The Client
Fashion PLM is a cloud-based product lifecycle management system for the apparel & footwear industry, aimed at start up companies and SMB’s, but also available to larger corporations. Taking care of the product life cycle is now as easy taking care of a trouser. With easy to use features & a simple aesthetic, Fashion PLM aids the daily business processes, while also reducing the administration tasks by up to 50%. It focuses on the management of a company’s bill of materials (BOM), product change management, and supplier collaboration.
Challenges & Goal
In this fast paced world, getting all the things done on time has become a nightmare. Each day professionals have to deal with deadlines and time crunches. In order to succeed businesses need to have a high integration of multiple business processes and accessibility of information everywhere and at any given time. This is more evident in the development and design of products than anywhere else. In the fashion industry new products are developed simultaneously and are being introduced on a continuous basis to match the demands of the varied consumer base. Information must be made available for the entire product life cycle, from design to manufacturing, and thereafter, to be accessed by various suppliers and internal departments.
This process is done manually by most apparel and footwear companies. For instance, once a garment is designed, its specifications is stored in several spreadsheets, design software and text documents – generating a large folder consisting various documents related to one garment which is then emailed or couriered to the suppliers. The brand then has to wait for the manufacturer to provide a cost estimate and physical product sample which means waste of time and more hierarchical procedures involved. In today’s world when fast delivery has become basis of a successful business, traditional manual ways of dealing things are prone to mistakes.
Before, this was considered as part of the cost of doing business but with the emergence of PLM systems, companies have started to realise its importance and are inclined towards using it.
The common issues that are faced by the fashion brands are
- Loads of information on unique systems due to which sharing of data could not be done easily across various stakeholders resulting into high cost of ownership
- Some old and outdated technologies makes it difficult for factories to work in partnership and share product information among groups
- Due to lack of single repository for materials management, concerns related to data integrity and duplication of data arises.
Client wanted to solve the above problems and help manufacturers in capturing complete, accurate product data. They wanted to build PLM system that helps manufacturers share the product data with the internal teams and supply chain partners involved in designing, developing and building their products. The system that will allow for strategic collaboration across multi-vendor, multi-product type, customer-focused organization. It was earlier built using .NET & MySQL and was facing issues with performance and scalability. The client wanted to rebuild the entire platform using MEAN stack to improve user experience, reduce time to market in each sprint, and build a scalable architecture..
Fashion PLM – What Problems it Solves?
Today, product design teams must collaborate effectively to produce innovative products. Right from product ideation, product introduction as well as production, involvement from multiple departments is required. When multiple teams are working on the development of same product, product records have to be handled with special care.
The Product Lifecycle challenges that are solved by Fashion PLM system are
documents
CAD & a bill of materials (BOM)
errors
Key Features
Organize & View Product Listings Quickly & Easily
- List & browse products by season, product id, customer, license, supplier or by any other combination.
- Quick & easy search capabilities.
- Highly responsive and visually appealing.
Collaboration and Version Control
- Centralized Tech-packs with version control accessible by all departments.
- Real time updates to keep everyone on the same page.
- Capture all specifications such as colors, sizes, graphics, graded measurement specs, full bill of materials.
- Change logs for accurate auditing.
Track Samples with Ease
- Request samples, track their status and enter comments with images.
- Notify responsible suppliers of any rejections and request additional samples with modifications required.
- Compare multiple suppliers, then craft, issue and supervise the RFQ process.
BOM Management
- Detailed information about subassemblies and components managed in a single, undisrupted environment.
- Create visual Bills of Materials (BOM) and manage variations.
- Compare multiple BOMs simultaneously to monitor changes and revisions.
Efficient Product Conversations
- Communicate with internal teams & with vendors.
- Controlled information sharing with particular supplier.
- Stay focused on delivery deadlines with discussion threads, instant notifications and messaging.
Price Negotiation
- A bidding module where a company will post its requirements and various suppliers will bid on the Requirements.
- Accept/Reject supplier’s bid.
Our Approach
TOPS Infosolutions developed a web application that enables companies and their partners to have a single cohesive development-to-production solution – from line planning, design and development to sourcing, price negotiations, production and distribution. The PLM system aggregates complete product record. The modules developed within the system enables all the stake-holders participate in the critical product processes to track revisions, quality, and compliance. The result is a single, unified product record that is accessible anytime, anywhere via a secure Cloud. The system makes sure that the internal teams of a company & its external partners always have access to the most current, complete product design.
