LECTRA

Ruyi Group and Lectra build strategic alliance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ruyi Group and Lectra build strategic alliance

Ruyi Group expands operations with Lectra's lean cutting room

Paris, April 16, 2014 - Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using soft materials-fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials-is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Chinese textile and apparel manufacturing giant, Ruyi Group. Lectra will support Ruyi in expanding operations at their Taian plant in order to supply a growing number of international luxury menswear clients, as well as an increasing number of their own brands. Lectra will work with Ruyi to implement an integrated manufacturing project by supplying best-practice expertise and process optimization consulting as well as hardware and software solutions, to rollout new operations under a lean manufacturing methodology.

Headquartered in China's Shandong province, Ruyi boasts one of the world's largest industrial supply chains for wool and cotton processing. With revenues of more than $5 billion and over 30,000 employees, the group has public companies in Japan and China as well as subsidiaries in 36 countries around the world. They are a global leader in innovative textile processing and also a major end-garment supplier for international luxury menswear brands. Ruyi has a complete vertical fashion supply chain and is evolving towards a hybrid brand/manufacturing business model to optimize their resources, which range from farms to clothing stores.

Founded in 1972, Ruyi's main business traditionally lay in fiber and fabric production. Part of their new strategy is to capitalize on this expertise while moving deeper into the value chain by boosting manufacturing operations and adding cutting and sewing capacity. By having an end-to-end manufacturing chain in place, Ruyi will not only better serve their customers, but also optimize development and manufacturing for their own brands. Ruyi will thus be able to minimize costs, shorten time-to-market and better control quality. At the heart of the project is the installation of a lean-ready cutting room, covering industrialization, pre-production and fabric cutting.