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The fashion industry is on a roll. Fast fashion is no longer just a
buzzword, but a modern day retailing phenomenon. Most fashion houses are now
focusing their energies on reducing processes involved in buying cycles to
further cut down on the lead time for getting the latest style or in vogue
product designs into stores to satisfy customer demand at its peak. Timely
response to swiftly changing fashion trends, while retaining quality and
competitive pricing, is a tall order indeed! This necessity has retailers racing
against time to deliver trendy and cost-effective new fashions, resulting in
multiple seasons as against the staple two or three in the past. The associated
stress on companies in the value chain is therefore evident.
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With growing number of fashion houses working with design and manufacturing
teams spread across dispersed locations, new sets of challenges like lengthening
supply chains have also emerged. The supply chain should be designed such that
the goods flow seamlessly from the producer to consumer and vice versa. This
frees capital tied up in returned and obsolete products. Today global
collaboration is needed to develop an optimal supply chain with business
partners in a symbiotic manner, rather than focusing entirely on strategies that
deliver individual success. Modern day technologies like Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) offer smart solutions to address problem areas of the
above-mentioned areas of concern. If implemented properly, tools can completely
optimize the manner in which products are developed. PLM is essentially a set of
advanced technology tools used for designing, analysis and manufacturing of a
product right from its inception to distribution. PLM is now widely used by
manufacturing companies globally to develop, describe, manage and communicate
information about products internally as well as externally among the supply
chain partners.
Benefits from PLM
PLM usually helps businesses achieve greater RoI because of accelerated
speed across the product development process through enhanced collaboration,
greater visibility and standardization. This in turn leads to a drastic
reduction in time-to-market new products.
More standardized and efficient processes with automated workflows go a long
way in improving operational efficiencies. Direct costs like material and labor
are optimized, as are the iterations in design finalization that provide
immediate benefits.
PLM provides a sturdy enterprise platform that can be used to create a
dynamic global data repository for all product knowledge sharing. In fact the
implementation of PDM or Product Data Management is the inception point for most
PLM initiatives. PLM helps organizations have better control over documentation
processes, eliminates data integrity issues and resolves standardization and
versioning issues.
Moreover, the inclusion of real-time graphical scorecards and dashboards
provide top-management an immediate insight into the critical metrics while
supporting cross-functional team execution. Managers can see for themselves the
areas where business is performing adequately and where more focus is required
in the crucial areas of product design and development.
PLM has now become synonymous with the creation of a seamless environment for
complete product management right from retrieving, manipulating and analyzing
product information, to designing innovative products, standardized global
product development and distribution in a fragmented and geographically
dispersed area. It ensures that businesses derive maximum RoI from fast fashion
by addressing the complex challenges of frequent design modifications,
regulatory concerns, globally scattered teams, disparate systems with
incompatible data, duplication of processes and more. It is not difficult to see
why more and more forward looking fashion houses are making the switch to PLM.
Atul Dhakappa,
The auther is head, fashion practice, Geometric
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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