Facilities layout, lean manufacturing, brand management, value-added activities Some firms in the fashion industry have adopted lean or just-in-time approaches to maintain or increase their competitive advantage. Read the following articles or other resources to address the questions below: “Brand-New Bag: Louis Vuitton Tries Modern Methods On Factory Lines” (C. Passariello, The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2006, p. A1) and “Zara Thrives By Breaking All Rules” (K. Capell, BusinessWeek, October 20, 2008, p. 66).

Required

(a) Compare Louis Vuitton’s previous and current processes for making a bag. For example, how many people and days are required, what are the workers’ degrees of specialization, and what improvements have resulted?

(b) How did Louis Vuitton’s previous process for making bags support the company’s value proposition?

(c) How have practices from competitors such as Zara changed Louis Vuitton’s view of what its target customers want? Has Louis Vuitton’s value proposition changed? If so, how well will the new process support the company’s value proposition?

(d) What performance indicators do you think are critical in evaluating the performance of this manufacturing operation from the standpoint of customers and the company?