The Location Model Of Manufacturing For European Fashion Companies

This study explores and contributes to European fashion retailers supply chain optimization by determining the location of their manufacturing plant in Europe.I chose this topic because apparel industry is one of the oldest,largest and among the most global industries being primarily concerned with the,design and production of clothing and their supply.It is the typical 'starter' industry for countries engaged in export-orientated industrialization and is labour-intensive.This sector offers a wide range of job opportunities for the unskilled workforce in developing countries.However,fashion apparel industry has significantly evolved,particularly over the last 20 years,when the boundaries of the industry started to expand.The changing dynamics of the fashion industry such as the fading of mass production,increase in number of fashion seasons,desire low cost and flexibility in design,quality,delivery and speed to market created 'Fast fashion' which Zara had been a pioneer of.The fashion industry has changed greatly due to the recent success of Inditex group clothing store-Zara.It realised that'sense and respond' is the key strategy to maintain a profitable position in the increasingly dynamic and demanding market.Moreover,to speed to market and design,marketing and capital investment,rapid responsiveness and greater flexibility they have realized to be the driving forces of competitiveness in the fashion apparel industry.This study was aimed to answer two objectives.The first one to prove that in fashion industry to gain a competitive advantage the retailers should manufacture closer to the market(in house).This was done by using many previous research and case studies of fashion companies.The second was to calculate the each European retailer manufacturing plant position in Europe according to the shops they have in each country.To calculate this Floyd-Warshall algorithm was used to calculate the shortest path and the Centre of Gravity Method was used to calculate the most optimal location.Furthermore,the location results were compared to the labour cost to determine the cheapest solution for the company.The thesis is divided into six chapters:Introduction,Literature review,Supply Chain management in the Fashion Industry,Location importance based on Centre of Gravity method,Data Analysis and Conclusion.