Challenges in managing production capacity by manufacturing cooperatives during growth stage

Enterprises, big or small, do experience challenges in managing growth in production. Growth in production requires expansion in production capacity and improvements in resource allocation such as labour and funds. This paper focuses on textile and clothing manufacturing cooperatives based in different townships of the Gauteng City Region of South Africa. These cooperatives produce clothing items. These are regarded as short-life cycle goods and these are also manufactured from short production cycles. Enterprises such as cooperatives move through stages from start-up and then move to the stage of growth. The failure to manage demand during the growth stage for small enterprises results poor quality products, loss of clients and challenges in production backlog recovery. It is against this background that this paper provides an analysis of activities that happen during growth stages of clothing manufacturing cooperatives and points out solutions to these challenges for cooperative directors and practioners involved in supporting manufacturing cooperatives in developing regions such as South Africa. This paper is based on data collected from n=100 sewing or clothing production cooperatives. Recommendations and directions for future research are provided on this paper.