2018 is looking bright for luxury watchmakers. As the industry recovers from a few difficult years, successful brands are making changes to their operations to avoid the pitfalls that rocked the watch world in 2015 -2016.
Back then, riding the boom of Asian demand, most watch companies responded in a very traditional manner: increasing production and inventory and opening more brick and mortar stores. When sales fell off due to changing market conditions in Asia, watch brands were left scrambling to move overstock and struggling to cover operating costs with too much cash flow tied up in inventory.
What the survivors of the watch industry downturn learned was that the traditional rules of business no longer apply in today’s ever-changing market. Fast-fashion production models, online sales and new technologies have changed the watch business forever and forward-thinking companies are making changes for the future.
The biggest lesson learned from the luxury watch downturn, has been that overstock is a cash flow killer that leads to fire-sale pricing that limits profit, creates unsustainable carrying costs and floods the secondary marketplace with watches – hurting brand prestige as well as the bottom line. As luxury brands struggle to find a new generation of buyers and compete with online-only micro brands that operate with minimal overhead, a serious re-thinking of traditional supply chain methods is necessary.
The answer is Just-in-Time manufacturing, a group of systems that reduce inventories, increase production efficiency and free up cash flow. Long proven in other industries, Just-in-Time strategy is now available for the watch industry.
FINS uses the latest in Lean Inventory practices to transform traditional supply chains. It features cloud computing fully integrated with sales, marketing and distribution to constantly analyze sales and accurately manage production to create only the minimum amount of watches needed at any given time, emptying warehouses and boosting profit
In the FINS system, each sale initiates a Just-in-Time production order that can be produced and delivered in as little as two weeks. With FINS, brands can reduce completed watch inventory to as little as 30 days’ supply, completely eliminating over-production, non-turning units and dead inventory. Running lean with FINS has dramatic results: It reduces inventory by 4x and frees up cash flow by up to 70%. The FINS system gives managers total control over the supply chain with access to real-time information regarding every aspect of s brand’s inventory and production
FINS is designed specifically for watch brands that need to streamline, cut costs and increase cash flow. It is a fully integrated manufacturing and sales solution designed for the future of watchmaking.
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The FINS manufacturing software solution for the watch industry.
