March 8th, 2021

Bioworld Speeds Product Development with Centric PLM

The pop-culture licensing company tackles complexity head-on

CAMPBELL, Calif., March 9, 2021 – Bioworld, a leading global manufacturer of pop-culture apparel and accessories, has selected Centric Software^®’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) enterprise solution Centric 8 PLM. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Jason Mayes, Director of Marketing and Intellectual Property says, “Bioworld is a pioneer of pop-culture products. We’ve led the way for over two decades because we look at the licensing industry differently — from the fan’s point of view. We go beyond merch, beyond commerce. We cultivate self-expression.”

Bioworld was founded in 1999. They are a global leader in licensed products, headquartered in Irving, Texas with 10 offices worldwide. Nathan Grant, VP of Creative adds, “We’re affinity amplified. By ‘affinity’ we mean fandom, and when we say ‘amplified’—this is the thing that really sets Bioworld apart within this industry—there’s no other company in our space that works across the number of product categories that we do. We cover ‘head to toe’ from hats to shirts to socks, and ‘closet to kitchen’ from throw blankets to mugs.” Indeed, Bioworld has probably licensed any brand one can think of: Star Wars, Disney, Animal Crossing, and Marvel to name a few.

It is the complexity of dealing with such a large number of products and the variety of categories across various types of retail—B2B, direct to consumer and Amazon channels—that led Bioworld to pursue PLM.

Says Grant, “We manage tens of thousands of unique products every year from a development and also from a production standpoint. We have to track progress of each product from inception to production to retail throughout the development life cycle while also managing our clients’ approvals and changes. The volume of products and approval process adds to the complexity of our operations. With all the moving parts, it seems like an impossible job!”

Patrick Flanagan, Director of IT recalls, “We went on a very long and thorough fact-finding mission, looking at multiple PLM systems over the course of two years with all the stakeholders involved. We used score cards and Centric finished head-and-shoulders above everybody else. The knowledge the Centric team has, shows us that they really understand our industry.”

Flanagan continues, “We were able to easily align our business processes with the out-of-the-box functionality of Centric PLM. Everything from design, to tech packs and building BOMs, sampling, merchandise and line planning, is a lot more efficient than before. The ‘one source of the truth’ is key.”

Grant discusses the ease of sandboxing. “It is phenomenal that if we have a challenge we can actually come up with a solution and test it in the system that same day without impacting production. We can ‘what-if’ without affecting the business.”

Bioworld had a lightning-fast PLM implementation of just 3 months. Says Grant, “We were really impressed, not only with Centric’s approach to innovation and best practices, but their ability to remotely deploy so we were able to start using Centric PLM in about a week in accordance with an urgency on our side. Under any circumstances, this would have been impressive but considering the pandemic, it was a minor miracle and a great way to start off our partnership. “

Grant concludes, “What we really want from Centric PLM is speed—and being able to bring the right products to market.”

Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software says, “It is a privilege to be able to contribute to the speed-to-market and success of a company that covers so many categories, channels and beloved brands, providing quality merchandise to fans around the globe.”

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Bioworld (www.bioworldmerch.com)

Global pioneers of lifestyle pop-culture apparel and accessories for 20 years. We partner with the biggest brands in the world. Our company is built on fandom. It’s our rallying cry.

We are the only global licensee with a distribution network built for agility to attack emerging trends. We redefined omni-channel to be everywhere the fans are.

Headquartered in Texas with 10 offices worldwide, we own the supply chain—from manufacturing to distribution and every step in between. Our partners know we aren’t just one solution. We’re THE solution.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods including cosmetics, beauty, food and beverage. Centric’s flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB provides innovative PLM technology and key industry learnings for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) offers a new fully visual and digital experience for collaboration and decision-making and includes the Centric Buying Board to transform internal buying sessions and maximize retail value and the Centric Concept Board for driving creativity and evolving product concepts. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.

Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.