7 Ways KEEN Geared Up For Growth With Centric PLM

Once the collection plan is in PLM it is visible to all; any team member can access it, also creating some accountability. We are continuing to add content into the system to build a history. The past seasons’ data can then inform future planning. Visibility into planning allows us to better measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with increased numbers of SKUs.

One of the biggest advantages of Centric PLM is the transparency – the upstream and downstream data is visible to all the groups that need it. We don’t need to call our factories to send over some missing information on a certain style; we can just go into Centric to find that information ourselves. We work on three seasons simultaneously, so the benefits with respect to accuracy and speed are multiplied three-fold or more.

KEEN made the decision to embed an IT person in product development – that person was me! This created invaluable cross-pollination of ideas and made the whole progression evolve more organically. Going live is just the first step and we are finding new functionality for the system as we progress. Super users from each department were also be put in place to ensure a successful implementation by providing valuable resources accessible to all.

Centric has the capability to integrate with our existing systems. Regarding tech packs, designers can upload Adobe Illustrator files that are linkable and immediately visible. This provides automatic version control within the Centric platform, eliminating the need to keep track of it manually. Users have confidence that the files they are viewing are up-to-date and costly errors are drastically reduced. We have also integrated with our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and we can push SKUs out of Centric into our ERP.

One of the great things that sold us on Centric is that it is user-friendly from a layout perspective. The interface is very intuitive. We can get new developers up and running quickly in one to two-hour training sessions. I’ve noticed recently that the user base is starting to speak the language of PLM. Questions have become more specific and pragmatic instead of theoretical and they understand what is possible. The ease-of-use and getting up-to-speed pays off every single time we bring a new user onto the system.

So many different reports were needed to be run for varying audiences. For example, five different line lists from different regions used to have to be assembled at each one of our key seasonal stage-gates. They had to be put together by hand and were prone to errors and the whole process was very time-consuming. That also meant the reports were out-of-date the next day. Now, once the information is in Centric, it can be sliced and diced however we need it – quickly and without fear of carrying over any mistakes that may have been caused by manual entry.

We operate across the world and having all the regions being able to access the exact same information and view what is happening in different seasons and countries goes a long way toward eliminating issues with time zones and language, especially with the ability to have photos and line drawings captured in PLM. And on a more general level, a single source of the truth serves everybody well.