Do you have a fashion brand, or are thinking of starting a fashion brand. This information may be useful for you.
Your fashion brand has experienced ongoing success in the media, and your following is growing. But the day-to-day logistics of designing, sourcing, and manufacturing products is starting to slow down. Sound familiar? If yes, you’re not alone. With a growing fashion business, it gets challenging to manage your daily operations. Investing in smart product lifecycle management (PLM) software is a great idea to help unlock the potential of your creativity and take your business to the next level.
Introduction to PLM Software
PLM software deals with the complete lifecycle of a product. It starts from inception and goes through different development stages until the final product is ready. A PLM system helps in streamlining the complete product lifecycle management process. Although PLM software was initially used in aviation and manufacturing industries, today, it is widely used across industries. The apparel and fashion industry uses the PLM software extensively to meet operational challenges, keep production costs at a minimum, and improve the quality of the products and increase the speed to market.
What to Look For
Today’s apparel market relies heavily on a variety of products that need to be shipped globally without compromising the cost or quality. PLM software comes in handy in such a scenario. It helps enterprises to keep all their data centrally on one platform instead of having multiple versions that may slow down the process. It also allows businesses to gauge insight, which will enable them to streamline the entire process, leverage a leaner operation, and ultimately reduce the cost of the product. Additionally, this will maintain and improve the product quality and help the team to collaborate, promoting transparency at every stage of the global supply chain.
How do you choose the right PLM software? Here are some pointers to help you decide which system is right for you:
- Look for a PLM software that helps you to merchandise. From managing season sales to meeting the latest fashion trends, look for a PLM that is fast to create visual line plans and share information. For example, apparel PLM software, like Centric Software’s,offers full visibility of the entire apparel product lifecycle.
- An apparel PLM software should help you to manage logistics more efficiently. It should offer full visibility and process automation and should help you see and manage priorities, requests for quotation, samples, and orders.
- A full-fledged apparel PLM software should be able to streamline product development. From serving as a central platform for all data, it should provide secure options for all the stakeholders to view and aggregate materials. It should also provide effortless and streamlined collaboration between teams, especially for organizations that are globally dispersed.
- An efficient PLM software should be also able to streamline sourcing and buying. Look for a PLM system you can leverage to manage preferred vendors. The system should quickly evaluate quotes, evaluate the vendor base, and control the flow of information sharing.
- Finally, efficient apparel PLM software should be able to build reports quickly so that you can retrieve a report at any time from anywhere. Not just that, it will ensure that all the information is up-to-date in a report with its real-time reporting tool. In short, PLM software helps you know what is going on with your product at any point in time so that you are in a better position to manage the entire operation more efficiently.
A Few Precautions for PLM
- Check the implementation time. Some PLM software may take years to deploy, which means you spent a lot on business process mapping and managing. Long implementation time also means you need to spend a few years working inefficiently. So, while choosing a PLM software, look for one that doesn’t have more than 30 days of implementation time.
- Evaluate the total cost of ownership. When it comes to the cost of acquiring PLM software, it can get a bit tricky to know the actual cost because of the fine prints and the real value of the software. While checking for the total cost of ownership, watch out for factors like the implementation time, the cost of server to build and maintain, in case you are operating on-premise, and finally, if you need to do integration to your existing system, the cost of it.
- Analyze how to integrate it with your existing system. The purpose of PLM software is to integrate closely with your existing system so that you can streamline operations by better collaboration that enhances product development. Learn how you can overlay PLM with your existing network.
- Finally, a PLM system should be easy to use for anyone. Your PLM software should allow all stakeholders to use the data the way they want to do their job better.
Invest in PLM
Having the right fashion PLM system is essential for your apparel business. By investing in high-quality software, you can cut costs, save time on production, and communicate effectively at every step of the way. By integrating a PLM system, you can take your production efficiency to new heights.
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