Suppose you’re a fashion product development company aiming to develop a pair of jeans. There are a few members involved in the development process as well. The product development will involve various stages and accordingly, the team members are assigned the tasks. In such cases, how will you manage your team collaboration, product database, etc?
Quite tedious and time-consuming right?
What if you use Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software?
A PLM system is a software for product design, merchandising, product development, and sourcing from concept to retail, in collaboration with both internal and vendor teams. It fastens the product development process thereby releasing products faster to the market at lesser costs. This system contains a database of product information like design sketches, measurements, materials, colors, samples, seasons, comments, revisions, etc.
You can also store your idea, thoughts, and information regarding a style in the fashion PLM system. This data can be then shared, used, and re-used as per your needs. It helps you enhance efficiency, global communication, and transparency with a single version of truth for all product-related data. A PLM software will work for all your product development needs, irrespective of the company’s size.
Now that you have an overview of the PLM system, you may be thinking about when should be the right time to implement it in your business. To implement a PLM system for your business, you need to figure out the right time to do so.
When can you implement PLM in fashion?
When you run a fashion business, there are a lot of things that you need to consider. Suppose you want to be a trendsetter, creating unique products, and have your designs out faster than your competitors. You also want to keep a track of how your products are treated at each step of the process. In such a case, PLM software for fashion will help you better in manufacturing a product. In the manufacturing process, you may come across certain pain points where you need PLM software.
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Speed Time to Market
When you want to keep a track of timelines ad milestones, along with having good visibility across all the parties, at this stage a PLM system is critical for your business. It will greatly speed up the entire concept to store time and enhance calendar management. Additionally, the PLM system will drive proactive calendar management with timely alerts and notifications.
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New Product Development
If you plan to commercialize your first product in a certain period or releasing the second product or maybe expanding your business to a new market, then you should implement a PLM system. With the use of PLM systems, you can reduce risks and fasten the product development process.
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Team Collaboration & Communication
Garment production will require a lot of people to work together. When multiple people are working together, effective communication is a major requirement. Good collaboration and communication are necessary when you need to juggle designers, manufacturers, production, delivery, seller, and dozens of others. With a PLM system, you can have all the team members on the same page, you can compile reports, follow the progress, and produce the garment easily with good quality.
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Launch more Products
In order to deliver a variety of products, thousands of design proposals are reviewed and only ten percent of them are retained. With PLM systems, businesses can manage more Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) at once. Hence, resulting in increased product development. A single user can create hundreds of SKUs and multiple seasons at once and efficiently manage requests for designs and samples.
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Data Integration
If you own a large-scale business, then it is obvious that you need to keep a track of a lot of information like the SKUs of garments and accessories, the size of the designs offered, etc. Suppose you miss out on any information related to garment production; you may face serious issues. In such cases, PLM software will allow you to collect, organize, and utilize huge data necessary for garment production.
Wrapping Up
Timing and ROI play an important role when implementing new software in fashion companies. It is a critical step in companies’ growth to implement the PLM System. Fashion businesses looking to expand and continue to grow will need a centralized system that manages all product-related data and integrates people, processes, and data.
PLM System is a digital backbone for fashion companies to reap lots of benefits. Ultimately, with the use of PLM software, you can effectively manage product data and information, improve work processes, accelerate time to market, boost productivity, reduce waste and costs, improve product innovation and quality and make supplier collaboration more efficient.
