Email of the day on reshoring and automation
Comment of the Day

January 16 2017

Commentary by Eoin Treacy

Email of the day on reshoring and automation

This is indeed well under way and generally government-supported trend globally, with Germany (as always) at the forefront, but also the US and the rest of Europe promoting and facilitating the process.

The article below is interesting I think

It gives an idea of how easily these processes are implemented (2 weeks to start production) and the advantages offered to producers (design innovation + shorter time to market + customisation). €2 million investment for being able to produce a total of 200k pieces every year seems very low.

Shima Seiki (6222) - that provided the machinery to Benetton - is a company worth looking into, and the recent rally in share price confirms what you mentioned re the growth potential from clothing manufacturers in Asia.

This is also confirmed on their IR page

Eoin Treacy's view

Thank you for this above article expounding upon the seamless garment manufacturing being pioneered by Shima Seiki. Seamless garment manufacture has been around in the hosiery business for a long time but finishing was always required to sew the legs on the gusset. Introducing seamless manufacture to outer wear is a major innovation and as you point represents an additional sign of increasing interest in automation in the garment industry. 
Here is an important section from the article:

The new TV31100 sweater is the result of technology, “which offers great opportunities in this sector,” underscores Marco Airoldi, the CEO of the Benetton Group. “We are the first to invest with conviction in the seamless product, that is, the product without stitching: in addition to offering comfort and fit, this eliminates the manual stitching of the various pieces of the traditional sweaters. A high level of automation which translates into the possibility to produce here, made in Italy, or rather in Treviso, because it was the need for a significant part of the work to be done by non-qualified labor that had pushed many companies to move their manufacturing plants to countries with a low labor cost.”

Here is a link to what the new sweater looks like, since consumer acceptance of the product will be key to its success:

Brand recognition and ease of access to the consumers of products represents a powerful growth trajectory for the garment sector as business models migrate from a reliance of extremely low labour costs.  

Shima Seiki completed an almost 8-year base in October and experienced an explosive breakout. The share is currently somewhat overextended relative to the trend mean but a sustained move below the ¥3000 level would be required to question medium-term scope for additional upside. 

Back to top

You need to be logged in to comment.

New members registration