The world apparel industry used to be between 28th and 38th Street, midtown New York City.
Today, like the internet, it could be almost anywhere.
Anywhere like Helton Drive, in Florence, Alabama, location of OnPoint Manufacturing, a leader in the emerging industry of on-demand apparel manufacturing.
Instead of haggling with a cut and sew shop that demands a minimum order — much of which will end up in a bargain bin — the brand or individual customer place their order through the internet with an on-demand manufacturer who uses a dazzling array of high-tech equipment and worker assembly lines to produce custom-made clothing in small-batch orders and delivered in 10-20 days or less.
OnPoint Manufacturing is already a highly mechanized, on-demand apparel manufacturer. But now they’re becoming even more mechanized from start to finish, with the addition of something called a GERBERcutter® Z1.
The Z1 cutter, delivered to OnPoint on Sept. 30, is a next generation, data-driven, automated cutting solution for single-ply materials. It’s a big chunk of what is known as Industry 4.0 or smart manufacturing.
Onpoint says, in a release, its “factory model automates and integrates nearly every aspect of the manufacturing process from order entry to delivery.”
“Each system we implement makes our manufacturing process more efficient and helps our customers get from concept to production more quickly,” said OnPoint CEO J. Kirby Best.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with OnPoint Manufacturing,” said Karsten Newbury, chief strategy and digital officer of Gerber Technology. “OnPoint has developed technically advanced automated manufacturing and, combined with our unique end-to-end solution, this partnership will pave the way for true personalized on-demand manufacturing, which is what today’s consumers are increasingly expecting.”
OnPoint’s factory is located in Florence, although their headquarters is in Nashville. They were named 2018 Alabama Manufacturer of the Year by the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Council.
Based in Connecticut, Gerber Technology is owned by AIP, a New York-based, private equity firm specializing in the technology sector.
