Springs Industries Inc. :: Business Management Studies

Springs Industries Inc.Springs Industries Inc. is a $2.2 billion textile company that isheadquartered in foregather Mill, South Carolina. Springs Industriesfocuses its efforts into the increaseion of the shoes furnishingsmarket, and operates under well-known brand name such as Wamsutta,Springmaid, Disney, LizAt Home and Bill Blass. Their home furnishingssegment report cards for nearly 82% of the companys revenue, and remains cardinal of the returning producers of bedding, bath and other homefurnishing products in the United States (McFarlan, pg. 1, 1997). In 1995, Springs acquired several additional companies in which theycould facilitate the introduction of natural and completing productsthat would provide them with a distinct set of product offerings. However, integrating these new companies into the existing operatingenvironment would pose significant challenges. Presenting one boldnessthe customer was of the utmost importance to Springs and fusing theback-office, admini strative, and marketing efforts of itsacquisitions would present numerous complexities (McFarlan, pg. 1,1997). association BuildingThe home furnishing market which Springs competes in is extremelyvolatile. In the home furnishings market, earnings are directlyrelated to fast and flexible product development, short productioncycles, and ability to replenish stock supplies quickly. Recently,Springs industry pair WestPoint Stevens was making waves in themarketplace from the payoff of their heavy investments the past quintetteyears into technologies that increased their present-day(prenominal) capacity 12%. To further mental strain the need for Springs to re-work their existingstructure, one must first understand that in this industry it iscritical to present a strong product carte because retailersincreasingly wish to purchase from fewer suppliers. This is evidencesby another adversary of Springs, Pillowtex, in recent times acquiredadditional smaller companies which will disconti nue the expansion of theircurrent offerings, and position them to compete directly with Springsin the existing home furnishing market (McFarlan, pp. 1-3, 1997). Wanting to remain competitive and on steer of their respective market,in 1997 Springs Inc. hired up and coming executive Crandall Bowles tolead them into the new millennium. Bowles top priority was to directher efforts on the companys information systems and determine boththe breadth of expenditures and the measure of innovation obligatory inorder to increase profit by quickening the pace of its application ofnew technology and sources of information to marketing, customerservice, and inventory circumspection (McFarlan, pp 1-2, 1997).Springs deals specifically with large retailers, the likes ofWal-Mart, Kmart and Target. These companies demand that suppliersmanage their existing inventories according to current purchasingtrends, which are identified though the collection of Point of exchange(POS) data and the use analyt ical sophisticated InformationTechnologies (IT).