Undiz Reduces Time to Market with Centric PLM™

Cheap Lingerie for Women and Men

Undiz is a French lingerie brand, part of the Etam group. It has been jazzing up the undies market since 2007 with collections that are peppy and funny.

Undiz is based in Paris, Marseille, Nantes, Toulouse, Cannes… But also Madrid, Stuttgart, Brussels, Barcelona… There are more than 140 shops throughout France and Europe, as well as shops in North Africa and the Middle East.

In addition, there is an e-shop, undiz.com, open 24/7, where you can preview the collections five days before the rest of the world!

With two collections per year and 1,500 designs developed in a single season, the most recent addition to the Etam Group has had to expedite its development in response to its success. Undiz chose Centric PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) to ensure the future of its audacious, cheeky and trendsetting lingerie range.

Reduce the Time to Market

In light of the brand’s fast growth and development, Undiz needed to improve the efficiency of product design and development in order to reduce its time to market.

CEO of the Undiz brand, Sébastien Bismuth, explains this need to industrialize the upstream processes, “Our Style teams are showing rapid growth in various locations. Centric improves their productivity and efficiency and helps us to reduce the time to market.”

“In light of the success of Undiz and in order to remain competitive, we needed to improve the monitoring of the product development stages and to become more responsive,” continues Lyly Heng, Upstream Applications Manager of the IT Systems Department.

With more and more designs being developed and an increase in the quantities of items purchased, Undiz needed a global dashboard to enable its teams to monitor all collections at a glance.

Why Centric?

After having invited tenders from several PLM providers, Centric was the preferred choice.

“The ease of use and visual appeal of the Centric PLM solution, the expertise of the Centric consultants and the industry references were all important factors in our final decision to collaborate with Centric,” states Sébastien Bismuth.

“Given the brand’s increasing number of shops and wider customer base, we needed to develop our work methods,” adds Nathalie Balcon, Project Manager of Undiz Business, on the implementation of the PLM.

“Centric demonstrated its exceptional skill by presenting its PLM solution as a global dashboard, allowing production teams to monitor all collections at a glance,” continues Sébastien Bismuth.

Stepping Up a Gear

Reflecting the fast-growing and dynamic brand, implementation of Centric PLM at Undiz was achieved in barely six months. “The project kick-off took place in May and by October, it had gone live. This was a real challenge but an essential requirement, as we were launching our new collection.” The challenge was met and Centric PLM was implemented in time, despite the summer holidays.

“Although intense, implementation went smoothly. We really felt a sense of partnership with Centric,” explains Lyly Heng. “The upstream and post-project support has been key. There has been genuine affiliation and a sense of dynamism from the whole team, which is constantly looking for new solutions. It is a real asset.

“The Centric Agile Deployment℠ methodology permitted quick implementation, evolving with the needs of the team. “Thanks to constant support from Centric consultants, Undiz was able to rapidly implement the solution while adapting to the needs of each individual user.”

The ease of use of the Centric PLM solution is another strength. Today, the Undiz style, development and supply teams – ten or so different departments and a total of 80 staff members – collaborate using Centric PLM.

“Centric PLM is an intuitive, sexy tool which is easy to learn. Today, it has clearly become an indispensable day-to-day tool for the Undiz teams.” The Etam group has decided to expand the use of Centric PLM to other brands. “We are relaxed where Centric PLM is concerned. The solution is constantly evolving to adapt to the demands of our clients. That is why we decided to expand it to the other brands.”

Satisfied Users

Thanks to Centric PLM, Undiz has improved efficiency. User feedback speaks for itself: Instant centralized access

This information is available to everybody and this removes the need for constant email exchanges to obtain information: if the information is properly entered into PLM, we can access it whenever we like.” Annabelle, Night Sourcing. A multi-disciplinary tool “Centric PLM is an indispensable support for the collection! Finally, a multi-disciplinary tool that is easy for all teams to use, from China to France and in-between. We can track the lifecycle of each product from start to finish, from monitoring to analysis,” Natalina, China Coordinator.

Closer monitoring “The calendars provide information relevant to production monitoring, using a color model. The color codes indicate any possible delay in validation and allow the product manager to monitor the progress of products more closely.” Lolita, Night Product Manager. An indispensable tool “I feel that, after two seasons, PLM has become indispensable as it allows the Style, Purchasing and Sourcing teams to work together in a coherent and constructive way. I can connect from anywhere in the world and see what stage my collection is, which products need more attention, and why,” Malou, One Shot and Beachwear stylist.

Time saver “Centric PLM centralizes all information, from the moment it’s entered, which allows me to locate size tables from previous seasons and just copy and paste if the product is being renewed – no need to rewrite everything. It really is a huge time saver.” Jessica, Night Designer. Ease of use “After brief training, Centric is an intuitive and easy-to-use tool for all internal and external users.” Morgane, Day Project Manager. Limiting rekeying “By limiting rekeying – which can be a source of errors – from one tool to the next, Centric enables us to save a lot of time when inputting orders into our ERP. When the necessary information has previously been correctly entered, it really improves productivity,” Perrine, Purchasing Assistant/Night Product Manager.

What Solutions Are Used by Undiz?

The Undiz style, development and supply teams work with Centric PLM.

Centric Product Specification: For companies in the retail, fashion, footwear and consumer goods sectors, Centric’s Product Specification module makes collaborative development a reality. The global teams can share, in real-time, all product technical specifications, via an easy-to-use online environment.

Centric Material Management: Material Management helps collaboration between purchasing and product development departments to generate a complete, and shared, library of materials.

Centric Product Sourcing: Centric’s PLM Sourcing module facilitates relationships with suppliers. Global teams can identify and compare suppliers, evaluate the financial scenarios, monitor milestones and receive alerts in case of critical events, at any time and in any place.

Centric Calendar Management: Calendar Management helps companies reach their targets more quickly by giving real-time visibility into the status of products and collections, enabling quick management of critical events or bottlenecks.