Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions provide retailers with a variety of tools and activities to develop, track and manage branded and exclusive products. With PLM, merchants can obtain a single version of product truth, from conception to order fulfillment.
By pairing PLM with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, Tibi, a New York-based fashion brand, has improved organizational efficiency and reduced time spent manually entering and updating data, according to Alexandra Boet, CFO for Tibi. Both tools are from NGC, a provider of enterprise solutions for PLM, global supply chain management and ERP. Together, PLM and ERP have “helped us improve and automate our business workflow and internal processes.”
Tibi apparel and footwear is sold by more than 600 retailers worldwide, as well as on the brand e-Commerce site and in the flagship Tibi store. Fully integrated PLM and ERP systems help Tibi keep pace with ongoing growth, while allowing employees “to have control of our entire business in one place,” Boet said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Additionally, the hybrid solution enables us to have independence in reporting, as well as more streamlined access to our data.”
Advertisement
The PLM and ERP systems equip Tibi with instant access to tools and solutions that will help increase profitability, reduce costs, improve speed to market and ensure product quality. Team members now spend less time reconciling and manipulating data, and more time on business result analyses and innovation.
Tibi utilizes PLM to gain real-time visibility into product data and share information with multiple areas of the business, including planning, merchandising, design, manufacturing and logistics. As a result, company-wide collaboration and input is more seamless and easily accessible. ERP provides Tibi with electronic data interchange capabilities, giving everyone across the organization instant access to inventory, work order management, advanced allocation, integrated accounting and extensive reporting information.
Boet added that the ERP system specifically “allows business transparency and data accuracy, which lead to more informed and robust decision-making processes.” Seamless data collection and integration also is optimizing supply chain efficiency. “We now are able to electronically exchange data with those trading partners who have automated their procedures, eliminating the need for human data entry entirely.”
