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Manufacturer of Sequins and Sequin Yard
Goods
Background
The firm is a manufacturer of sequins and sequin yard goods. At
certification, the firm had 362 employees and annual sales of approximately $19
million.
The U.S. apparel industry faces intense competition from manufacturers in China
and other Far East countries, which have historically been able to use an
abundance of cheap labor to out-produce and capture market share from any
competition.
To increase the firm’s competitiveness, management decided that change was
necessary. Simply stated—their goal was to be known as a world-class producer.
So, this family-owned company embarked on a path that completely changed
the way it did business.
Assistance Provided
The primary avenues to achieve this goal included the complete restructuring of
management and management philosophies, implementation of current,
state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, and completion of a formal marketing
strategy.
To meet the challenge of the marketplace, the firm, on its own, began a complete
total quality management project, implemented just-in-time manufacturing in
various areas of the plant, and addressed employee training throughout the
plant. To continue the momentum toward recovery, Trade Adjustment Assistance was
used to provide strategic marketing direction for the firm.
Project Results
A strategic marketing plan, that cost $40,000 to complete, provided the firm with an evaluation of
its current
and future potential in the market and a profile of successful suppliers to the
market, as well as an assessment of the firm’s target markets, sales representation,
realistic short and long-term goals and objectives, an assessment of current products compared to the competition,
and identification of appropriate marketing tools.
The first year after completion and implementation of the strategic marketing
plan the firm realized an increase in sales of nearly $3 million.
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