Centric Software® is pleased to announce that INOV8 has selected Centric PLM™ to drive growth and speed innovation. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, buy, make, price, allocate, sell and replenish products such as fashion, outdoor, luxury, multi-category retail, grocery, food & beverage, cosmetics & personal care and consumer electronics to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Founded in 2003 in the British Lake District, INOV8 has become one of the world’s leading brands for off-road runners, hikers and fitness athletes. It is an ambitious sportswear pioneer whose footwear, clothing and equipment keeps athletes within the flow. INOV8 also has the exclusive use of Graphene – the world’s strongest material – in the rubber outsoles and foam midsoles of its shoes, enhancing both performance and durability. The brand trades in 50+ countries and has six of its own brand stores – five in the UK and one in Boise, US.
With big ambitions for future growth, INOV8 recognized the urgent need for a modern PLM solution to unify data in a ‘single source of truth,’ efficiently manage their product lifecycle processes and drive key sustainability goals. Disorganized data was creating a logistical headache for teams who were spending more time on admin than value-added tasks.
“Buyers were spending less time on commercial work because the information they needed was scattered across multiple spreadsheets and emails. There was also an increased risk of errors and duplicated information, which could have had serious financial implications for the business,” explains Mark Hutchinson, Head of Supply, Planning and Demand at INOV8.
INOV8 was seeking a single solution to structure their ‘critical path’ and increase the visibility of product information, including accurate product costs and material data. “As a business with ambitious growth plans, it made sense to streamline product development and empower teams to be as efficient and accurate as possible,” says Hutchinson.
Jonathan Emerson, Head of Information Technology at INOV8 agrees, “Before partnering with Centric there was no structure to our product lifecycle, and staying on top of the associated processes and deadlines was not as smooth as we would like. We knew PLM was the answer.”
INOV8 first started searching for a PLM solution in 2019, but due to changes in leadership, the project was put on hold. Five years later, the company is excited to dive back in. “We didn’t look at any other PLM providers because Centric ticked all the boxes – it’s intuitive, easy to implement and scalable,” praises Hutchinson. “In fact, most of the commercial team were in the first demo session, and everyone nodded in unison when they saw what Centric PLM™could do for the business.”
Centric will be crucial in managing INOV8’s products from the initial design until the product enters their ERP. Teams are particularly looking forward to using the Calendar module for a smoother production process, as well as the Material Library to make faster and more informed decisions.
“With this functionality, a designer can easily avoid a material that has a fault flagged because it will be logged in the system. There will be full visibility of costs too, which will speed decision-making,” comments Hutchinson.
INOV8 plan to ‘go-live’ with Centric PLM in the New Year, and the top priority will be onboarding their suppliers through the Supplier Portal. They also see their partnership with Centric lasting well into the future, as they explore how the system can best support the company’s impressive sustainability agenda through Worldly (formerly known as Higg) integration.
“Centric is proud to partner with a pioneering, ambitious brand like INOV8, as they embark on an exciting new phase of growth,” says Fabrice Canonge, President of Centric Software. “We look forward to seeing INOV8 go from strength-to-strength, as Centric PLM empowers their business to increase productivity and drive further innovation.”
