California Apparel News

Technology leaders Gerber Technology and Lectra are taking a bigger stake in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software.

PLM is hot. The technology uses the Internet as a collaboration point on all stops along the production timeline, from storyboard creations to fabric management to retail delivery. It allows designers, suppliers, contractors and agents to access production specs and schedules so that all parties are in sync. The aim is to slice as much time as possible off the production schedule. Gerber and Lectra plan to bring industryspecific products to the market as a way of differentiating themselves from the competition.

The entry from Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber is its Fashion Lifecycle Management (FLM) application, which builds on its popular WebPDM product.

While WebPDM manages specs, costing, sourcing and bills of materials, FLM will add a workflow-management engine to control the entire production process. It incorporates WebPDM’s spec pack offerings but also provides tools for collaboration on everything from storyboards and requests for quotations to lab dips and fabric and trim management.

The application was designed with the apparel industry in mind. Much of the existing product on the market originated from other “discrete” industries mostly involving hard goods, such as engineering, aviation, automotive and consumer goods, said Gerber Deputy Regional Director Rodney Harrelson.

PLM as it applies to apparel production is SKU intensive and needs to be addressed with that in mind, he said.

“The industry is looking for ways to get information across channels without tying up emails and fax machines,” Harrelson said. “A designer could be traveling to Hong Kong and need to make changes to something, or a contractor in China needs to access specs. This is where FLM comes in.”

Gerber’s PDM executive Brian Kastner said that with the amount of information that is exchanged during production, e-mail has become just “white noise.”

“This allows for one more area of control,” he said.

Gerber is marketing FLM in modular form and will conduct phased implementations. Using WebPDM as the core element, new users should face fewer obstacles than would occur during a ground-up implementation.

“We’re already strong with the key components,” Harrelson added. “It’s not being built from scratch.”

The format is based on templates with image-friendly tools that provide better visuals, Kastner said. There are drop-down menus that allow users to view discussions on styles, as well as time and action calendars and inbox alerts. The system is Web-based, so all the information is in real time.

Paris-based Lectra will also release a new PLM product as well as a new textile-design application in January 2006. The company hasn’t provided many details, but a representative said Lectra would debut the products at a launch event in New York.

Lectra’s current PLM product is Gallery, which allows collaboration through the LectraOnline Enterprise Exchange, an Internetbased clearinghouse where designers, manufacturers, brands and retailers exchange information on all product data, including designs, specs, fabric and trims, and style catalogs. The new PLM will also be Web-based. More than 100 engineers have been working on the release.

Lectra is also revamping its U4ia textile-design software with a new look and most likely a new name. The system will be offered in modular format.

Lectra executives are hoping the new products will spur business. New-systems sales fell by 14 percent during the company’s third quarter and by 17 percent for its year-to-date period.

The company said protective trade restrictions placed on China by the United States and Europe have placed a hold on technology investments.

Lectra officials continue to restructure U.S. operations. It is closing its Grand Rapids, Mich., research and development facility and moving all R&D to France. Lectra Chief Executive Officer Daniel Harari is managing the U.S. operations from France, but a company representative said that a new U.S.-based manager would eventually be named.

On the West Coast, the company has relocated to Cypress, Calif., from Santa Fe Springs, Calif. The remaining California staff includes solutions experts Gina Sanchez, Leslie Singer and Christine Berninzoni. Jill Simmons is moving to California from New York next month to handle sales with Simon Garland, who covers the West Coast from San Diego.