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Customer Story
A R T S TO N E
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C u tt i n g Roo m T e c hnolo g y
Challenge
S o l utio n
Art Stone designs and manufactures dance attire. Thus, the
company knows all about the world of dance; its dance attire
can be found in dance classes and competitions across the
United States. With a product that has to capture attention on
stage, the company needed a production process that could
handle the intricate fabrics that sets it apart from the competition.
Adding to the complexity was the fact that of the company’s
800 styles, 600 change on a yearly basis and they run the full
range from children’s costumes to high end performance attire.
Art Stone needed to overcome these challenges and achieve
fast turnaround times with shorter production runs to meet
demand, all while still being cost effective.
MARKETS
Dance attire
LOCATION
Lectra’s cut order optimization technology helped improve the
company’s material consumption by 10 to 15 percent, and
throughput by approximately 20 percent. The solution provided
flexibility and responsiveness in the manufacturing process,
while also allowing Art Stone to keep production close to
consumers and achieve shorter time-to-market. This helped
the company focus on increasing market share and expanding
its presence in Europe, Asia and Australia.
LE C T R A S O L U T i O N S
New York, US
lectra.com
T
he name Art Stone is synonymous with dance.
Art Stone was a professional dancer and dance
instructor; in 1960, he decided to use his knowledge of
the industry in a new way—designing and manufacturing
dance attire. “This is a third generation business, so it’s
been amazing to see how we’ve grown over the years and
I’m excited to expand on the foundation built by my father
and grandfather,” reflects Ashley Stone, Vice President
of Operations.
C utti n g room so l utio n s
for sp e cific c h a l l e n g e s
A
Art Stone produces attire geared to the specific needs of dance
teachers across the United States. The company is known for
creating consistently high quality ballet costumes as well as
delivering unique, intricate designs. “Manufacturing dance attire
can be tricky; each design uses four to eight fabrics, some of
which are challenging such as brocade, which tends to ravel
easily,” explains Ashley. “The nature of our business calls for a
certain level of flexibility and responsiveness in our manufacturing
process. We rely on shorter production runs but still need to operate
in a cost effective manner to keep our current price point even
in the face of rising fabric expenses.”
AN O P P O R T U N I T Y I N T HE C U T T I NG R O O M
When Ashley joined the company in 2006, she noticed that
a significant amount of time was being wasted in the cutting
process and that inefficient markers were leading to poor
fabric utilization. She turned to Lectra, a company with which
Art Stone had been working since 1994. “Lectra always takes
the time to understand my business. So when they spoke to
me about a solution that would address my challenge in the
cutting room, I listened.”
Lectra recommended Optiplan, a cut order optimization solution.
The solution featured powerful order planning algorithms
that balance spreading, cutting and offloading activities while
taking into account production constraints such as fabric costs,
labor rates, table lengths and ply heights. The system then
identifies the most efficient and cost effective approach to a given
number of orders.
A S O L U T I O N F O R T HE F U T U R E
Prior to adopting Lectra’s Optiplan, Art Stone had three CAD
designers creating markers full time, while a large contingent of operators spread and cut the fabric prior to assembly.
Now, the company has been able to reduce the number of
employees operating each cutter by half and has redirected the
CAD designers to other areas of the business. “The solution has
“T
he nature of our business calls for a certain level of
flexibility and responsiveness in our manufacturing
process. We rely on shorter production runs but still need
to operate in a cost effective manner to keep our current
price point even in the face of rising fabric expenses.”
Ashley Stone
helped improve
our production
efficiency. Our
average marker efficiency
rose from 70
to 80 percent, and our cutting productivity has increased by
30 to 50 percent on a daily basis. We cut faster than we can sew!
The best part is that our employees have now become thinkers
instead of just doers.”
In one year, we covered
the cost of the technology
in fabric savings alone
Moreover, Art Stone has been able to improve throughput
by 20 percent and decrease the average fabric usage per
garment by 10 to 15 percent. “In one year, we covered the cost of
the technology in fabric savings alone,” Ashley shared. “Now we
have the resources needed to focus on growth activities.”
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Lectra in Fashion
With over 40 year’s of expertise in fashion and apparel, Lectra’s mission is to provide a complete spectrum of design, development, and production solutions
to confront 21st-century challenges. From first creative spark to final product, our professional services address an end-to-end process. We support
the day-to-day operations of our customers in over 100 countries for around-the-clock process optimization. From fast fashion to luxury to ready-to-wear,
Lectra’s 23,000 customers in markets as diverse as casual, sports, outdoor, denim, and lingerie represent every
development and sourcing model imaginable. Beyond suppliers and manufacturers, they are the brands you love
and the stores where you shop.
lectra.com
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