KEEN, an outdoor lifestyle brand based in Portland, Oregon, was founded in 2003 on the strength of the rugged hybrid Newport sandal. The company has expanded its categories to kids, boots, bags, work gear and apparel.
Aaron Hellickson, Product Development Technology Manager at KEEN, recalls that the company's methods for managing product development were unable to meet the challenges of shrinking time to market, globalization of product portfolios and margin pressures.
"Our product development process was Excel and email-heavy, leading to a lot of confusion about which version of what document was sent when. We had 'many sources of truth' and it was slowing us down. We needed a solution to keep pace with current company growth and set a foundation for scalable future growth."
Today, KEEN is experiencing impressive benefits after just one season powered by Centric PLM. The company has streamlined its complex global supply chain and dramatically improved efficiency, with one team able to cut their report output time by 50%. Problems are now identified and solved earlier during product development. "PLM gives other parts of the business visibility to what's happening on the product creation floor," says Hellickson. "It has opened up communication between the different stakeholders across the organization."
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