Skechers China, the Chinese division of the global footwear brand Skechers, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution.
Skechers, founded in 1992 in the US, is a global leader in the performance and lifestyle footwear industry and sells footwear and accessories for men, women and children in more than 160 countries and territories. To grow business in Asia, Skechers USA and Luen Thai Enterprise co-founded Skechers China in 2007. Skechers China has successfully expanded, and today covers China, SEA and Korea markets.
While Skechers mainly focuses on footwear in the US, its China JV produces a broader range of apparel. Skechers China needed a system to support their diverse product range and widely distributed teams.
“The existing ERP system is footwear-focused, but we needed different functions for our expanding apparel business,” explains Jimmy Yam, VP of Apparel & Accessories Division at Skechers China. “Skechers China looked for a new product platform to provide an end-to-end solution and standard operating procedures to support our business strategy and fast growth in emerging markets.”
“We wanted a PLM solution that would help us build standards and manage our data flow so we could get a ‘single version of the truth’ of our end-to-end process from planning, design, product development and production tracking all with the goal of eventually reducing cost as well as improving efficiency,” Yam continues. “Effective alignment and collaboration are considered a major challenge of our operation as we have design teams in Korea and China, product development and manufacturing partners in China and other teams in various locations, so it is critical to set up a common platform for all of us to work on.”
As Yam says, “We short listed several vendors initially. Over four to five rounds of communication, it was Centric that proved to be outstanding. They are very professional, understand our point of view and respond very quickly. Centric 8 PLM is a great product. It’s very agile and user friendly and, as we saw during demonstrations, quite flexible. Centric’s word-of-mouth reputation was also an important factor in our decision.”
“We’re looking forward to seeing the results as we build a platform for product development with Centric,” says Yam. “We consider Centric strategic partners, and with Centric’s strong R&D and business teams, we hope we can develop solutions together to tackle future challenges.”
“From day one, it has been pleasant working with Centric and our partnership with each other is just the beginning,” concludes Yam.
“We are very happy to partner with Skechers China,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “We would like to welcome Skechers China on board, and we’re looking forward to working closely with their team to help drive their future growth in China and other markets.”
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