CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
10 March 2008
Company News
Gerber Technology Celebrates 40th Year in Apparel Industry
Gerber Technology is celebrating its 40th year in the apparel industry. The company was founded as Gerber Garment Technology in 1968, and today is known as Gerber Technology.
"We are extremely pleased with the solutions we've pioneered over the course of 40 years, from introducing production automation and computer aided design, to product lifecycle management for the fashion industry," said Bill Brewster, Vice President Global Marketing and Product Management, Gerber Technology. "Now, as we enter the first year of our fifth decade, we will be delivering new solutions over the course of the next 12 months that will continue to set the agenda for companies that operate within the 'concept to retail' value chain."
Gerber Technology Customers Well Prepared to Address Market Dynamics
Gerber Technology customers have been implementing the basic building blocks of Fashion Lifecycle Management (FLM) -- Gerber Technology's product lifecycle management solution for the apparel industry -- since the mid 1990's. WebPDM™ is the conceptual predecessor of Gerber's Fashion Lifecycle Management Suite which launched in 2006. Gerber's FLM Suite provides global, real-time visibility and control throughout the product development and lifecycle management processes from planning to sourcing. FLM combines the power of WebPDM, a leading product data management solution, with a scaleable enterprise-wide workflow engine and collaboration tools. FLM integrates three essential layers: Design, Product Data Management and Information Collaboration. Each layer comprises powerful tool sets that provide modular functionality.
"With the year-in, year-out continuation of market forces, companies involved in the apparel industry need to ensure their solutions will address these issues," Brewster added. "Analysts currently project investment in software and hardware solutions to remain conservative. We believe the best investment for addressing these issues today and into the future is a fully functional Fashion Lifecycle Management (FLM) solution. The first step is understanding your own landscape and evaluating what you have, and what you need. The second step is understanding exactly how your solution can help prepare your company to address the oncoming challenges."
At its last Software User's Conference, Gerber Technology customers participated in a variety of Q&A sessions led by its team of experts. Various tracks focused on industry issues, understanding the industry landscape and where things are headed. Users also participated in product focused sessions with titles such as: "What is FLM?" "How do I get started in PLM?" and another one focusing on the uncertainty surrounding PLM. Customers were also able to address specific concerns as they looked for ways to protect and extend their investments. Many of the sessions at the conference provided a foreshadowing of issues to be encountered in 2008. Session tracks included 3-D Prototyping, CAD Automation, FLM Implementation, and Supply Chain Management.
Gerber claims its software solutions are used by more organizations in the apparel industry than any other provider. A sampling of customers using Gerber Technology solutions include: Abercombie & Fitch, adidas, American Eagle, Carrefour, Gap, Haggar, Levi's, Li & Fung Limited, Mervyns, Otto, PacSun, Perry Ellis and Polo.
Gerber Outlines Market Forces
For 2008, Gerber Technology has outlined the following themes that companies in the apparel industry should be aware of:
-- Expansion of material types will require solutions to deliver increasing breadth. As with every year, the use of new materials in fashion continues to expand the requirements of hardware and software solutions. In 2008, current trends impacting manufacturers include the increased use of leather, high performance fabrics for sports apparel, quilted materials and over-worked fabrics with various types of surface effects. Solutions will need to address the unique characteristics of these materials such as weight, stretch, softness/rigidity, and shrinkage of these materials.
-- PLM's ability to meet the demands of "role-based" solutions will increase. As the amount of outsourcing continues to expand "upstream," PLM solutions will need to deliver increasingly Web-based collaborative solutions that encompass every important decision maker and supplier in the "concept to retail" value chain including merchandisers, planners, designers, technical designers, vendors/partners, sourcing/production and logistics personnel.
-- Design schools will increasingly incorporate PLM solutions into their curriculums. With the expectation that designers become increasingly tech savvy and more aware of market forces driving the ability to deliver new lines in an efficient manner, leading design schools increasingly will incorporate training in PLM solutions.
-- Fast Fashion will drive increased use of virtual prototyping and integrated real-time collaborative solutions. With the industry accepting the reality of 6-8 fashion seasons where clothing lines look to bring new offerings into stores every two months, the pressure to reduce costs and speed delivery of new lines will drive increased adoption of 3-D virtual prototyping which enables global collaboration between merchandising, design, development, production, distribution and retail. Additionally, in order to speed the collaboration process, every provider will see pressure to implement integrated solutions beyond their own infrastructure to include partners and suppliers.
-- As market dynamics change and traditional low cost based countries are pressured to reduce costs, PLM solutions are more important than ever. As countries like China have embraced the need to improve worker conditions and evolve their labor practices, these new laws and the expansion of resourcing geographies from China to include other Asia- Pac countries will make it difficult to determine the optimum outsourcing policies. Traditional outsourcing may not lead to the "automatic" margin improvement many companies expect, thereby
increasing the need for production automation regardless of geography.
Finally, new areas such as Vietnam are emerging as alternative long-
term outsourcing options.
-- PLM vendors will be expected to "bridge the digital divide" between
brand owners/retailers and their vendors. With the expansion of the
supply chain to less developed countries, who may not be as technically
advanced as North America, Europe and Japan, but are expected to work
with the same PLM system, it will be pertinent for companies to provide
localized versions of their product, local training and support.
To assist customers and partners, Gerber Technology offers Gerber Professional Services. Gerber's professional business consultants provide an end-to-end solution tailored to each customer's current and future processes. These industry experts provide consulting, development, implementation, educational and training services to ensure complete customer satisfaction. The Professional Services team of experts aid customers in reducing implementation time, and recurring processing time and cost.
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