Faced with growing complexity across its global factory network, Newtimes Group turned to Pivot88 to standardise inspections, centralise compliance data and gain real-time visibility into quality performance worldwide. Paul Walsh, CEO of Newtimes Development, explains how the company achieved significant business outcomes by delivering more efficient, transparent inspection services to its clients.
Newtimes Group is a Hong Kong-based global apparel sourcing and supply-chain partner with more than six decades of industry experience. The company provides end-to-end services spanning fabric R&D, design, product development, production management, quality assurance and logistics.
With over 40 offices worldwide and a team of 1,500 specialists, Newtimes supports leading fashion and lifestyle brands across multiple product categories. Some of its customers include brands like Nordstrom, Abercrombie & Fitch, ALO Yoga and United Legwear & Apparels Co. Its focus on quality, compliance and speed to market has established Newtimes as a trusted, full-service sourcing partner for brands looking to scale responsibly and efficiently.
The search for smarter inspections
As Newtimes Group expanded its operations across more than 30 countries, each with its own network of factories, CEO Paul Walsh and his team recognised the growing limitations of traditional pen-and-paper QC reporting. With quality teams dispersed globally, relying on manual processes made it increasingly challenging to maintain consistency and visibility across the organisation. They knew it was time to adopt a more standardised, technology-enabled approach to quality management.
“We needed a more unified and systematic way of working as our business grew and became ever more geographically dispersed,” said Paul Walsh, CEO of Newtimes Development. “Introducing a modernised process wasn’t just about efficiency, it was about strengthening our overall focus on quality.”
Around 2017, while exploring inspection platform solutions, the team evaluated the Pivot88 (a TradeBeyond company) alongside several other well-known solution providers. They conducted a rigorous benchmarking study to assess not only how each platform was positioned, but how it performed in real daily use. “Our study focused on how the solution supported the work of our QC staff, who were the true end-users. We examined factors such as customisation capabilities, user-friendliness and ease of use across laptops, tablets and other devices. By the end of the process, Pivot88 clearly stood out as the winner,” said Walsh.
“Other solution providers were certainly more aggressive in their marketing, but we wanted to look past the messaging and focus on how each solution actually performed in practice,” he continued. “By the end of our pilot benchmarking study, the conclusion was unanimous; Pivot88 delivered a far superior experience compared to the alternatives.”
Modernising quality control with a new approach
Newtimes’ unique business model presented several challenges during the initial setup of its Pivot88 inspection solution. As an agent supporting multiple vendors and customers within shared factories, the company needed a platform capable of accurately separating and segmenting data across different stakeholders. Working closely with Pivot88’s customer success team, it was able to configure the system in a way that aligned seamlessly with Newtimes’ operational structure.
“One major benefit is visibility. Having immediate insight into inspection failures and receiving alerts that allow us to act quickly has been a game-changer,” said Simon Dowd, EVP Operations at Newtimes Development.
A key advantage that the Newtimes team mentions is the ability to have deeper visibility into each inspection. This level of detail enables the team to drive improvements across their factory base and demonstrate to their customers that, as their agent, they are vigilant about quality and able to deliver the inspection transparency expected.
This dynamic visibility has been especially valuable for the Newtimes team. Previously, QC staff were often so busy that reports were uploaded days or even weeks after an inspection, leaving the business to rely on outdated information. Walsh wanted to elevate the company’s approach to quality beyond simply improving first-time pass rates – he wanted to understand the underlying performance of factories at a more granular level and embed a mindset of continuous improvement across the organisation.
“Access to real-time data has enabled us to identify issues quickly and respond with speed and precision,” he said. “It has also allowed us to spot emerging trends before they escalate, driving higher first-time pass rates and, ultimately, improving overall pass quality by reducing defect rates. With Pivot88, we can clearly pinpoint root-cause quality issues and take decisive, data-driven action.”
Beyond inspection data, centralising CSR information has created meaningful efficiencies beyond inspection data alone. With support from the Pivot88 team, CSR metrics are now captured and updated in real time, giving Newtimes clear visibility into each vendor’s compliance status. Automated alerts notify CSR teams when audits are approaching expiration, helping them prioritise auditor schedules and reduce compliance risk. With all data unified in a single platform, Walsh’s team can effortlessly generate customised CSR reports that keep compliance efforts current and aligned with ongoing production activities.
Driving tangible quality improvements
Harnessing Pivot88’s inspection solution, Walsh and his team have not only improved quality performance on a surface level but also have the insight to dive deeper into process details to make improvements at the roots level. The ability to have enhanced visibility into different areas related to quality, such as CSR, has helped to further improve Newtimes’ services to its end clients.
“There is an advantage when you have quality and CSR data packaged together for a vendor,” said Walsh. “It gives you a more holistic viewpoint on the performance of the vendor across compliance, quality and even testing.”
By leveraging Pivot88’s inspection solution, Walsh and his team have elevated their quality management approach far beyond surface-level improvements. Enhanced visibility enables them to drill into process details, identify root causes and drive meaningful, data-backed improvements across their factory network. This greater transparency – extending into areas such as CSR – has also strengthened the value the company delivers to end clients.
Overall, the significant business benefits achieved as a result of the partnership are:
- Reduced human error by 60%
- Increased quality inspection efficiency by over 30%
- Improved first time pass rates by over 15%
- Drove down AQL defect rates to under 3%
