter sentiment over the last year for ― creating manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and ― strengthening manufacturing in this country. Those two sentiments score higher in Americans minds than reducing the federal deficit or reducing government spending. Voter sentiment fell sharply in 2011 for the Democrats, Republicans and the President regarding whether enough is being done to create manufacturing jobs or to enforce fair trade with our trading partners. The poll also revealed that manufacturing is overwhelmingly felt to be the most important sector in determining our national economic strength, outpolling health care, high tech, financing and banking by margins of two to one or more. This tied into an increasing sentiment that the U.S. is no longer the world's strongest economy, with 62 percent of voters believing that the U.S. has now been outpaced by China and other countries. The largest increase in the poll was the favorability rating for U.S. manufacturing companies. U.S. companies favorability ratings jumped from 68 percent last year to 90 percent this year while goods that are made in China showed a unfavorable rating of 72 percent. The successful rebound of U.S. auto companies is credited with helping to boost U.S. manufacturers' ratings. The unfavorability rating for companies that go to China to manufacture increased to 83 percent in the latest poll. Gerber Technology to Reveal Latest Software Innovations During "ideation2011" Conference in Miami Beach Gerber Technology will host its 13th annual software conference, ideation2011, on October 24-25, 2011 at the world famous Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in Miami, Florida. ideation2011 is a two-day event that provides a forum for current and future users of Gerber Technology's software to participate in panel discussions and hands-on workshops and to witness demonstrations of new functionality. It also incorporates case studies that highlight how some of the industry's leading brands have relied on Gerber's software to transform their business and delight customers by delivering the right products to market on time and on budget. "ideation2011 delivers on Gerber's promise to provide its customers a critical voice in the ongoing development of our software solutions," said Bill Brewster, president of Gerber Technology's Software Solutions business. "We continue to invest and innovate in our software offerings to enhance the user experience and to deliver improved collaboration for our users at every point of the process." Gerber's experienced team of consultants and trainers will demonstrate the company's latest innovations, including the newest version of YuniquePLM™ product lifecycle management software, AccuMark® pattern design system and webPDM™ product data management software. In addition, they will have the opportunity to network and share best practices with other users of Gerber's CAD, PLM and PDM software. Executives, designers, merchandisers, CAD operators, systems engineers and IT managers focused on sourcing, production and sales will find value at the ideation2011 software conference. For more information on ideation2011, visit www.gerbertechnology.com/ideation2011.htm. Central Bank of Honduras Revalues Lempira Upward The Central Bank of Honduras informed the general public that they will have a new base for the exchange market of the US Dollar. It has been L20.3172 to USD1.00. The new offering will start at L18.8951 to USD1.00, meaning that the Lempira is getting stronger against the US Dollar. With this measurement the Central Bank is getting closer to the reality of the market, and now Hondurans will be able to see the real price of the U.S. Dollar based on real equilibrium of supply and demand. In the short term there may be a small reduction of the price of the US Dollar, and that will benefit the importers, especially now that they need to bring the inventory for the last part of the year. But the oil prices and the demand for foreign products will soon move the cost of the US Dollar up. According to our friend Tony Medina of the San Pedro Sula-based Thread and Trim Suppliers, "I assume that the new Security Fee (tax) will make many US Dollar accounts go out of the country, and this will also put pressure on the cost of the Dollar. If the cost of the Dollar goes up and reduces our prices of the products that we export in foreign markets, we may become more competitive, and we may be able to gain back some of that business that we have lost with the crazy wage increases that we had in recent years. The next few months will be very critical to our economy, and I really hope that we can be more competitive to reduce our unemployment rate. Our people need jobs, and our government needs to make us more competitive with measurements that allow us to be attractive to foreign direct investment." Mexico steps Up Measures to Boost Competitiveness Mexico's textiles industry, Latin America´s second largest, looking to create a battery of measures to boost the industry's competitiveness and raise U.S. exports is introduced, according to the leading textiles lobby Canaintex. The industry hopes the government will take heed of its new initiative to curb the country's soaring counterfeits trade (which accounts for 70% of sales), dubbed "Zero Tolerance." They are going to step up their contraband fighting initiatives and deepen their collaboration with the Mexican government to continue to chase and capture illegal importers. Currently, the industry employs some 500,000 workers. The hope is that the count will reach one million jobs in the medium term. Canaintex claims that Asia's rising wages are popping open a "window of opportunity" for Mexico to win new sourcing contracts from U.S. and European apparel brands eager to shift production out of Asia. The Insituto Textil, an industry think tank, says the one million target is overly optimistic but that the industry could generate significantly more jobs if U.S. producers hire Mexican full-package producers that can delivery quickly. Right now U.S. companies want to cut costs, so Mexico is a great alternative as they are located just three days away from the country. The industry, however, must work harder to improve its sales pitch to U.S. buyers. More investment is needed to improve quality and design and train workers to meet the "quick response" needs of U.S. brands. To this end, the industry recently launched a worker training program called "Mi Taller" (My Workshop) through which it hopes to bolster the workforce's talent and ability to make more innovative and higher-end products for US customers. Mexico already has to compete with Central America to woo U.S. buyers. The region has recently raised headlines as an optimal destination for U.S. manufacturers interested in benefiting from the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement, and the industry there is scrambling to win American business. Mexico's answer to Central America is "Mexico Fits," a plan to promote its textiles and apparel capabilities with U.S. customers. |
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About SPESA SPESA (Sewn Products Equipment &
Suppliers of the Americas) is an industry association
for suppliers to the sewn products industry that includes apparel,
upholstered furniture, home textiles, transportation interiors, leather
goods, footwear, and industrial textiles. |
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