Overview
A leading US-based fashion buying house working with multiple mills, vendors, and internal buying teams. The engagement focuses on improving buying operations, delivery timelines, vendor onboarding, and process governance through automation, digital tools, and structured operating frameworks.
Key Challenges
Before the engagement, buying operations relied heavily on manual coordination across mills, vendors, and internal teams, with no standardized process to fall back on.
On-time delivery was impacted by manual follow-ups and limited visibility across the Time & Action (T&A) process
Fabric bidding required structured coordination between mills and internal buying teams
Vendor onboarding involved multiple stakeholders and manual processes
Need for standardized processes and clear operating guidelines across the buying function
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Unison Direct's Solution
Time & Action Calendar Automation
- Designed and implemented an RPA solution using Microsoft Power Automate
- Automated key activities and follow-ups within the Time & Action calendar
- Improved visibility of critical milestones and pending actions
- Reduced dependency on manual follow-ups to support on-time delivery
Fabric Bidding, Coupa
- Configured and managed fabric bidding activities through Coupa
- Coordinated bidding requirements between mills and internal buying teams
- Supported structured comparison and evaluation of fabric bids
- Improved coordination and transparency throughout the fabric sourcing process
New Vendor Onboarding Platform
- Designed the complete concept and process flow for a digital vendor onboarding platform
- Mapped requirements, workflows, approvals, documentation, and stakeholder interactions
- Currently working with the IT team to develop and implement the online platform
- Objective is to create a standardized, scalable, and controlled vendor onboarding process
Golden Rules Manual
- Currently designing a comprehensive “Golden Rules” manual for the buying house
- Establishing standardized guidelines, responsibilities, processes, and controls
- Aims to create consistency across teams and improve process adherence and governance
Results
Automated key T&A activities to support improved on-time delivery
Created a structured digital approach to fabric bidding and mill coordination
Designed a scalable digital framework for vendor onboarding
Improved collaboration between buying, mills, vendors, and internal stakeholders
Driving standardization and process governance through the Golden Rules framework
Supporting the brands transition toward more automated, transparent, and scalable buying operations
Why Businesses Choose Unison Direct
- A named team that stays with the account, rather than a rotating pool of contractors learning the business from scratch
- Hands-on experience automating operational workflows with tools like Microsoft Power Automate and Coupa, not just financial reporting
- A structured approach that moves from fixing immediate process gaps to building standardized, documented frameworks the client can run without external support
- Comfortable working across multiple stakeholders at once, mills, vendors, internal buying teams, and IT, to design solutions that actually get adopted
- Engagements that flex from targeted automation projects to ongoing operational governance, depending on what the business needs