Part 1: Streamlining Fashion Design to Sourcing: The Powerful Synergy of ERP and PLM Integration

Is your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system supporting your company’s most fundamental business priorities? Or is it barely getting the job done? Are your product lifecycle management (PLM) tools trusted, liked and used by internal teams and core suppliers? These questions are tough to answer for many fashion businesses.

Design, product development and sourcing processes tend to be very hands-on, with a complex web of handoffs outside any centralized, standardized, or structured technology solution. Yet just as order management and fulfillment has become highly automated to keep up with the likes of Amazon, Walmart and omnichannel specialty retailers, there is a clear path to automate upstream processes, too.

This blog series explores fundamental advantages of connecting ERP to PLM in the fashion industry.

Enhancing Collaboration and Communication

What is meant by connected ERP-PLM? It’s when your ERP, the organization’s central nervous system, “talks” directly with PLM, and information flows freely between the different modules and functions of both technologies. More importantly, this information is readily accessible for key stakeholders internally and externally who need it to do their jobs more efficiently and make informed decisions better. ERP and PLM integration supports sharing, real-time updates and improved cross-functional collaboration between design and sourcing teams.

One way to achieve this connected nirvana is through building application programming interfaces (API) between ERP and PLM platforms. But this approach takes a toll on time and resources. Another is to invest in a platform that offers native ERP-PLM integration from day one because the systems were designed together to work as one. The CGS BlueCherry® Suite is one such platform.

Connecting Concept to Production

What are benefits of a connected ERP-PLM system for managing the entire fashion product lifecycle, from initial design concept to sourcing and production?

• Passing the baton: Design, merchandising and product development teams can “green light” approved styles for production with a few keystrokes. The relevant style and specification details automatically populate purchase orders (PO), and sourcing/production teams can run with the baton. There is less risk of dropping it due to unread emails, confusing group texts or error-prone Excel files.
• True two-way sharing: Oftentimes, processes before the PO get stuck in silos. It’s hard for the production team to get a jump on available capacity with the best suppliers if they don’t know what’s coming down the pike. And vice versa, it’s hard on design teams when they learn late in the game their top styles aren’t feasible because material isn’t available, or the sewing will cost too much. With integrated ERP-PLM, these teams have visibility to mission-critical product information and collaborate early to ensure the best results.

Efficient, Traceable Material and Product Management

ERP-PLM integration optimizes material and production planning, tracking and traceability, which in turn:

• Reduces costs
• Improves inventory management
• Supports compliance with government and retailer chain-of-custody requirements
• Minimizes waste
• Streamlines workflows
• Reduces lead times
• Enhances overall operational efficiency

Today, apparel brands, manufacturers and retailers all have a vested interest in supply chain visibility. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandates are center stage with consumers, regulators and retailers. The U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) puts rigorous track-and-trace responsibility on all supply chain stakeholders, as CGS Vice President Mark Burstein wrote in a recent Forbes article. Connected ERP-PLM makes it easier for companies to create supply chain digital twins — digital representations of their extended supply networks, which also serve as verified supplier documentation.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Real-time data access and analysis is the key to informed decision making, accurate forecasting and proactive risk management. ERP-PLM integration helps:

• Designing and Producing for Profitability: When PLM is tied into ERP, teams from design to sourcing can better see what is trending at the point of sale in real time. They can access sales trend analysis from both company data and retailer analytical data feeds. Greater digitalization opens opportunities to test short production runs before committing to large-volume orders. Streamlined processes also support better speed and agility, so if the market trends are cloudy, teams can wait it out, and cut and convert fabric closer to market. Then they are more likely to deliver the right goods and help the business meet financial targets.
• Quality Control and Compliance: Real-time shop-floor control (SFC) and contractor management capabilities also can seamlessly integrate with PLM and ERP. Production operators can see product images, specs, and construction steps at their machines, in their native languages. Real-time production monitoring exposes potential bottlenecks and quality problems early so they can be corrected quickly and at lower cost. Verifiable data from the factory floor supports ESG-related documentation and compliance.

Maximizing ROI and Scalability

Connecting ERP and PLM offers long-term strategic benefits, including:

• Stronger, Faster Technology ROI: Process improvement across departments and disciplines — and especially across supply chains — delivers faster technology ROI than incremental improvements here or there. Also, supply chain digitalization gives businesses agility to pivot much faster in the case of crises or the unexpected. These could include worker strikes, wars, natural disasters, viral fashion trends and flops, and the weather. Successfully mitigating risks around these issues could save a season, or even an entire business. ROI right in the bag.
• Scalability/Adaptability to Support Growth and Change: Before, it was COVID. Now, there’s UFLPA- Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Tomorrow, it will be something else. Hot-button issues change. Fashion trends change. Shopping preferences evolve. Integrated technology, combined with business process improvement, gives businesses the competitive edge they need to meet new challenges head on and rise to seize new opportunities. They can onboard new suppliers faster, launch new lines more profitably and adjust their product portfolios and production to align with demand. Most importantly, they can anticipate and respond with confidence to the needs of the customer.

Success Story: CHF Industries

CHF Industries, a leading global marketer and manufacturer of bedding, bath, window and home accessories products, has successfully leveraged ERP-PLM integration to drive business growth and gain a competitive edge. The New York, NY-based company in 2022 implemented the BlueCherry® Enterprise Suite for global end-to-end supply chain management. Enhancing global collaboration and communication is essential for CHF, which employs hundreds of artists, designers, product developers, product managers, sales leaders, merchandisers, and logistics managers around the world. These teams work 24/7 designing, developing, sourcing, and distributing trend-setting home fashions for brands and private labels, from opening price points to luxury. CHF is one of the largest home textile products suppliers, with its home goods sold in all major home fashions retailers worldwide.

“CHF is recognized for our cutting-edge product development, creative merchandising, global sourcing, world-class logistics and exceptional customer service — all of which are major differentiators that further our leadership position in the home goods market,” said Spencer Foley, CEO of the family-run company. “CGS’s BlueCherry suite itself stands above the competition in how it supports these differentiators.”

Efficient material management, enabled by integrated PLM-ERP, is important for CHF. The company participates in almost a dozen environmental sustainability initiatives. From Oeko-Tex and the Better Cotton Initiative to Fair Trade Cotton and Responsible Down, CHF needs powerful visibility and trackability throughout its supply chain.

Data-driven decision making is also essential to manage myriad styles and shipments across the CHF brand portfolio and customer base. That’s another reason the company chose BlueCherry, including the suite’s Business Intelligence and Warehousing/Logistics solutions. CHF leverages an integrated global logistics network of premium carriers and a 350,000-square-foot South Carolina distribution center to drop ship and fulfill orders according to every customer’s unique needs.

“We anticipate this partnership will significantly improve operational efficiencies and actionable business intelligence — helping support new product development and our continued aggressive global expansion,” Foley said.

Does your company’s growth trajectory need a boost from powerful technology and a partner with deep industry expertise? Contact the CGS BlueCherry team today to talk about taking the next step.

Check Out the CGS Connected ERP-PLM Series

• Part 1: of the Connected ERP-PLM Series
• Part 2: Bridge Those Design-to-Sourcing Gaps