Lectra, a major global player in the fashion, automotive and furniture markets, announced that Fire-Dex, the fastest-growing manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) for first responders in the country, has chosen to adopt Fashion On Demand by Lectra to enhance its manufacturing processes and improve its competitive advantage, in an effort to overcome challenges brought on by the supply chain complexities of the last several months.
Fashion On Demand by Lectra is a global Industry 4.0 solution, automating the production process from order to cutting, based on a digital platform using smart algorithms and connected devices. It enables the digitization of processes and workflows to improve business performance. The turnkey solution, powered by cloud technology, comprises Lectra’s Digital Cutting Platform and single-ply fabric cutting solution Virga.
Working with Lectra since 2001, Fire-Dex strives to maintain top-notch manufacturing processes to keep up with any critical shifts in consumer demand, labor shortages or supply chain challenges. With its improved ergonomic Fashion On Demand solution, the company has been able to improve cutting capacity by up to 30% and has set the foundation to grow garment production from 30K pieces per year to over 80K.
In addition, Lectra has enabled Fire-Dex to:
- Improve fabric utilization by 0.7%
- Automate order processing
- Streamline the manufacturing process and optimize offloading technology
“Lectra is the only company that has been able to provide us with a complete solution and not just an asset,” said John Karban, VP of Operations at Fire-Dex. “By integrating Lectra’s Fashion On Demand cutting room with the latest version of its cloud nesting solution, Fire-Dex has been able to improve its workflow and plan its cutting room more efficiently, while giving everyone clear visibility on the entire process. We’re seeing the start of industry 4.0 in the fashion cutting room, and it’s very exciting.”
“We’ve been fortunate to collaborate with Fire-Dex over the last 20+ years and we’re proud to see the success they’ve seen with our solution,” said Lenny Marano, President of the Americas at Lectra. “This is the first Fashion On Demand solution currently being used in the protective wear market, and as on-demand production continues to become key for US manufacturing, we’ll continue to see companies shifting to this model to remain agile and produce more sustainably.”
