CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
13 May 2008
Implementation Investments
Spiegel Brands Goes Deep in the Supply Chain with Yunique PLM
Yunique Solutions Inc. reports that Spiegel Brands Inc., the leading U.S. direct marketer of women's apparel, is extending the use of its software solutions in support of a major corporate initiative aimed at speeding new products to market and enhancing its ability to meet fast-changing consumer demand. Specifically, the apparel, footwear, accessories, and home products retailer is leveraging the collaboration and process management aspects of the Yunique software to tightly integrate independent vendors into new regional product teams that will perform all design-through-development processes in close proximity to Asian production facilities. By creating deeper, real-time relationships with its suppliers, Spiegel Brands expects to tap into greater product innovation, create operational transparency, and gain a more efficient and proactive supply chain.
Spiegel Brands implemented Yunique’s web-based plmOn™ software in early 2006 to manage the merchandising, design, technical design, product development and sourcing functions in its Manhattan headquarters. This initiative was followed with the deployment of srmOn™, the online collaboration component of the integrated system used to electronically integrate buying offices and trading partners in Hong Kong, Northern and Southern China, and India into the product lifecycle process.
“We needed a system built on a modern, open platform that provided for global collaboration”, noted Jose Sanez, director of technical design systems, processes, & calendars at Spiegel Brands. “Our old home-grown system would not allow us to connect outside of our headquarters. In Yunique, we found a great fit that allowed us to integrate our Mac-based designers as well as our entire universe of buying offices and trading partners. We can manage our apparel, footwear, home and accessories lines with this single solution. Not only can we create tech packs at triple the rate of before with the same number of people, we can now share them instantaneously online with our global teams.”
“We believe that the Yunique technology can help us develop our supply chain into a powerful competitive edge,” added Sanez. “The plmOn and srmOn systems help us to quickly calibrate the new regional teams with the information and processes they need to serve as ‘real’ business partners. Instead of relying on faxes and emails to communicate, our partners now work directly with us in a shared system with one definitive source of product information.”
“We are pleased to provide a platform for business process innovation at Spiegel Brands”, said Darioush Nikpour, vice president of business development for Yunique Solutions. “We pioneered supplier relationship management capabilities in our system years ago in anticipation of what we saw as a significant opportunity for fashion companies to move beyond simple buyer-seller relationships to value-added partnerships. We are proud to have our technology serve as an enabler to industry leaders such as Spiegel Brands.”
Spiegel Brands Inc. manages four brands: Spiegel, Newport News, Carabella and A.B. Lambdin which are marketed through separate catalogs and websites. With the addition of a new retail store in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, the company is today a tri-channel specialty retailer selling numerous products ranging from signature line of luxury fabrics to fashionable clothes, shoes, accessories, swim and travel goods along with home décor. Spiegel Brands Inc. is part of Catalog Holdings -- Golden Gate Capital's women's apparel holding company.
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