19
Operations and Services Management
Wisdom Learning From Others
> SPEED AND FLEXIBILITY RULE GLOBAL COMPETITION
Even in the world of high fashion you can't be competitive if you aren't fast and flexible. Pressures from retailers like Zara International and others that excel at “fast fashion”—getting new designs into stores quickly—have even brought changes to Louis Vuitton. The maker of high-fashion handbags and other accessories has revamped production techniques to increase speed without sacrificing quality.
A Louis Vuitton tote bag used to take up to 30 craft persons some 8 days to make. The bag was passed from hand to hand, with each worker performing a separate and highly specialized task.
That all changed when Vuitton executives, advised by consultants from McKinsey & Company, turned to the automobile industry, believe it or not, for ideas. They benchmarked Toyota's production processes and decided that things at the fashion house could be done a lot faster. The company reorganized workers into teams of 6 to 12 people, working at U-shaped workstations. Workers in each team perform more than one task and pass the in-process tote bag back and forth. They complete a tote bag in just one day.
Vuitton calls its production system “Pégase” after the mythical flying horse that is a symbol of speed and power. Since Pégase was introduced, Louis Vuitton has been able to ship new designs ...
Get Management, 12th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
