Collaborative Material Standards Specifications (CMSS)

The CMSS is a formal committee of the VICS organization. Web Reference:

• CMSS
• AppTex

General Introduction

The Collaborative Material Specification Standard (CMSS) is a component of the previous Collaborative Product Development (CPD) initiative undertaken by VICS in recent years. The primary purpose of the CMSS committee is to establish a standard definition for key materials in use in the Apparel industry with a firm belief that this standardization will yield business and financial benefits to companies acquiring or supplying these types of materials. The benefits of the CMSS initiative include shortened of the lead-time on material requests, higher material quality, improved supply chain flexibility, and a lowering of material price as a result of less administrative activities by material suppliers.

CMSS Overview

As noted in the general introduction, the CMSS is focused on establishing a standard that will be used by retailers, wholesalers, and garment manufacturers in their requesting of materials from material suppliers. This standard will provide a framework for what information is provided by retailers, etc. and is expected to ensure clarity of the material request for material suppliers.

The CMSS initiative will leverage the efforts achieved by GS1/HK in the creation of the AppTex material specification standard (see list of participating companies at the end of this document). This standard encompasses the following types of materials and provides detailed listings of attributes (or material characteristics) that are deemed necessary by material suppliers to ensure clarity in material requests of retailers, etc.

• Button
• Interlining
• Knitted Fabrics
• Labels & Tags
• Thread
• Woven Fabrics
• Yarn

The images below demonstrate an example of the type of information incorporated in this material specification standard.

• Aerospace – (PDES)
  • http://pdesinc.aticorp.org/mission.html
• Automotive – (ISO 10303)
  • http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=27831
• Telecommunication devices – (ISDN)
  • http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/ISDN.html
• Email Services – (SMTP)
  • http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5321.txt

None of the companies in the Aerospace and Automotive industries have lost a competitive advantage through the adoption of these data exchange standards. Instead it has reduced the administrative overhead of their supply chain interaction and allowed suppliers to be more competitive by reducing barriers to entry with prospective customers where proprietary or non-existent data exchange methods were the norm. The means of exchanging emails and any internet communication would be impossible without the ISDN or SMTP standards.

For a list of all of the active Technical Committees of the International Standards Organization (ISO) reference the following web site location:

http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/technical_committees/list_of_iso_technical_committees.htm

Conclusion

In conclusion, the CMSS committee is targeting the establishment of an industry standard for material specifications. The establishment of this standard will reduce the supply chain cost of doing business and bring value to the Apparel industry that has been witnessed for many years in other industries. The up-coming 2009 Proof of Concept activity will provide a demonstrable example of CMSS in practice and allow for the collection of the business benefits witnessed through the adoption of the CMSS.

The Apparel industry is no different in supply chain interaction than the aerospace or automotive industry and it is time to adopt standard best practices that have enable these industries to greatly reduce the cost and time spent in their supply chain processes.

AppTex Standards Definition (Participating Suppliers)

Sub-Committees

• Materials

Want to join VICS CMSS Committee? Please click here to get started.

Committee participation is open to VICS Members only. If you are not a member and want to learn about company-wide membership, please click here.

Industry White Paper: "PLM: An imperitive for Keeping Pace with a trand-Based Industry" By Brion Carroll and Kathleen Mitford of PTC.

Reference material (October 11, 2007 meeting):

1. Call to Action (pdf)
2. CPD Overview (ppt)
3. CPD Webcast from 8-8-07, zip file contains 3 separate presentations geared specifically to Material, Product & Technology.
4. AppTex Classifications