OTS Creates Product Structure, Boosts Efficiency and Strengthens Partnerships with Top Fashion Brands

In the past, data management at OTS was reliant on spreadsheets and unstructured tools.”

Patrick Berto, Controller and IS Specialist at OTS refers to the situation before implementing Centric PLM™. With the number of product samples growing in the range of hundreds or even thousands of runs each year, it was becoming increasingly complex to keep track of all the product development approval steps.

Today, just one year after its implementation, about half of OTS employees work directly in Centric PLM, while 100% of them benefit indirectly from the results achieved by centralizing all product data into one single source of the truth. What was the journey to get there?

Over 20 years of producing ready-to-wear

OTS, a company based in Piove di Sacco (Italy), produces ready-to-wear clothing. With twenty years of experience, particularly in the research of fabrics, style and product development, the company offers end-to-end services from design to finished product. This thorough approach has distinguished the company, earning the trust of high-end brands.

Initially serving small-to-medium companies, OTS now counts big, luxury names like Kering and LVMH Group among its customers.

A revolution in the company with Centric PLM

A company is only as efficient as its individual departments. Design, product development, production, planning, sales: if even just one of these departments ‘jams’, the domino effect affects the entire value chain.

“My role is to ensure that users—that is, my colleagues—can count on an efficient and effective IT system,” explains Berto. “When you have the right solutions in place, the benefits cascade down to the end consumers as well.” Over the past four years, OTS has experienced exponential growth, with orders increasing significantly. The company has doubled its workforce, introduced internal prototyping, and expanded its digital printing department.

The company needed to quickly improve internal and external processes in order to be more efficient, which they made a priority when implementing a PLM solution. “We realized that, at this rate, managing all the information without adequate software would become increasingly complex and a potential source of error,” says Berto. “A PLM system would be an opportunity to review inefficient practices and rethink certain business processes that would otherwise be difficult to dismantle. For this reason, together with the CEO, we decided to evaluate various vendors to align ourselves with the systems used by our main customers, while significantly improving data management. Working together with the best brands, it seemed logical to equip ourselves with the best tools: we chose Centric PLM, a solution widely adopted in the fashion sector.”

One step at a time

Implementation was on time and on budget, despite inevitable changes and last-minute adjustments.

OTS began by sharing their main challenges with the Centric implementation team, who used years of industry expertise to put forth ideas and suggestions on how to structure the workflows.

The company is rolling out in phases: first importing the master data, then gradually connecting the different departments involved in product development.

Says Berto, “One of the advantages of Centric PLM is its flexibility and adaptability to various needs across different roles within the company. It offers a step-by-step approach, allowing users time to become familiar with the new tool.

“To date, we are using Centric PLM at about 30-40% of its potential. We are already seeing numerous benefits, and we plan to extend the use of the platform to all departments and offices. It’s also becoming the backbone of our product data as we are integrating it more and more with enterprise software already used by other teams in the company.”

OTS is constantly collecting data, information and feedback to evaluate which changes or integrations are needed next. Berto says, “When you think about PLM, you only think about product development, but there is actually a whole world of tools and functions that we will integrate one step at a time.”

Better data management

Product data is now harmonized in Centric PLM. Version tracking creates a well-structured history. There is better access to information for different teams and roles in the departments. Berto notes, “Workflows are more streamlined, which in turn speeds up production timelines and optimizes our production capacity.”

He continues, “We are seeing immediate improvements in data management and quality, especially in those tasks that previously sourced large amounts of information from multiple sources.”

Centric team support is up to the task, from implementation to training

When asked how complex it is to implement and use a platform like Centric PLM within a company, Berto’s response from an IT perspective is that the process has proven to be quite simple. The same goes for using the solution in daily activities.

“The first feature that struck those who work with Centric PLM is its intuitiveness: the graphic interface makes it really easy to use. It doesn’t look like other complicated and quite unfriendly enterprise solutions,” says Berto. “Furthermore, it has proven to be very innovative; for every need we have, Centric PLM offers a solution. From this point of view, the support of the Centric Software specialists has been fundamental, because they configured everything exactly based on our needs. I can even make adjustments to the system myself. Ultimately, Centric PLM is really convenient to use, because it supports us in everyday tasks without adding extra work.”

Berto concludes, “A piece of advice, especially to colleagues from companies like ours, is to start with Centric PLM and proceed gradually without rushing; you can really do a lot with the Centric Software system. The key is to take the time to fully adopt the platform and maximize its potential.”