The case is about a company, Dore Dore which manufactures knitted products and is famous for its hosiery segment. Dore Dore, a higher end brand, is known to provide quality products and superior customer service because of which it has been successful in entering the market for knitted products. Francois Marguet, the newly appointed Director of Operations is asked by the company’s head PDG to look into different issues and find a new angle to deal with them. Some of the problems are: Poor demand forecasting, increasing labour costs, high inventories, excessive lead times and ever-improving competition. The PDG wanted to know a way to improve the operations of the company to strengthen their competitive advantage. Marguet consequently experiments with changing operations by introducing cellular manufacturing in Children’s knitwear division. Later in the case they are analyzing the decision to implement the same learnings of cellular manufacturing and consequently changing operation design in other areas as well i.e hosiery segment.
Background …show more content…
Its hosiery segment manufactured socks and stockings for men, women and children & accounted for 88% of DD’s sales. Its knitwear segment produced a line of children's knitwear such as play clothes, sweaters and nightclothes. Doré Doré focused on the top of their markets with respect to quality and fashion. It made hose not only under its DD Brand, but also for famous designers like Yves St.Laurent, Nina Ricci and Chantal de Thomas. DD controlled a 30% to 40% market share in the high end hosiery