How Brands Use PLM Systems: A Quick Glimpse

Managing the entire product development cycle has been an integral part of the aviation and automotive sectors due to their complex manufacturing methods, which involve sourcing thousands of parts from multiple suppliers. The fashion industry has only followed in their footsteps, creating its own PLM system that enables it to monitor every single product detail in one place.

This level of product management benefits them in three distinct areas: product cost, quality, and time-to-market. Controlling costs is an essential part of the process, as it provides more time and resources to allocate. Streamlining the entire product line helps achieve excellent product quality. When the time to market improves, your fashion business operates more efficiently while reducing waste.

Thanks to advanced PLM software, the entire apparel lifecycle has become easier to manage, from conceptualization to distribution. Interestingly, the fashion industry has many segments, and each can use this AI-powered solution based on their specific needs. It simplifies the different stages of product development for them.

Use of PLM Systems in Different Fashion Segments

Department stores purchase branded apparel that makes up almost 80% of their stock, while the remaining 20% consists of private labels. These stores use PLM systems to manage their private labels (white/black labels) well. Then, some brands work with franchises. They are the wholesalers. They need excellent PLM solutions in place to support their operations and manage product quality. These tools enable them to collaborate smoothly with their suppliers. If you look at fast fashion businesses, they are all about launching quick designs in the marketplace. With the help of PLM software, they can automate the entire development cycle to keep up with trends while offering apparel in different sizes, styles, and colors.

Process Orientation in PLM Systems

You can focus on four critical stages of product development to understand this better. It starts with conceptualization, where designers, creative directors, and product managers are involved. PLM solutions help them analyze industry trends, customer behavior based on seasons, and other factors before making final decisions. Design and iteration are the next steps in product life cycle management. From designers and creative directors to third-party buyers, many parties can be involved at this stage. PLM software makes it easier to collect feedback and create consistent designs. It can also help with material selection and potential design changes when required.

In the production stage, you can expect design assistants, creative directors, designers, QA, accountants, and third-party manufacturers to join. Through PLM software, they can easily decide on tech packs and distribute those details to other partners. Tracking material cost, labor charges, production schedules, and quality also becomes more streamlined. Finally, it comes down to distribution and sales. Once again, there will be several parties involved in this process. They can be sales reps, third-party buyers, warehouse teams and managers, logistics heads, etc. The primary focus at this stage remains on final products and inventory management. They also need to handle shipping and sales channels. At the same time, knowing sales figures and customer response is essential. A robust PLM system can take care of all these aspects.