September 12th, 2016

Lancaster Selects Centric Software Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

CAMPBELL, Calif., September 13, 2016 – Since 1990, Lancaster has crafted luxury leather handbags and accessories, blending traditional materials with timeless design. The Parisian company has chosen Centric 8 PLM to help revitalize its processes and to support growth opportunities in new markets.

Today, Lancaster produces 1.5 million products per year and enjoys a global presence in 60 countries through 1,000 stores.

Making that passion for leather and that sense of Parisian style available further afield represented a challenge for Tony Jean Rose, PLM Project Manager, and the design and development teams at Lancaster’s Paris headquarters. “To achieve our objective of exponential growth, particularly in Asia and the USA, we needed to simplify our processes in line with best practices, improve supply chain collaboration, and find opportunities to synergize sourcing between the Sequoia and Lancaster brands,” explains Rose.

To support that multi-national, multi-brand perspective on collection and product development, Lancaster began a comprehensive PLM selection process, employing the services of an independent advisor in order to select the best possible partner.

“We wanted to reach multiple markets more quickly – all without compromising quality, affordability, or the essential identity of the brand,” says Rose.

Following an exhaustive RFQ and demonstration process, Centric 8 PLM was selected on the strength of its flexibility, functionality, and ease of use.

Also important was Centric’s first-hand experience of the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the industry. “Centric has an impressive reputation in the luxury sector,” Rose continues. “Its consultants and developers understand the demand for continuous evolution, from one collection to the next. By challenging Centric we challenged ourselves and we discovered an opportunity to benefit from their experience. In parallel with implementing the Centric 8 PLM platform, we now intend to re-organize our processes to take advantage of their teams’ expertise.”

In addition to better connecting with suppliers, Lancaster will also empower its designers and developers with key applications from Centric’s mobile suite, such as Capture it, Material Sample and Product Notes on Android, allowing users to quickly create a collaborative and contemporaneous source of images and other product data.

“Making the most of PLM involves more than just reducing defects, slimming cycle times and establishing leaner processes,” says Chris Groves, Centric Software CEO. “Lancaster will be able to secure its reputation for affordable luxury through proven practices, as well as laying the technological foundations for growth without compromise.”

Lancaster (www.lancaster.fr)

Lancaster is a French company whose talent and expertise have made it a well-known name on the leather goods market. Its keywords are innovation, constant change, fashion consciousness and trendiness. In fact, over the years, the brand has successfully carved out a niche for itself as one of the leading names in the French leather goods and accessible luxury markets.

Centric Software, Inc. (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software builds technologies for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Its flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for emerging businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion and Apparel PLM. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013 and 2015.

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