Avery Dennison Apparel Solutions Blog

Reflections in Vietnam: One Year in Operation

Throughout our world-class manufacturing operations - from design to delivery - Apparel Solutions focuses on speed, efficiency and value

In January 2016, we officially opened the doors to our latest state-of-the-art facility in Vietnam, expanding our capabilities and technologies in the apparel and footwear industry.


Around the globe, we operate a number of well known manufacturing facilities, offering branding, retail and technical solutions to serve the evolving demands of the market. From meeting shorter lead times to executing simpler processes and delivering competitive and comprehensive service offerings including pricing, our global sites are designed to efficiently meet the needs of customers, regardless of where you are.

To reflect on our progress, Rishi Pardal, our vice president and general manager of North Asia, shares how our presence in Vietnam has enabled better customer connection and delivery a year into operations:

The new facility in Vietnam has been in operation for our customers for a little over a year. What successes have we seen?

We are growing our investment in manufacturing and are now able to better serve customers from this site. With the expansion, we’ve created a better place to work and presence in the community, which is a priority here at Apparel Solutions.

Our biggest success in Vietnam has been not only to to meet the ever-growing sourcing demand from this country but also enhancing our breadth and complexity of product offering.

Another exemplary facet of this project has been transitioning from the old to our new facility. It was a high-precision operation - like mid-air refuelling - that occurred without sacrificing speed or flexibility for our customers 

What have you been able to recognize as an 'Apparel Solutions first' as a result of the opening?

Vietnam is home to our component weave operations, an innovative and proprietary solution that incorporates jacquard weaving techniques - this is a desired solution in the footwear industry especially.

Apparel Solutions operates a component weave design center at our Colliex, Italy, site, where we conceptualize various designs for customers and partners.

Our biggest success in Vietnam has been not only to to meet the ever-growing sourcing demand from this country but also enhancing our breadth and complexity of product offering.

What [new] technologies are in place?

We manufacture and offer several capabilities in Vietnam; nearly everything Apparel Solutions has to offer!:

  • Component weave

  • Hang tags; RFID hang tag and label manufacturing (not including inlay manufacturing)

  • Wovens, Care Labels, price tickets and more…

We are now setting up our heat transfer technology in Vietnam, which our customers need and value as well.

How does the Vietnam facility represent Apparel Solutions' capabilities in manufacturing?

Vietnam is now Apparel Solutions’ largest facility outside of China and home to a complete range of solutions to our customers. The purpose of this is to enable speed and local servicing for our customers who constantly demand a faster turnaround time.

How is Apparel Solutions better serving customers both local to Vietnam and globally?

Vietnam plays an important role in driving scale and speed.

The industry is defined by speed, and people want the ability to service locally. Our new plant enables this with a large local presence, wide range of products and a team that can recommend the best solutions to our customers.

The plant is an important part of unlocking the potential of surrounding markets like Thailand and Cambodia.

Finally, it is at the forefront of new technologies, like component weaving, which we believe will open new opportunities for Apparel Solutions.

As we partner with brands and factories, what role has Vietnam played in these relationships and delivery?

  • Brand Customers: make the decision on where they source from; and decide how much of their business we will receive.

  • Factory Customers: place the purchase order and outline specific needs to execute their business.

Speed, flexibility, price and service are essential to each of these customers, and the our factory in Vietnam solves these issues for the customers here with our large capacity and variety of products on offer.,

We take our learnings from China as well as our other manufacturing facilities, and drive them into the execution team here.

As a result, our customers can expect a globally consistent product, quickly, when they need it  and with simple transaction. This allows them to take advantage of market access privileges without compromising anything.   

What are the key learnings since the opening in 2016? Biggest opportunities as we look ahead?

The transition was virtually flawless. How we executed across sites in both Vietnam and China is now part of a case study  on how we’ll manage future transitions.  This includes how we’ve implemented new and best practices from a factory service excellence perspective. From a talent strategy perspective, Vietnam is a dynamic market that lends and attracts key talent to run the facility, day after day. We need to be ahead of that curve. We are examining how we leverage our capabilities  in China to drive processes and efficiencies in Vietnam. This is an Apparel Solutions first: to leverage talent in one country, to build capabilities in another.

What's next in Vietnam?

We believe Vietnam continues to be an opportunity to attract enhanced sourcing with country-wide apparel industry expertise and its established market access rights. This combination means there’s opportunity for us to partner customers as they migrate into Vietnam. We’ve created assets and offer capabilities that will serve the need of the market for 10+ years, and we’ll add to our portfolio as and when the market demands.

Our story of growth has just begun.
 

To learn more about Apparel Solutions’ factory capabilities, contact us and watch here.

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