PTC Connected PLM Summary Series Summary Develop Truly Trend-driven Fashion, Unlock Supply Chain Visibility & Responsiveness, and Improve Customer Experience & Engagement Page 1 of 5 PTC Connected PLM Summary Article
Connected PLM s Instrumental Role in Retail Transformation Consumers are shopping 24/7, sharing their sense of style on social media and expecting more from their favorite brands in terms of personalization and sustainability. Omnichannel retailing and fast fashion are the new normal, yet global supply chains remain as complex as ever, and consumers still demand a strong price-quality-value proposition. Regardless of business model, size and scope, all fashion and apparel businesses are confronted with these challenges and opportunities in some shape or form. They are searching for ways to transform their organizations, to constructively shake up the way they ve always done things and to compete fiercely and profitably today and for the foreseeable future. What Is Connected PLM? Connected Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an essential element on this journey to retail transformation. It represents both an approach to PLM and the technology platform to support end-toend processes, including planning, creating, sourcing and selling. Connected PLM draws from disparate systems and data sources to unlock valuable insights that keep fashion retailers on trend, on time and on budget. As both a methodology and IT solution, connected PLM is the path to connecting products, supply chains, stores and shoppers. By doing so, retailers and brands can successfully create compelling products and deliver great experiences. The Internet of Things (IoT) will play an increasingly important role in connected PLM. The IoT refers to systems, sensors and devices all communicating with one another automatically via the web, gathering and synthesizing information machine-to-machine, with minimal to no human intervention. Connected PLM platforms are built for IoT, with powerful analytical engines to help retailers parse enormous data feeds, make well-informed decisions and take the right action. Page 2 of 5 PTC Connected PLM Summary Article
How Connected PLM Applies Across All Processes Connected PLM builds on the legacy of earlier PLM generations and the product data management (PDM) tools that came before them. But while many of these solutions ceased to add much value to processes beyond sample approval, connected PLM truly touches the entire fashion lifecycle, delivering tangible benefits every step of the way. Plan and Create: During this lifecycle phase, connected PLM helps retailers better capitalize on trends to feed stronger assortment planning and product design. Organizations can excel in customer stickiness, drawing on historical and real-time insights to feed frequent flows of fashion to consumers, helping them continually inject newness and originality into their wardrobes. Companies can move faster, thanks to systematic management of raw materials, designs, supply chain resources and pricing all ready to deploy in a moment s notice. Source and Produce: Connected PLM enables retailers, brands and their global production partners to collaborate more seamlessly, breaking down barriers so that parties can bid on, work on and track jobs regardless of physical distanced and time zones. Consistent quality measurement and dynamic costing help businesses continually tie back performance to individual styles and vendors. Clear visibility extends to both the big picture of sourcing commitments and highly granular details at the plant floor level. Sell and Engage Shoppers: Here is where connected PLM closes the loop. Smart stores and products literally interact with shoppers, and consumer feedback filters quickly back to fashion decision makers and development teams. This phase epitomizes the connected retailer stepping up to meet the connected consumer. Leveraging devices like beacons and RFID and systems from customer relationship management to POS, companies can capitalize on insights about how shoppers browse racks and displays, try on apparel and ultimately, make their purchasing decisions. Page 3 of 5 PTC Connected PLM Summary Article
Connected PLM: A Roadmap for the Journey There is a roadmap to connected PLM. It s one any apparel, fashion and consumer products business can follow on the retail transformational journey. Here are milestones you can expect to cover as your organization traverses three phases: understand, advance and outperform. Understand: Lay the foundation. Move away from spreadsheets for planning, design and development. Make connected PLM the central repository for all fashion ideas and product details. Start quantifying trend information from social media and other external sources. Connect vendors to your PLM platform and give them access to weigh in early and commit capacity. Benefit from greater communication consistency and raw materials buying power across multiple brands and divisions. Feed POS data into the PLM platform, synthesizing it with the social media and other sources, and let the past inform current and future seasons. Advance: Move aggressively forward. Use IoT within connected PLM to analyze social media and other external data to understand and target specific customer personas. Leverage 3D visualization to dramatically speed product development and sampling. Immediately see what s working and what s not based on POS insights at the local, SKU level. Capture consumer sentiment and feedback and infuse them into new concepts and designs. Collaborate with vendors during concept development, using dynamic bills of materials to ensure styles can be made within time and cost constraints. Go mobile, using connected PLM apps to give users access and tools they need, whenever and wherever they need them to perform specific roles. Connect the dots between smart stores, CRM and PLM. Engage with shoppers digitally and interactively in the store, delivering style suggestions, videos and personalized promotions. Tie consumer behavior back to planning, design and sourcing. Better understand hits and misses in assortments, fit, styling, colors and more. Outperform: Get out in front. Utilize augmented reality (AR) to envision new products, examine physical samples against an overlay of digital information and allow shoppers to virtually try on concept styles. Tap into a live stream of IoT data from production, the supply chain and the point of sale. Access a real-time view into factories equipped with sensors in spreading, cutting, sewing and shipping. Leverage integrated CAD, digital printing and this IoT-enabled supply chain to deliver mass customization and seasonless products. Analyze different types of data to anticipate how everything from weather patterns to social media trends will influence demand. Read PTC s three-part Connected PLM series: Part 1: Leveraging Connected PLM to Develop Truly Trend-driven Fashion focuses on the plan-and-create stages of the product lifecycle, including how to better capitalize on trends to feed stronger assortment planning and product design. Part 2: Utilizing Connected PLM to Unlock Supply Chain Visibility and Responsiveness will focus on the source-and-produce lifecycle stages. We will explore how to unlock valuable insights through collaboration and build bi-directional supply chain visibility to optimize production and improve quality. Part 3: Leveraging Connected PLM to Improve Customer Experience and Engagement will focus on the selling stage of the product lifecycle, including exciting new in-store technologies and experiences, all of which complete PLM s full circle, feeding powerful, actionable insights back into planning and creating. Page 4 of 5 PTC Connected PLM Summary Article
To learn more about how PTC can help your business on its journey to connected PLM and retail transformation, visit www./en/retail. 2017, PTC Inc. (PTC). All rights reserved. Information described herein is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be taken as a guarantee, commitment, or offer by PTC. PTC, the PTC logo, and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other product or company names are property of their respective owners. The timing of any product release, including any features or functionality, is subject to change at PTC s discretion. J9443 PTC-Connected-PLM-Summary-Article-EN Page 5 of 5 PTC Connected PLM Summary Article