Investments made in apparel manufacturing facilities in South India

Given that the end-customer has become more demanding, the retailer has to deliver products according to the market demands, which have forced manufacturing companies to constantly search for new opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiency. It is, therefore important to choose suppliers that are able to compete with the market demands.The market demands in the textile industry have lead to shorter product life cycles, which have caused manufacturers to deliver flexibility with high technology to compete successfully on the global market. To achieve the market requirements the underlying factor is to be aware and optimally use and control time. New technology can have a major influence in the production development, if the company choose to take benefit of the advantages, by optimal allocation of the internal resources the productivity and efficiency will increase, to accomplish a competitive advantage. One way to achieve this is by investing in a Unit Production System.In our thesis we have questioned what the main driving forces for an apparel manufacturing company is when it chooses to invest in new technology. Our previous knowledge says that manufacturing companies are forced to invest in a UPS to deliver to the market demands; therefore our sub-question investigates whether market demands impact the investment in new technology.In our theory we have concluded aspects in our study which is important for the reader to have an understanding of. We describe the textile industry from the view of Porters value chain and elaborate some concepts and their definitions, which will be used as a basis throughout our thesis. Finally we present a model of Five forces that determine industry competition made by Porter, to use as an analysis method when investigating whether an UPS may bring a competitive advantage.Our field study has been carried out in South India, where we have visited five textile factories and interviewed managers. We have questioned their decision-making judgment about implementing or choosing not to implement a UPS. Other production factors and general information about the companies have been asked to have an understanding of underlying factors. We have also had the opportunity to observe their manufacturing handling systems and seen how they have chosen to use this in an optimal way.Our previous knowledge of this subject has routed to that our research will be performed in a hermeneutics scientific approach. Our role as researchers has during the study been open-minded, subjective and committed according to a hermeneutics view.Program: Textilekonomutbildninge