Project Description
PLM system selection to solve product development and sourcing issues, enable collaboration, improve data integrity, and reduce costs.
The Client
The largest U.S. brand of apparel and related products exclusively for babies and young children.

The Challenge
The client was struggling with a number of issues in their product development and sourcing processes:
- Lack of adherence to seasonal calendars
- Limited workflow and task management
- Inconsistent measurement of KPIs
- Too much re-entry/re-work, resulting in data errors
- No “one version of the truth”
- Moreover, they wished to:
Improve collaboration with agents and vendors
- Reduce sampling and development costs
- Leverage volume-based discounts through the ability to aggregate fabric and finished goods needs
- Increase process consistency to enable growth and scalability without adding resources
The client wished to select a new PLM system that enabled best-in-class product development and sourcing processes and provided internal users and external trading partners with a common repository of pre-production and production information.
The Parker Avery Solution
The Parker Avery Group led the client through the system selection process by performing the following activities:
- Documented client-specific requirements
- Wrote and issued a comprehensive request for proposal (RFP)
- Prepared a detailed demonstration script
- Developed a multi-faceted scoring system
- Organized on-site software demonstrations
- Conducted reference calls with comparable customers
- Partnered with client personnel to recommend vendor
- Prepared implementation plan and budget
- Reviewed software provider’s statement of work
Sign up to receive retail and consumer goods insights and strategic advice from The Parker Avery Group.