What they don’t tell you about PLM in Fashion and Retail – and what you need to know

You may have heard of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). You may already have it. If you’re thinking about implementing it do you know the right questions to ask? How will you go about working out:

• If it could be of net benefit to your organisation

• Who the right PLM providers would be for you

• How to go about shortlisting and evaluating providers

• What the real costs would be

• Hidden problems - and hidden benefits

• How long it would really take to implement it

• What the downsides might be

With its PLM Surgery MCL could help you to reduce risk and costs – and help you to avoid the mistakes that are all too common with PLM in fashion and retail.

Options offered:

1. Initial (no-cost) meeting to confirm whether or not we can add value to your project.

2. Standard consultation where we ask you key, high-level questions. Your answers would indicate whether or not this would be sufficient for you – you may decide that you have to return to the drawing board before doing anything else.

3. In-depth consultation where we explore the next-level questions necessary for you to decide whether or not to proceed with PLM and if so what your project might be.

4. Implementation support. If you decided to proceed with PLM we could help you with resource to plug any “skills gaps” in your project.

Benefits: avoidance of unnecessary cost and risk; definition and delivery of project objectives.

Case Study

MCL has delivered a number of PLM solutions in fashion and clothing retail and manufacturing.

One such solution was for one of the UK's largest clothing manufacturers, from the start of the project right through to its conclusion. We had the necessary project management experience to be able to plan and implement all functions at each of the two Business Units and two factories operated by this company. The functions included:

• Storyboarding

• Fabric and Trim management

• Line planning

• Product development

• Critical Path management

• CAD and

The project was delivered on time and on budget.