Centric Software's Product Executive Expands on Retail Product Design and Sourcing Trends

Our recent blog post outlined Centric Software, an innovative provider of a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor, and consumer goods. Centric’s flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, offers merchandise planning, product development, business planning, sourcing, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries.
 

Figure 1. Centric’s Sample Review Mobile App
 
The post then reflected on the latest innovations within Centric 8 PLM v7.0, which offer to bring brands, retailers, and manufacturers closer to consumers. Another major new innovation is Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP), which offers a new fully visual and digital experience for collaboration and decision-making. Other innovations were about the mobility capabilities (see Figure 1).
   
In this blog post, Ron Watson, VP of Products at Centric Software, will continue the discussion by talking about some other technologies that help enable digital transformation (see Figure 1). We will end this in-depth discussion with Watson’s predictions on what the future might bring to the world of retail procurement, sourcing, and related collaborative PLM software.
 

Ron Watson, VP of Products at Centric Software  

Harnessing New Technology for Retail Product Development

TEC: What can you tell us about Centric Software’s customers’ need for using digital tools to support their sourcing strategies?
 
RW: Our customers face increasing economic pressure with evolving tariffs on sourced materials, components, or finished products from China, as an example, which is especially challenging for US companies. There is also uncertainty with trading partnerships for companies in the EU and the UK. The challenge for many brands is how to implement a much more flexible sourcing strategy to manage these challenges while managing costs and logistics.
 
Digital transformation with PLM software solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), and 3D CAD technology streamlines the go-to-market of products destined for multiple markets and/or channels.  With a centralized source for all product information that allows all teams, no matter where they work in the world, to have access to the most updated information empowers them to make more accurate strategic decisions, enabling more efficient and flexible sourcing strategies.
 
Centric PLM includes many automated features and functions, including AI and 3D product design and sample reviews that are the foundation for agile and diversified sourcing. Some of the benefits of these features include:
 

• Provide a single source of truth: with all product information available in one digital place, teams are much more nimble and able to work more efficiently by saving massive amounts of time no longer chasing up-to-date product information buried in hundreds of spreadsheets, emails, and paper files.
• Support more accurate cost predictions: teams can create ‘what-if’ scenarios with the cost scenarios feature in Centric PLM and automatically calculate how product costs affect margins and pricing to take the guesswork out of sourcing.
• Enable high-volume sourcing: empower high-volume and direct-to-factory sourcing by launching and evaluating supplier requests en masse while automatically consolidating request for quote (RFQ) responses and supplier notes in one centralized digital space.
• Manage products destined for multiple markets: drive global channel growth and market expansion by creating localized product descriptions and pricing in multiple languages and currencies.
• Streamline multiple supplier sourcing and supplier requests: easily source the same product from multiple, local suppliers to reduce environmental footprint, lower costs of shipping from farther locations and shrink the timeline for receiving samples and finished products. Efficiently update existing supplier requests with changes after the first prototype has been reviewed saving time and streamlining communications when evaluating proposals and samples.
• Share 3D renderings across the supply chain: harness the power of 3D capabilities with Centric PLM to streamline sourcing with photorealistic designs attached directly to tech packs and dramatically reduce the cost and time associated with physical samples that can be replaced by photorealistic 3D samples.
• Drive down costs with AI Image Search: AI within Centric PLM enables sourcing teams to quickly visually search style libraries for fabrics and materials for re-use and re-order from suppliers.

 
TEC: In other words, automating and digitizing certain parts of the process leaves more time and resources for staff to get on with more value-adding tasks? It results in cost savings, too?
 
RW: Yes, digital transformation with PLM software saves time and frees teams to focus on more strategic, value-added tasks across the product development cycle. The sourcing process is data-rich and overwhelming. Done without a PLM solution, it requires one person to handle hundreds of spreadsheets, emails, and paper notes so version control can become a major challenge that slows down the process, adding a lot of uncertainty to decision making and reporting and creating bottlenecks in communications and collaboration.
 
Sourcing teams are managing multiple requests across multiple suppliers and multiple products, so the efficiency gained with centralized information is key. Consider the work we have done with automation of supplier requests and high-volume sourcing—every enhancement we can make to reduce user clicks is welcome by our sourcing users.
 
Sourcing cost savings with PLM software comes in three major ways:
 

• PLM gives teams higher visibility into evaluating cost scenarios or ‘what-iffing’ supplier proposals and automated predictive analysis of the cost of materials through the cost of shipping in multiple currencies.
• Having the ability to make sourcing decisions based on accurate pricing empowers teams to make the best strategic decisions to drive down costs and increase margins.
• Being able to predict lateness, material defects, or other problems can lead to massive cost savings.

 
Cost savings also come from improving data accuracy through the use of a single central source of information within PLM that is always up-to-date and based on real-time data. PLM eliminates the need for constant updates of product information and manual data entry that can lead to costly mistakes. When the system can automate mundane tasks and provide better validation and exception reporting, sourcing users can shift their focus from entering data to recognizing and handling exceptions.
 
Product sampling and prototyping are time-consuming and very costly. Innovations with 3D sample reviews within Centric PLM enable teams to visualize and modify 3D samples directly in Centric PLM without a 3D CAD solution or 3D design expertise. Transforming the sample review process saves time, money, and labor—speeding product iterations and reducing the number of and costs of shipping physical samples.
 
TEC: Can this new technology cause a culture shift?
 
RW: Yes. Digital transformation of sourcing gives unprecedented visibility into sourcing decisions, empowering sourcing teams to be more flexible with changing sourcing conditions. This represents a huge cultural shift, allowing all teams to become much more proactive instead of reactive to changes in the marketplace. Reducing the amount of time spent manually re-entering data, chasing product information, fielding questions/comments from suppliers, and uncertainty when predicting costs and creating reports massively reduces stress, improves communications and collaboration, and frees teams to focus on strategic business goals.
 
Digital transformation with PLM supports a cultural shift to more sustainable and eco-friendlier product development. Fashion and retail brands know consumers are becoming much more environmentally conscious when making purchasing decisions. Managing sourcing with Centric PLM allows brands to monitor every aspect of a product’s lifecycle, from the raw materials used in factories to vendors’ labor practices to the recyclability of packaging. PLM software makes it easy to track and manage compliance programs and vendor certification, ensuring peace of mind about ethical concerns in the supply chain as well as more transparency for consumers.
   

Centric Customer Examples

TEC: Please tell us how some Centric customers have used these tools to transform their product development and sourcing practices at their business?
 
RW: Centric PLM empowers digital transformation for over 360 fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury, home décor, and consumer goods companies to streamline operations across the entire product lifecycle with the general benefits of increasing product innovation and getting more products to more markets faster. Some of our customers are specifically using Centric PLM to offer their customers more personalized products by getting their customers involved in the creation of their own products—picking variations of trims and fabrics.
 
Centric PLM allows brands to manage each unique product in design and production and lets those brands give their customers a transparent view of how their specific product is made. Centric PLM even manages the product-specific information for each personalized product from design to manufacture, so production teams and the customer have an immediate view of where their product is in the production process.
 
For a lot of our customers, quality control doesn’t end when production is complete. Our customers have a continual process for improving the longevity and durability of their products. Centric PLM enables our customers to gather feedback from their customers about their products and enter information about each individual damage incident and repair into the quality testing library to share this information directly with suppliers. This allows suppliers to adjust materials and other components to improve quality based on real-world customer feedback.
 
As mentioned earlier, our customers are using AI Image Search within Centric PLM to rapidly search digital materials libraries to visually search style libraries for fabrics and materials for re-use and re-order from suppliers and using photorealistic 3D product renderings to replace the cost and time associated with producing, shipping, and evaluating physical samples. Our customers do still rely on physical samples for product development and can use bar codes to register and track samples in PLM, eliminating the need for multiple spreadsheets and manual data entry to manage hundreds of samples and prototypes.
 
TEC: Could you also please tell us about some examples of your clients’ expansion aspirations and how they were supported by Centric PLM?
 
RW: Centric Software works with over 1,200 fashion, retail, and consumer goods brands and manufacturers across the world. We have numerous success stories from our customers, listing both strategic and operational benefits of digital transformation with Centric PLM. We have the highest user adoption rate in the industry, with a 99% customer retention rate since Centric was founded in 2006. Generally, our customers reduce their time to market by up to 50%, improve sales by up to 10%, reduce costs of goods sold by up to 15% and improve productivity by up to 50%.
 
KLIM, a American-based brand specializing in technical power sports gear, reduced sample lead time by 25%, reduced the time to receive pricing from factories by 75%, the time to compile material forecasts shortened from two to three weeks to half a day, and the time to return sample comments back to factories was reduced by 55%.
 
Fashion brand MUSTANG decreased questions from suppliers after initial tech pack distribution by 20%, SC Fashion reduced sample production time by 20% and after just two seasons of using Centric PLM, 3Colour improved the accuracy of their Bills of Materials (BOMs) from 70% to 80% accurate to 100% accurate.
 
Our retail customers also benefit from centralizing all product information in PLM. Our customer Ackermans, a leading retailer in South Africa, reports a reduction in the time required for building tenders manually from two days to building a tender in a couple of hours with Centric PLM. In addition, processes that used to take two to three weeks before data was centralized in Centric PLM are now immediate. For example, product margin calculations only take seconds instead of weeks.
 
Some of our multi-category retail customers are faced with the challenge of retaining and attracting new customers with competition from global, online retailers and are implementing private label strategies focused on creating their own lines of fashion, apparel, furniture, home goods, and electronics to fill gaps in their branded retail assortments. Multi-category retailers use Centric PLM to create a robust platform for product development which can be used to forecast costs and product margins, ensuring the best possible combination of quality and price for their customers. They are using the solution and as a collaborative tool to co-create/co-design private label products with their suppliers.
 
Our manufacturing customer Ninian & Lester sees great benefits to be gained from digital transformation with Centric PLM on the supplier side of the sourcing relationship. Their goal is to harness digital technology throughout the value-chain, building cross-silo and cross-channel capabilities, connecting IT, machines, and people in real time in order to manufacture products better and faster, leveraging business intelligence for the demands of omnichannel retailing, their workforce and the future of manufacturing. Centric's configurable solution allows them to shorten cycle times, enhance delivery, bring visibility and transparency into the supply chain, and ultimately expand the value they deliver to their customers.
 

Figure 2. Centric Merchandise Planning  

Some Predictions for the End

TEC: At the end of the day, what do you think the future holds for retail product development and supply chains as practices and technologies?
 
RW: What we are seeing and hearing from our customers is that there likely will be an increased focus on suppliers providing more services to brands beyond manufacturing products. Instead, suppliers will be contracted for more co-creating or designing of products for multiple brands.
 
This type of co-creation will require new digital tools for collaboration like Centric’s new digital boards. They support a highly visual, intuitive way of collaborating and making decisions better and faster based on real-time information and team contributions.
 
We also expect to see more brands and manufacturers adopting 3D design and development. Centric’s new advancements in 3D create a complete, native, end-to-end 3D product development workflow with connections to market-leading 3D CAD solutions making Centric PLM the hub of all the 3D activities. Once files are uploaded within Centric PLM, users with no 3D design expertise or direct connection to a CAD solution can edit and update images directly in Centric PLM and easily share across the supply chain.
 
Finally, we also predict the continued rise of the Digital Marketplace for procurement of IT and other products and services.  

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