FOOTwear industry PRoject on optimising INformation Technology

Final Report : executive summary html version - Pdf version

1. Project Partners

1.1 The Core Partners are:

• British Footwear Association (BFA) BFA is the representative body of UK suppliers of footwear industry. Its role in persuading industry to take up initiatives to improve performance at home and abroad is crucial for the sector’s survival. It has identified improving companies’ take up of ICT as critical. It will input its knowledge of the industry’s requirements and how best to respond to such needs. It will co-ordinate development of implementation plans – taking into account the culture of the sector when prioritising and defining such strategies; and has overall responsibility for review and dissemination throughout the industry. Through BFA the project will have access to and support from the various regional footwear manufacturers associations, the National Footwear Training Organisation and to a wide spectrum of footwear companies across the UK.

• Business Link Northamptonshire (BLN) The East Midlands (Northamptonshire & Leicestershire) represents the largest concentration of the footwear industry in the UK – 40% of employees. BLN combines considerable knowledge of ICT applied across a broad range of sectors with extensive experience of working with footwear companies. They will: select and provide direct links with the core group of SMEs who will be involved in both review and pilot phases; input to strategy developments, participate in the review process and co-ordinate any practical demonstration or pilot actions ensuing.

• Tor Consulting Ltd Tor are included within the partnership through being one of the few specialist support businesses specifically focusing on IT developments across the footwear sector. In addition to general strategy input Tor will undertake core work related to detailed functional and technical specifications of the services or applications which are selected after the review phases are completed. They will also act as a link organisation, representing and liaising with footwear companies in the South West of the country.

• Eurocad Projects Ltd: Eurocad will utilise its experience in collaborative project management to ensure the project management tasks are developed and adhered to. Eurocad will also liaise with the organisation representing the Programme’s umbrella structure. In addition to its organisational and administrative support activities Eurocad also bring to this project: experience in research methodology to provide strategy for the review; expertise in working across a breadth of sectors – including footwear - so can understand technical, cultural and sectoral issues in order to offer the most appropriate solutions; expertise in the development and maintenance of project web pages.

• Enterprise Plc (Lancashire)/Cordwainers Leather Industries Centre (London): These intermediary organisations represent the other two main footwear clusters in the UK. Partner representatives will be directly involved in strategic planning, review process and follow-up developments. They will contribute their clusters’ feedback to the full project.

• S3 International Ltd S3 are a company with a range of services and activities that span product and market modelling. In recent years they have undertaken considerable specialist work world-wide using their software and expertise to profile and develop optimum forms for focused clusters – from both regional and sectoral perspectives.

1.2 The Affiliated Organisations

They will participate in the review/focus group process of the early project phases and some will subsequently be involved in the detailed work of developing specifications and piloting actions. Currently included are:

• SATRA (Shoe & Allied Trades Research Association) – a sectoral research association with an international reputation. Their work in respect of the UK Footwear 2010 report is expected to provide a focus for research related planning.
  
• GE Information Services – a global leader in business to business e-commerce and a pioneer of many of the techniques and technologies associated with electronic commerce. GE will provide input on generic best practice in e-commerce and have the capability to provide host Internet services.
  
• A cluster of footwear SMEs from the Northamptonshire/Leicestershire region. A list of 34 interested companies has already been developed as part of the ADAPT Quickfoot initiative. These are willing to participate in the initial FOOTPRINT review process. As the project evolves further a core group of 10 will be selected for detailed work.
  
• The Footwear Industry Action Group (FLAG). This broad sectoral strategy group will bring to the project its own links to the footwear companies who have progressed furthest in respect of implementing ICT applications. It will also undertake an informal mentoring role in respect of the FOOTPRINT project, ensuring proposals remain in scope of the over-arching goals of, and plans for, the industry.

1.3 The Project Observers

From a national monitoring perspective a critical role will be taken by the Textiles, Clothing & Footwear Unit of the Department of Trade & Industry. This is the unit responsible for co-ordinating the over-arching national Action Plan for the Footwear Industry. It will undertake external project monitoring activities and provide a "neutral" platform to ensure that proposed strategies and developments related to ICT actions are not in contention with the broader sectoral needs already agreed.

2. Project objectives

More effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is one of the key elements that will assist the European footwear industry, often severely affected by the relentless tide of foreign imports, to survive and compete. Within FOOTPRINT we are focusing on a sectoral area where a majority of companies have a clear requirement to address the issues related to the information society – or they will decline or even disappear completely. It clearly needs propulsion centrally to change such a situation and make the necessary quantum leap.

The key goal of this project is to establish a strategy for developing a cohesive approach to optimising the use of ICT for the footwear industry. Such an approach will look to utilise technologies that have already been found to be effective in other sectors – learning from their experiences and fast-tracking solutions through refinement and/or re-badging.

The partnership has identified key preliminary objectives which can best be addressed by utilising and translating existing information society concepts and approaches.

1. To define how the management of the global supply chain can be improved. The footwear supply chain is complex, with global sourcing of both leather supply and footwear components becoming more prevalent. An improved supply chain is critical to ensure that the industry can meet its customer delivery and quality requirements, maintaining competitveness through quick response and flexibility. This will certainly include exploration of all aspects of e-commerce to maximise logistical benefits.
   
2. An approach which has played a pivotal role in improving the economic performance of the footwear industry in Italy and, to a lesser extent, Portugal has been the strong clustering of companies. The partnership wish to examine the potential for creating "virtual clusters" of footwear manufacturers and suppliers
   
3. To enhance the design process in footwear companies and improve the interface with other organisational processes (eg. manufacturing, management and marketing). As with several other European countries, the quality of British designers is still considered of high quality and in demand. Yet this advantage is, in many instances, being eroded because of low usage of computers to improve the design process.
   
4. To review how to most effectively take advantage of technological developments to improve manufacturing processes and products.
   
5. To address how bureaucracy can be minimised, communications better facilitated and management information systems improved.
   
6. To assess the potential for developing a web based marketplace for footwear products – of particular value to ensure continued export growth.
   

The consortia structure aims to ensure that the following additional project-wide objectives are met:

1. That the FOOTPRINT project builds upon not only exemplar experiences but also reviews and prioritises the current needs and ad hoc approaches within the sector.
   
2. That the project benefits from the transfer of relevant best practice experiences from outside the footwear industry.
   
3. That by using intermediary organisations to co-ordinate footwear SME needs and responses the project will in itself act as a catalyst for instigating future SME led initiatives.
   
4. That there will, from the beginning, be a structure in place to look at transfer of project outcomes to other regions as well as other EU countries and sectors.

3. European dimension and linkages

The project partners have well-established European links which will be used to disseminate the project outputs. BFA, for instance, belongs to a European confederation which will provide the opportunity to pass on benefits to national footwear associations in almost every EU country.

BLN are current leading a DTI Multi-media Demonstrator project, Connect-Direct, working with a group of (non-footwear) SMEs to explore and test how the internet can best be integrated into all aspects of their businesses. Findings from this initiative would be fed into the FOOTWORK project throughout its life-cycle, enabling the sectoral project to benefit from transfer of best practice experiences garnered from outside the industry. The input and expertise of the two 2 specialist IT companies working on the Connect-Direct initiative would be channelled into the FOOTPRINT project by way of the BLN.

Tor’s Chief Executive, Martin Baker, has represented BFA on the Electronic Article Numbering Association's recent EAN13 EDI standard for footwear. He is an ex-Clarks IT specialist and is participating in a European project to disseminate the new standard.

Eurocad will provide access to their own pan-European networks of specialist organisations.

Major projects have been funded through UNIDO, the European Commission and specialist agencies as well as private sector organisations. Within scope of this project they would specifically help define potential, scope and specifications for any virtual cluster approach.

SATRA’s involvement in a range of pan-European RTD projects will also ensure an awareness of leading edge developments including those from other sectors where transfer of experience can be explored.

It is proposed to build upon the transnational network currently being established under the existing ADAPT and LEONARDO initiatives, as these have already identified some of the leading representative players in other European footwear countries. This informal transnational network will be represented by the following countries (and organisations): Italy (CESECA), Spain (FICE), Greece (Elkede), Portugal (APICCAPS), France (FNICF). These transnational project observers will play a multiple role including:

• inputting their own experiences (eg. Italy and Portugal – clustering of footwear SMEs; Spain – higher take-up of ICT systems within SMEs)
• providing a "neutral" but informed sounding board for actions proposed
• assessing potential for transferring the FOOTPRINT methodology and outputs to their own country

4. Anticipated impacts

There are a number of significant benefits which should ensue from this project and which have far wider implications than for the industry alone. These include:

• Improved management of the supply chain will result in a reduction of the level of stock that has to be held which will lead to lower prices.
  
• There will also be meaningful impact in respect of employment. For the footwear sector this is a critically important area as, without the type of infrastructure proposed, there is a serious threat to supply of jobs in industry. Better dialogue of the type proposed should result in more companies surviving and flourishing.
  
• The footwear sector is a relatively untapped market in respect of ICT applications. As it becomes more aware and receptive there will be a tremendous sales opportunity for IT industry. This should have a knock-on effect of boosting both growth and employment opportunities for this sector as well.
  
• The increased potential for remote working through the use of ICT will have a marked and positive environmental impact because of such issues as reduced travel to work.
  
• Virtual catalogues will make designs that would normally be restricted to shoe manufacturers, designers and retailers more widely accessible. This will provide a better utilisation of resources, because of the wider exposure to the marketplace.
  
• Looking much longer-term, a significant effect should be the improved mass customisation of shoes in respect of quality, fit and comfort. It is hard to envisage what member of the general public wouldn’t like to benefit from walking into a shop (real or virtual), selecting a style and colour, having a digital image of their foot scanned and a perfectly fitting pair of shoes delivered to the door
  
• Results of new "virtual clustering" activities would be to: improve the new product development capacity, enhance competitiveness and support the capacity to improve interaction between a variety of organisational processes.

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