In this episode of The Interline Podcast, Emma welcomes Mark Harrop, founder and CEO at WhichPLM, who has helped brands, retailers, and manufacturers make intelligent investments in technology and smart choices for process change for over five decades.
During his career, Mark has focused on Production Management and has spearheaded various technological projects that introduced a range of design and development CAD/CAM systems, NC Cutting, and other transformation projects across the industry. In the late ’90s, he played a major role in bringing the world’s first Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution to market.
This conversation comes at a time where the PLM sector has changed significantly from what it used to be, especially in the SME market, and platforms, tools, and processes that used to be ringfenced off for the largest companies are now available for everyone – putting the idea of true data centralisation within everyone’s reach.
With so much happening across sustainability, digital product creation, AI, new models of retail, deep changes in the landscape of sourcing and production, and much more – Emma’s chat with Mark explores PLM’s place at the centre of both the near-term and the longer-term future of fashion.
Listen to the full 35-minute show below (or by following The Interline Podcast through your podcast / audio app of choice) and read on for some additional details.
Key talking points from Emma and Mark’s conversation:
- How technology, in general, has changed the fashion industry, and whether it has been an unqualified net positive or not.
- Mark’s working definition of PLM and how that definition aligns with what the fashion industry needs to accomplish in 2024.
- How important PLM is – and will be – to where fashion is headed, and how external forces and market dynamics are influencing that direction.
- What a new fashion solution, focused on the core competencies of product design and development, might cover.
- Whether PLM has followed the trend towards technology becoming more accessible, more widely-distributed, and more affordable.
- What kind of talent brands at the lower end of that market spectrum might need to have in-house to take advantage of PLM capabilities.
- How PLM can support AI, sustainability, and 3D/digital product creation, and Mark’s vision for the future of PLM.
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