Released in the definitive instalment in fashion’s longest-running dedicated PLM Report, this executive interview is one of a nine-part series that sees The Interline quiz executives from major companies on the evolution of product lifecycle management, and ask their opinions on what the future holds for what has long been sold as the core of the fashion technology ecosystem, and the heart of design, development, and supply chain processes.
For more on product lifecycle management in fashion, download the full PLM Report 2023 completely free of charge and ungated.
Key Takeaways:
- Leading organizations recognize that the only path to more agility, resiliency, and transparency within their supply chain is to embrace a multi-enterprise collaboration network approach to gaining broader visibility.
- Sourcing more sustainable, independently labeled raw materials has become a strategic choice for leading brands, retailers, and manufacturers seeking to reduce the environmental footprint of their products and reduce exposure to environmental and social risks within the supply chain.
- CBX PLM is part of an extended supply chain management platform designed exclusively for retailers, brands and trading companies that are seeking a composable, multi-enterprise collaboration network that extends well beyond traditional product development, materials management and supplier collaboration.
- TradeBeyond is constantly evolving its core platform to respond to the demands of the market and establishing key strategic partnerships with industry players to push data into the CBX PLM application that is related to supply chain partner performance, capacity, and governance.
The places software begins and ends are constantly changing as market demands shift, new innovations emerge, and fresh capabilities and integrations are added. Can you tell us what PLM means to TradeBeyond, and how you believe that definition has evolved over the last few years?
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) means different things to different people. In the world of fashion, PLM installations have been (and still are) used by retailers and brands predominantly for management of product development – e.g., capturing product specifications (techpack), collaborating, reviewing and tracking product assortments/lines, reviewing and approving samples, etc. At TradeBeyond (as our name implies) we feel product development is crucial but still only part of the extended supply chain that retailers and brands must get better at in order to compete in delivering products to market faster, at the right price and quality, and more than ever delivering products that are sustainable and socially responsible.
Today, the visionary leaders in the space are expecting more from their PLM systems and this creates opportunity for innovation to support growth. The CBX PLM is part of an extended supply chain management platform designed exclusively for Retailers, Brands and Trading Companies that are seeking a composable, multi-enterprise collaboration network that extends well beyond traditional product development, materials management and supplier collaboration. The CBX footprint covers the full breadth of requirements needed to realize true extended supply chain optimization and automation from Product Concept to Delivery. More importantly, we see the CBX PLM as an enabler for the enterprise to open visibility to the further points upstream and downstream. We believe the PLM system should be the control tower that uses data from within as well as from an interconnected community to drive real-time decision execution to increase speed while adhering to corporate and globally responsible outcomes.
What are the big changes you’ve seen in efforts for supply chain digitalization over the last twelve months? What’s driving that desire for greater knowledge, control, and collaboration? And how are brands and their partners approaching it?
Supply chains are extremely complex and realizing supply chain digitalization end to end is a daunting journey. This said, the leading organizations recognize that the only path to more agility, resiliency, and transparency within their supply chain is to move beyond what the enterprise-centric Supply Chain Management (SCM) system can deliver and instead embrace a multi-enterprise collaboration network approach to gaining broader visibility. Supply chain operations include so much more than simply off loading, cross docking and delivering. Best in class supply chain leaders understand they need to see much further upstream, midstream and downstream in order to make better decisions. To do this there must be connections to partners, networks and applications that sit outside the four walls of their organizations. The CBX PLM is constructed to be open to receiving and exporting data among any number of systems and transaction networks, connecting the people, processes and systems that make up a comprehensive connected cloud community.
Both existing and upcoming ESG regulations are going to have profound implications for how retailers, brands and manufacturers operate. What assistance can customers expect from PLM? How can having product data centralised and integrated help users to comply with the letter and the spirit of the law?
To adhere to the global legislation and import constraints put on retailers and brands today, it is no longer enough to rely on the PLM only as the central repository for product data. Today, Customs and Border Protection agencies around the world can withhold the release of merchandise until digital documentation can be presented which clearly illustrates all the supply chain entities that are connected to a specific purchase order. This is only possible if your PLM is capable of being the system of record for all actors in your supply chain as well as being your purchase order follow up tool and your central product data repository. Assuming these capabilities exist on a single end to end platform such as CBX PLM, only then can you produce a digital Chain of Custody on demand when challenged.
Deloitte conducted a survey last summer that gave rise to the inescapable conclusion that sustainability is a “business imperative” rather than just a compliance exercise. Thinking beyond regulations, how can PLM – and specifically your platform – enable users to start differentiating themselves through their environmental and humanitarian actions, and to make sustainability a cornerstone of their business?
Yes, the market narrative is no longer “when” but rather “we need to act now.” Our existing Customers and new brand partner opportunities are coming to us now on a daily basis and asking what more in the CBX PLM can be mobilized to assist in addressing imperative sustainability initiatives. For example, using the Supplier Engagement Management cross modular messaging tool – CBX users go far beyond old hack score cards and dashboards. The CBX PLM is used as a campaign and collaboration platform on which the brand and supply chain partners are in dynamic communication working to joint improvement plans for ensuring transparency and adherence to human rights standards. CBX PLM serves as the conduit to align the Brand’s comparative values and behaviours directly with the supply chain partner’s commitments.
Beyond the benefits of core product data, PLM platforms are now evolving rapidly to support other processes and unlock new ways of working. How is TradeBeyond approaching its own innovation roadmap to respond to what the market wants today, and what it might need tomorrow?
Just as our name now implies, TradeBeyond is in constant motion when it comes to evolving our core platform to respond to the demands of the market. We also believe that we do not have all the best answers nor solutions native to the CBX PLM application. As such, we have been hyper aggressive this past year in establishing key strategic partnerships with industry players such as Worldly and leading testing and inspection companies that push data into the CBX PLM application that is related to supply chain partner performance, capacity and governance; all of which ties back directly to the core product data already developed and housed in CBX.
How do you see PLM’s role in the fashion technology ecosystem evolving in the near future? How can it best support fashion’s ongoing digital transformation?
Sourcing more sustainable, independently labelled raw materials has become a strategic choice for leading brands, retailers, and manufacturers seeking to reduce the environmental footprint of their products and reduce exposure to environmental and social risks within the supply chain. At TradeBeyond we are taking on more projects that require deep dives into raw material management strategies and execution; brands are expecting now that a tier one PLM can help to support their needs in this area or otherwise be able to integrate with and work closely with niche partners in this space enabling a single view of actionable data.
