INTERPRETIVE EXAMINATION OF CONCURRENT ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTS FOR APPAREL MANUFACTURE

CE components are recognized as design for manufacturability, quality, cost, enabling technology, and the life cycle encompassing inspectability, reliability and maintainability. The research goals were to determine whether CE constructs are directly transferable to apparel manufacture and whether apparel manufacturing information adds a dimension to CE constructs. A qualitative study was conducted involving product development respondents from multiple independent apparel manufacturers. Respondents evaluated use of CE constructs in their firms for the 'as is' environment. The results showed that CE constructs are directly transferable to apparel manufacture. Respondents selected CE constructs that indicated apparel manufacturing uniqueness was dealt with through specific product manufacture decisions.