Apparel Magazine published its 4th annual Top Innovators issue earlier this month and we're pleased to see that TEXbase customer Massif Mountain Gear is on the list. Profiles of these winners highlight their ingenuity in overcoming challenges, their willingness to adapt to change and their flair for tapping into consumer desires in a highly competitive global marketplace. Needless to say, we're not surprised they're being recognized! Here's the article in its entirety:
Retrieved from: 2011 Apparel's Top Innovative Report
Over the past decade, Massif Mountain Gear Company has transformed the look and feel of flame-resistant clothing with innovative fabrics and forward-thinking designs, offering a new generation of high-end gear that provides protection without sacrificing comfort or performance. Massif works closely with the Army, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard to develop new fabrics and garments and has supplied scores of aviators, ground troops, special operations forces and other military personnel with advanced hot- and cold-weather flame-resistant clothing. Its gear can be the difference between life and death for professionals on the front lines of danger.
So how does the world’s largest supplier of flame-resistant, highperformance apparel to the military, law enforcement, search and rescue professionals and wildland firefighters ensure it’s delivering the very best product to some of the world’s most hazardous occupations? Massif employs a strong management team, focuses on sourcing the very best materials, manages a robust network of supply chain partners, pays close attention to compliance issues, and delivers on its commitment to produce the best gear possible.
But behind all of the leading-edge products, Massif focuses on two important aspects — technology and innovation. And to fortify this focus, Massif implemented TEXbase as its materials testing tool in summer 2010 to streamline its quality assurance and compliance processes, ensuring that only the best possible products make the cut.
Jeff Bowman, Massif COO, says the solution simplifies workflow and allows for supply chain collaboration that encourages innovation while at the same time maintaining the highest levels of product quality.
With TEXbase’s Compliance module, Massif can ensure that its testing procedures and standards are consistent throughout the company. The module offers other key benefits, such as quickly creating comparison reports to analyze test data, which helps to identify trends in development and products. And TEXbase’s dashboard visibility enables quick access and insight into test status, test volume and other key performance indicators.
“Our stringent documentation and reporting processes combined with the volume of testing we do to ensure fabric safety required a more streamlined and efficient method for inputting data and ensuring 100 percent accuracy in reporting,” says Lorie List, director of communications for Massif.
“TEXbase has easily doubled efficiencies for testing — it takes half the time now for these processes compared to how we were doing things prior to implementation,” she adds. “This time savings has increased the amount of work we are able to complete each week without having to add employees to do so."