AAFA meeting focuses on travel free resourcing
The effect of SARS and the Gulf War II on resourcing products from the
The principal discussion areas were the implications of the travel restrictions imposed. SATRA’s chief executive, Dr Don Whittaker, led the meeting and stressed the need for the worldwide footwear and clothing industries to adapt to the new scenario. He said it was necessary to devise methods of product development and manufacture which are not dependent on travel. Email, digital photography and video conferencing were alternative procedures were suggested.
SATRA said it had been active with a number of companies in implementing its ‘Summ’ leather assessment systems, accredited laboratories, quality assurance procedures and health, safety and environmental monitoring systems. These procedures, it said, will allow personnel to check quality and procedures by auditing if required.
Art Croci, head of global resourcing at Wolverine, emphasised the need for factories to have high quality, technically trained professional designers and product developers. He said resourcing companies could only use factories that invested in first class product development.
Hope was expressed that the forthcoming winter in the
