Infor announced the availability of the next generation of Infor Fashion Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), an application developed to meet the specific requirements of the fashion industry. Infor Fashion PLM helps link the vital areas of merchandising (product development and sourcing) with line planning, design and development, sourcing and production. Since the original release of Infor Fashion PLM, Infor has delivered a new Merchandise Planning module and a new Partner Collaboration module to support additional processes in the areas of merchandising, product development and partner collaboration.
The Merchandise Planning module supports the creation of new collections with overall budgets that can be allocated to product and market attributes as the collection and line plans evolve - streamlining processes. "The ability to compare and import budgets from external sources at the line level offers more efficiency and further streamlines the planning process," said Robert McKee, industry strategy director, Fashion, Infor. "During the development process, being able to collaborate with suppliers and partners in the value chain from an early stage is paramount to success in the fashion industry."
In addition, the new Partner Collaboration module provides secure 24x7 web access for the exchange of information on styles, specification packs, update requests/comments, measurements, quotes, tests/standards and more, to avoid time lags and reduce communication errors.
In order to provide integration to both Infor and third party applications a Connector Toolbox has been introduced. This includes standard integration to Infor M3, which reduces the need for testing and time to value from the implementation. The latest release of Infor Fashion PLM also includes enhanced Product Development features, including support for prints. Fashion PLM now allows users to save the unique print in a specific library, making it easy to access and add them on the fly. These functions enable users to better anticipate style costs for sourcing - plus quick operation cost simulation capabilities are built-in to help make better business decisions.
"Private brand retailers, brands and manufacturers need to become more agile to keep up with the latest and fast changing consumer trends," continued McKee. "Infor is committed to investing in our Fashion applications and we are building out Infor Fashion PLM to beyond the boundaries of traditional PLM solutions with broad planning capabilities and a new level of user experience. We are using the latest technologies to help our customers operate more quickly and efficiently to shorten the time from concept to consumer, improve agility and help keep them competitive in today's and tomorrow's fast-paced fashion industry, and this application is gaining momentum in the marketplace with both new and existing customers."
