5 simple steps that empower fashion brands and manufacturers to prepare for the future

The sudden Coronavirus outbreak has impacted many aspects of day-to-day life and to remain competitive, most companies have asked employees to work remotely. It’s absolutely essential for businesses to have a framework in place (incorporating the latest digital collaboration tools), empowering staff to work productively from home. But what are the repercussions when market factors impact supply chains, and what is the best way to resume normal business operations?

There are several steps that businesses have to consider when resuming work:

1. Loss of time and reorganisation of products

Companies have to accept that annual sales time has been shortened by one or even two months due to the Coronavirus epidemic. In this context, will the original product plan meet future demand? When you have a rolling product flow system and lack an in-depth view of every stage of product management, it is easy to make extreme decisions in the adjustment of inventory and stock keeping.

Centric PLM^TM adapts to different models and patterns of product development and management, as well as different channels and different organisational structures. The system features a product development calendar management module in the execution stage, which allows businesses to visually manage and track their management plan, its progress level, and preemptive risk controls in each stage in the development process. The PLM system aims to provide timely, accurate, and insightful information to support the resumption and reorganisation of production. It also allows intuitive control of product cost in order to optimise profits, reduce waste, monitor quality, and strengthen performance as the state of the coronavirus pandemic improves.

2. Financial strain and adjustments to the production and sales cycles

Enterprise revenues have dropped significantly, but companies have experienced little change in costs and expenses. In order to ensure the effective use of limited corporate funds, many companies have changed their original R&D and production mode into an intensive, “smaller-scale, greater frequency” supply mode. This eases financial pressure and improves inventory efficiency but poses great challenges to the prediction and management of supply levels.

Centric’s range of innovative Mobile Apps collects real-time trend information and market information, effectively interacting with products under development and guiding the development process. The range of collaborative digital boardsalso supports the adjusting of planning structure and sourcing strategy to maximise product value.

3. Stagnation of R&D due to lack of raw materials and virtual product sampling and evaluation

Upstream and downstream industrial chains and factories have not resumed normal operations, resulting in a shortage of raw materials and stagnation of product R&D. As a result, production and sales teams cannot predict and prepare production schedules in advance.

In 2018, Centric PLM enabled the application, production, review, and coordination of 3D virtual samples. At present, this system is now being widely used around the world. It not only alleviates impacts on production schedules caused by existing downtimes and shortages of raw materials, but also significantly reduces time costs, labour costs, raw material costs, and other expenses. This enables very rapid iterations in the design and fit process, and the evaluation of more new designs before the product hits the market.

4. Lack of resumption plan or considered informatised coordination plans from suppliers

Business coordination not only enables improvements in the efficiency of enterprise process, but also integrates high-quality resources from different fields. This enables companies to meet demands for product diversification, and the degree of coordination depends on the level of understanding between the suppliers.

With its supplier management module, Centric PLM regularly posts suppliers' KPIs in terms of qualifications, quality, cost, and delivery dates, which gives enterprises and suppliers a clear insight into suppliers' strengths and weaknesses. The accuracy of the data in different business flows is critical for coordinating information between enterprises, suppliers, and manufacturers. Centric PLM information can thoroughly address issues of obsoleteness, inaccuracy, and the challenge of coordinating multiple information sources. During the collaboration process, opinions can be exchanged and reviewed in real-time on the online chat platform, and the status of any deliveries can be tracked and displayed on the platform.

5. Businesses must safeguard themselves and think in terms of brand & product strength

During the Coronavirus epidemic, many companies have explored different sales channels, such as online applets, live streaming sales, and other channels, all to resolve issues of inventory and make up for lost sales. During this challenging period, some brands have found new sales channels, so it's necessary to examine the results of channel distribution. Is product demand identical both online and offline?

By conducting enterprise and product knowledge base management, Centric PLM helps enterprises build long-term core competences based on product patterns, processes, materials, colours, and other features. It also enables the sharing and reuse of knowledge, which allows companies to redefine their brand strengths in terms of product conception, design, and research and development, as well as tap into new sales channels.

Now more than ever, it’s integral for businesses to manage complexity and the scale of operations, simplify development, remove inefficiencies and increase transparency. Centric safeguards businesses by arming them with a toolkit of cutting-edge, digital collaboration technologies to respond to marketplace fluctuations caused by global epidemics such as the Coronavirus.

Is your business looking to survive this cold Winter, usher in a new Spring, and reap a bountiful harvest in Autumn?

Join our webinar on April 29 at 3:00 PM IST to learn HowBrands and Apparel makers are Redefining the Game plan and opportunity.

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