SPELA Resources See Softer Side of L.A.

Apparel technology resources returned to Los Angeles for the bi-annual Sewn Products Expo (SPELA) last week to find that the local garment industry is eyeing new technologies at a cautious pace, as outlying factors such as energy worries and an uncertain economic outlook remain at the forefront of concerns.

A scaled-down version of SPELA with fewer exhibitors showing this time around at the Los Angeles Convention Center, along with 2,100 attendees, reflected change within the industry as big automation specialists such as Gerber Technology and others have been restructuring and expanding their businesses into the industrial sector while adapting to the apparel market with more CAD/CAM offerings, ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems.

This year’s expo was about half the size it was two years ago, with about 100 exhibitors on hand, compared to 212 in 1999. Some observers speculated that several companies skipped the show because it conflicted with the Bobbin World Expo in Orlando this August, which usually alternates with SPELA. SPELA is produced by VNU Expositions and sponsored by Bobbin.

Los Angeles’ apparel industry has been besieged by rising energy costs along with hot and cold retail sales and a volatile stock market. Though tech companies have seen investments come at a slower pace, they haven’t seen the value of technology falter.

“There’s good interest, which will turn into leads and prospects. People are looking to [technology] for the long term,” said David O’Bryan, product specialist for Intentia. Larger companies like Gerber have lately been experiencing more leasing over buying of big-ticket items like cutters and plotters as this end of their businesses have shifted to the industrial segment—upholstery, sail-making and home furnishings.

“We’re more customer-focused,” said William E. “Bud” Staples, Gerber’s vice president of North American sales. “We’ve reacted with more made-to-measure and special-order business. We’re trying to simplify.”

Added Abram Myers of Autometrix, Grass Valley, Calif., “People are telling us that they love our [cutting] system but don’t know what the economy will be doing in six months.” Autometrix, which has experienced a 50 percent drop in business over last year, is trying to compete with more functional, easy-to-use systems.

Los Angeles-based Tukatech Inc. is also becoming more customer-centric with its Tukacenter venture, which will bring pattern-making technology to the masses through Kinko’s-like rental centers that offer CAD training and pattern making, grading, marking and plotting services for fees as low as $10 an hour or $50 a month. The first U.S.-based center will open at 1039 Broadway next month.

“When the Asian market is competing now with timing as well as labor, timing becomes more important and manufacturers need to embrace technologies or they’ll go out of business,” warned Tukatech chief executive officer Ram Sareen.

Software technology has been key to improving timing efficiency and CRM has been a point of focus. Chicago-based Intentia and Montreal-based Essentus are among those moving into CRM technology in a big way. Intentia highlighted its Movex APP (advanced production planning) program, which facilitates planning and scheduling and order-filling capabilities using just-in-time planning and constraint-based manpower requirements. Essentus’s CRM program allows users to track orders and inventory to ultimately help keep the supply chain in check, thus improving margins and improving efficiency.

Other advancements have occurred on the operational front. Atlanta-based Methods Workshop showed its Quick TruCost costing software, which costs garments from the design stage to help determine profitability. EDI specialist Paxar Corp. of White Plains, NY, announced an alliance with Hong Kong-based TradeLink Technologies, which will combine TradeLink’s Pack One application with Pazar’s in-plant printing to provide a Web-based system that enables users to create barcode price tickets and carton labels in multiple languages around the clock.

Visitors seemed to be using SPELA primarily for its educational resources though orders were being written. Attendees like Gregg Thorson of Fortune Fashions in Vernon, Calif., were eyeing new sources and ideas to help improve the company’s T-shirt and embellished apparel business while Belle Flores of Belle Designs was looking for more fabrications for her dancewear operation. Larry Zysman of Edwards Lifescience of Irvine, Calif., said he was interested in advancements in pattern layouts in sewing technology.