Textiles event to examine supply chain management

Northern Ireland's textiles and clothing industry is to examine the transformation of manufacturing and supply chain management in today's economic climate at an upcoming conference in the Odyssey Arena.

The event – entitled "The Strongest Link" – will be held next Wednesday in W5 at the Odyssey Arena. Organised by the Northern Ireland Textiles & Apparel Association (NITA), the half-day conference will feature many international speakers such as Frederick Abernathy and David Weil, both from Harvard University, and David Binns, an international retail and sourcing consultant. Local case studies will be presented by David Reade of Desmonds, and Ken Watson of the Industry Forum.

The need to adopt a lean retailing strategy has led to the formation of closer relationships along the supply chain which require greater understanding, efficiency and information exchange.

NITA Director, Linda MacHugh, commented: "Retailers are constantly demanding lower costs and faster response times. As a result, one of the biggest challenges facing the textiles and clothing industry here is how to balance manufacturing close to market to get those response times, with sourcing certain products off-shore in order to meet the current market price. This is the central theme of the conference."

(CL)