Communications: quick response in clothing merchandising – a study of the buying office using network analyses

The merchandising process of a large buying office in Hong Kong was studied using a network analyses tool, programme evaluation and review technique (PERT). Quantitative and qualitative data were both obtained by in‐depth interviews with key people in the company. The delivery lead time, which was the cycle time from the receipt of an order by the buying office to the point where the garment lot was ready for shipment at the manufacturer’s factory, was determined quantitatively, and probabilities of late shipments analysed. For bulk orders of woven garments, the activity time of fabric manufacture and garment manufacture was found to account for about half and one‐third, respectively, of the total delivery lead time (about 69 days). Also the PERT was shown to help identify critical activities which were redundant and thereafter, through process re‐engineering, could shorten the delivery lead time and reduce the work load of the merchandiser.