12 th World Textile Conference AUTEX June 13 th to 15 th 2012, Zadar, Croatia A STUDY ON THE TIME ELEMENTS IN A TEXTILE AND CLOTHING SUPPLY CHAIN D. HUSSAIN 1 , F. FERREIRA 2 , M. FIGUEIREDO 3 and A. TERESO 3 1,3 Department of Production and Systems, University of Minho, Portugal & 1 NED University Karachi, Sind, Pakistan 2 Department of Textile Engineering, University of Minho, Portugal deedar_agha@hotmail.com Abstract: The structure and configuration of the textile and clothing supply chains are changed in many parts of the world in response to the global manufacturing scenario. Significantly, the time based performance of the entities has emerged as a strong competitive option in the higher-end market segments. Based on the new situation, a case study is developed here for measuring the elements of time for the various activities of a supply chain which operates in South Europe. The objective of the study is to identify the business strategy and time based performance of the chain entities. Keyword: Textile and Clothing Supply Chain; Structure and Time-based Performance 1. Introduction The supply chains in some of the product segments of textile and clothing are configured to respond quickly to the customer´s needs. This is a more recent development in the chain to retain competitiveness on the changing landscape of global textile manufacturing [1]. The time as a competitive option is not new in the marketing strategies, it is discussed by many authors including Alderson [2] and Tersine and Hummingbird [3]. The more rigorous use of it is seen in the developed countries to protect their competitive advantage especially in the high end markets of fashion clothing. This choice seems more reasonable when the other options of competing on cost, quality, design and service are being adopted successfully in the supply chains from newly developing countries. The time as a competitive option serves the priority to retain certain segments of the chain in specific regions. It thus provides a control for those regions to keep their share in the textile and clothing manufacturing. The structures and configurations of the modern day textile and clothing chains seem to be very different in developed and developing countries. They function under different product environments and they are destined to different customer segments with very different needs. In order to observe such a textile and clothing chain, a case study is developed which seeks to identify the main time elements in the chain, and how it responds to the customer needs in the new scenario. The main objectives of our study include the modeling and measuring of the time elements in the chain in order to analyze the time based performance. The configuration and linkage of the chain in relation to their time response are studied. The practices in the chain, functions and their role in fulfilling customer demand are also studied. The study is conducted in a Portuguese textile and clothing chain involved globally in the activities of importing raw material, supplies and intermediate products to manufacture shirting cloth and shirts for their domestic and international customers. The chain has positioned their products for specific customer segments which are discussed in the later sections. It is working successfully for a couple of decades in fulfilling the needs of those segments. Our findings are presented in following sections in the development of chain configuration and in the results; later the recommendations and conclusion are presented. The main structure of the paper includes sections on methodology, supply chain structure, identification and analysis of specific product flows, and conclusions. 2. Methodology The case study is exploratory in nature and it analysis the time elements present in the textile and clothing chain. The methodology is based on the concepts of the Tersine and Hummingbird [3]. It follows the study of material and information flows, separation of time elements in the chain and their measurement and analysis which identifies the main areas of time waste and helps in reducing these. It is meant for gaining control over 1325