Travelway Group International and Bugatti Group, both luggage and accessories companies, have selected Centric Software®’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, Centric SMB for emerging enterprises. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home décor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Travelway Group International (est. 1973) and the Bugatti Group Inc (est. 1940), both venerable Montreal-based firms that both design and produce high quality luggage, briefcases, handbags and accessories, have entered into a new working partnership together.
Executive Vice President of Travelway Group International Gerry Shadeed & CEO Andrew Hattem of Bugatti Group describe how each company serves a different a market segment and distribution network covering a wide variety of customers that include Target, Walmart and Costco as well as the mid to large retail sector. Between Travelway and Bugatti, they independently license Skechers, Air Canada, Swiss Mobility, Ricardo, Cabeau, K&B Sports Blackpink, the Rolling Stones, Bugatti and many other owned brands.
Shadeed explains the impetus for adding PLM to their company technology. “Now that we’ve partnered with Bugatti, we’re embarking on the implementation of Centric PLM for both businesses to align with each other’s processes and to make it easier for our teams overseas to deal with one process instead of two.”
Travelway / Bugatti considered PLM for all the standard reasons such as increasing efficiency, reducing re-entry and duplication of work and providing one digital repository for all teams, domestic and overseas. The field was narrowed down to six PLM vendors but ultimately, Travelway / Bugatti chose Centric. Says Shadeed, “Centric had the most adaptable out-of-the-box system. We trust that with the number of installations that Centric has made they have optimized the process to best practices.”
Shadeed and Hattem emphasize that they want to be able to increase speed to market to be the best in class in the industry. Of the other reasons the companies selected Centric, Hattem says, “Centric has a complete assortment of modules that fit our needs. We’re starting off with the basic package so that we can get up and running, but I see our businesses being able to develop further with the tools that Centric offers.”
Travelway / Bugatti are looking to integrate Centric PLM with their ERP systems, cut out duplication and communicate better with their overseas teams. Shadeed says, “They relay information to us and we re-enter it here. We want to be able to drastically reduce emails and have that single source of the truth for product information.”
Another key strategy is a focus on materials management. Says Hattem, “Centric has a great module for that. We need to keep track of what’s new and be able to share those materials between Bugatti and Travelway. The materials library tells us which factories have access to certain materials, allowing us to select the correct fabrication site. If a factory has to stop what they’re doing or put resources toward finding a specific material that they don’t normally use, it takes time and slows things down.”
Travelway / Bugatti have an entire compliance management team that deals with social and environmental practices set by the industry—a necessity when working with major retailers. Shadeed says, “We conduct regular audits on our manufacturing partners for carbon footprint, right down to how much wastewater these factories are putting out and at the very minimum, ensuring that they’re operating within government imposed social and environmental guidelines.” PLM organizes this information to make it easily accessible.
Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software says, “I am delighted that Travelway and Bugatti have chosen Centric PLM as their digital foundation. Together, they are optimizing their strategic partnership to serve both of their business needs. Centric is excited to play a part in securing their future success.”
