IoT, 3D printing, AI motivating India to change core business practices
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DExperience company, provides businesses and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Samson Khaou, MD, Dassault Systèmes dwells on the future of the apparel and fashion retail.
What is next in 3D in textiles and fashion?
One key aspect of 3D in textiles and fashion is that designers are looking beyond 2D to 3D for designing and minimising design physical prototypes. With increase in awareness about the environment, textiles and fashion are becoming more sustainable and socially responsible. Technology is enabling more efficient production and design. When we think about sustainable fashion, we think of aspects like organic or recyclable materials, conscientious shipping, and fair wages for those making the clothes. These are all important, noble pursuits, but a powerful 3D printer, additive manufacturing and an innovative mind could change all that. Designers have begun experimenting with 3D printed pieces of clothing and in doing so are exploring a new philosophy of sustainable fashion by eliminating waste.
Two crucial ways in which 3D is making textiles and fashion more sustainable are:
Decreasing carbon footprints: 3D allows designers to not only design digitally but helps them to run the trial and error before they make their first sample. Through 3D, designers can view what materials will be more suitable and help them decide on materials to be used ahead of time, saving on samples.
Eliminating production wastage: Testing samples digitally eliminates wastage of production of samples completely. 3D manufactured products only use the materials required for the product. This helps reduce yardage of cut fabrics or excess material purchases.
What are the main challenges that apparel retailers and brands generally encounter? Are there more pre-production or post-production issues?
Digital transformation in retail is one of the most important opportunities and a challenge. A majority of retail sales are now influenced by digital. It has changed the face of retail and is putting pressure on brands to adapt to this transformation to be successful. A few challenges facing the retail industry are:
Growth of e-commerce sector: Burgeoning e-commerce is one cause for concern for the retail industry. This year could witness another tipping point in e-commerce, driven by the ambitious growth agenda of leading pure-players. The growth of online is not over and is likely to have a greater impact on traditional players as they scale.
Digital Stores: The retail store is being re-imagined for the digital consumer. A new balance needs to be struck between transaction and fulfilment. We believe the store experience will increasingly focus on inspiration or convenience. As for manufacturing the product, at present most organisations and designers design digitally but develop physical product samples and then proceed to the manufacturing stage. Inconsistencies and design inaccuracies at the manufacturing stage or post-marketing, result in losses. 3D printing technologies could overcome shortcomings and help different departments work together by bringing them on the same platform.
How many apparel retailers or brands have incorporated your VR solutions? Do you see the demand growing in the apparel domain?
We offer our solutions to fashion segment- apparel, luxury, footwear and accessories, and retail sector in India. These companies can have access to a full portfolio of solutions to digitally transform their business. Arc International, Arvind Lifestyle Brands Limited, Myntra, Fossil, Gürmen Group, Nowy Styl Group and the Rockport Group are some of the 17,000 international companies in fashion, home, lifestyle and retail that are successfully collaborating with Dassault Systèmes to create and deliver products that consumers will love.
Our industry solution experience provides our customers a unified digital environment that connects internal and external stakeholders, integrates its value chain, and improves visibility, flexibility and decision support. Teams can collaborate in a single environment, spending less time chasing and duplicating data and more time on developing and sourcing items. Our solutions can help mitigate the risk of incorrect samples, additional costs and production errors or delays, to accelerate time to market of products that meet consumer demand.
What are the future plans at Dassault?
As the Indian 3D printing and additive manufacturing industry is set to grow exponentially in coming years, we at Dassault Systemes are keen on investing more towards skilling young minds and nurture domestic start-ups via our incubator programme. We are willing to invest more in the country's 3D ecosystem with opening up more training centres and bringing the young start-up community under our wings. The gap between the western and emerging 3D-printing and additive manufacturing markets is bridging up and we see a great potential in the Indian aerospace, defence and automotive industry in days to come.
The advent of digitisation has significantly altered the manufacturing sector. The Internet of Things, 3D printing and artificial intelligence are motivating corporate India to change its core business practices in a way that would enable it to leverage technology-led solutions in a data-driven economy. The digital transformation is the way forward for the Indian economy.
3D is going to transform how consumer electronics are manufactured and consumed in the coming years.
We have been pushing the envelope with respect to 3D implications in various industry verticals such as aerospace and defence, automotive, industrial equipment, hi tech, consumer goods, life sciences, engineering, construction. The emerging 3D printing technologies will disrupt the traditional industrial manufacturing economies in India especially at a time when the government is focusing on improving its manufacturing output from the current level of 16 per cent to 25 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
Which of your software solutions is most preferred by leading brands and retailers globally?
Dassault Systèmes' 3DExperience platform and industry solution experiences for consumer goods and retail provide a unified digital environment including powerful Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and 3D applications to improve and accelerate the end-to-end business processes behind a company's collections. One of our most preferred industry solution experiences is My Collection. It helps manage the entire product lifecycle management from inspiration through marketing. It features new enhancements for Adobe Illustrator integration, and new configurable costing functionalities allowing brands and retailers to create formula-based costing templates to manage all areas of costing including planning, pre-cost, cost sheets, and the RFQ process. It also offers a digital asset hub to manage digital assets across the enterprise including creative design, merchandising, sales and marketing.
Please describe the world of textiles and fashion by 2030.
In the next two decades, the retail sector will change dramatically. Innovations such as delivery drones, 3D printers and virtual mirrors will alter the way we shop. Soon customers will be tailoring their purchases using detailed 3-D screens - either holographic, or ones that appear flat with CGI graphics. For the retailer, customisation might seem an unnecessary complication, but it could boost profits when customers expect to be able to return ill-fitting or unwanted purchases for free.
By 2030, the production and sales process will be different in the following ways:
Changing spaces: Walls will no longer define a retailer. Technologies are being developed to allow virtual stores on mobile phones, depending on the shopper's location. If consumers go to a store in 2030, their experience will be a world away from what we experience today. Future stores will be like theatres of ideas with large, virtual walls and mirrors that sense and map shoppers.
Intelligent materials: The world will shift from smartphones to smart materials. Self-repairing fabrics will fix small tears in themselves and they will be used in many products - not just clothes - from mobile phone screens to nail varnish and shoes.
Future manufacturing: Unlike much of today's manufacturing, customised clothing will probably be made in the country it is ordered in, or even in-store.
The delivery process: By 2030, drones flying products directly to people's homes will be a common sight. Many companies are currently planning this type of delivery system. Organisations are investing heavily in robotics companies and developing robots that work with driverless vehicles to deliver goods.
Which regions especially in the apparel and textile domain are employing your software solutions? Where does India stand?
In India, we offer solutions to four market segments: fashion, lifestyle, home and retail sectors in India. We understand how each of these markets functions, and have the right solutions. For the new fashion marketplace, the 3DExperience platform delivers compelling consumer experiences across apparel, footwear, luxury items and accessories. We empower manufacturers of hard goods including toys, leisure goods and sporting goods to rise above the competition and activate digital business transformation. Our solution enables companies in the appliances, power and hand tools, glassware and tableware, and lawn and garden industry to create home consumer experiences that spark the imagination and delight the senses.
Lastly, the 3DExperience platform from Dassault Systèmes provides companies with the ability to visualise the consumer experience, model different assortment options and refine retail formats, analyse real-time sales data, and ensure that the consumer is provided with the ultimate shopping experience, regardless of channel.
In Asia, we have had significant success in India with Arvind Lifestyle Brands Limited, Mohan Clothing (Blackberry), Myntra and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. These are among the 17,000 international companies in fashion, home, lifestyle and retail successfully collaborating with Dassault Systèmes to create and deliver products that consumers love.
What will be the next best thing in software solutions for retail?
We expect platforms like social media and mobile to play bigger roles in shopping experiences. Many retailers leverage social platforms to engage users and influence merchandising decisions. We anticipate companies will go beyond and use social media not just to showcase products, but to sell them. The days of managing online and offline systems separately will soon be gone as more retailers switch to single-view retail management systems. Having a single view system across multiple channels is essential to any modern retail strategy. Gaining sales, inventory, and customer visibility across different channels allows merchants to execute omni-channel initiatives more effectively, so we expect retailers to adopt more of these systems.
What are the latest developments at Dassault Systèmes?
For more than ten years, Dassault Systèmes has led the industry with technology solutions for over 17,000 companies in fashion, consumer goods, retail and luxury. From concept to consumer, the 3DExperience platform provides a flexible, scalable, and connected range of product solutions. Spanning innovation, planning, design, commercialisation, merchandising, sales, retail, and digital commerce; Dassault Systèmes has unique solutions that can reduce complexity while driving businesses to new levels of success and profitability. Our Industry Solution Experiences cater to fashion, home, retail and lifestyle segments. These Industry Experiences are My Collection, My Store, My Product Portfolio, My Retail Theatre, My Operations, My Design and My Production.
In fact, Dassault Systèmes is the only provider of robust and scalable digital applications to manage a company's product development cycles from ideation to the end-consumer.
Dassault Systèmes' three new industry solution experiences include:
My Design: provides 3D design, performance testing and simulation, visualisation and rendering capabilities for creative and detailed design.
My Production: addresses tooling design, product documentation, machining simulation, quality, compliance traceability and real-time manufacturing analytics to define ideal tooling and processes for flexible manufacturing operations.
My Operations: leverages intelligent logistics, agile production, supply and demand planning capabilities to improve efficiencies and operating margin.
In parallel, Dassault Systèmes has enhanced three of its existing industry solution experiences:
My Collection helps manage the entire PLM from inspiration through marketing. It now features new enhancements for Adobe Illustrator integration, and new configurable costing functionalities allowing brands and retailers to create formula-based costing templates to manage all areas of costing including planning, pre-cost, cost sheets, and the RFQ process.
My Store continues to enable 3D merchandising excellence, now from mobile devices.
My Product Portfolio provides a collaborative and integrated solution formulti-disciplinary design capabilities that is now tailored to support small- and medium-sized businesses. Companies can test and validate their designs and projects. They can also simulate their manufacturing processes governed by full program and change management."My Collection" and "My Store" now also feature a digital asset hub to manage digital assets across the enterprise including creative design, merchandising, sales and marketing.
Do you have solutions for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) (SMB) since they dominate the textile and apparel industry in India and several other regions in Asia?
We recognise they share some key challenges faced by larger enterprises but lack the I.T. resources, budget, project management and robust organisational structure to implement solutions. Hence, Dassault Systemes has launched SME-friendly solutions that are cloud-ready at attractive price points. Enterprise solutions on the cloud saves customers significant upfront investment in hardware and maintenance.
