Latest PLM offering is fully enabled for the fashion industry
 
6 November 2006 – Connecticut, USA – Gerber Technology today announced the general availability of its Fashion Lifecycle Management (FLM) suite. This product lifecycle management solution provides global, real-time visibility and control throughout the entire product development and lifecycle management processes. Fashion Lifecycle Management combines the power of WebPDM, Gerber’s leading product data management solution, with a robust, scaleable enterprise-wide workflow engine and collaboration tools.

Built with the unique requirements of fashion in mind, Gerber Fashion Lifecycle Management provides the collaborative framework for the fashion industry’s increasingly geographically dispersed operations and vendors. With it, users can identify and eliminate tasks that fail to add value, immediately see what part of the process needs attention, and streamline product lifecycles to reduce costs and increase speed to market.

“Consumer expectations drive design changes faster in fashion than in any other industry today,” said Holly Beum, director, software product management, Gerber Technology. “Gerber Fashion Lifecycle Management was developed specifically to meet the pressures that brands and retailers of apparel, footwear, accessories such as jewelry and handbags, home furnishings such as linens, floor coverings and furniture face everyday.”

The Gerber FLM Difference
Fashion Lifecycle Management integrates three essential layers: Design, Product Data Management and Information Collaboration. Each layer is comprised of plug-n-play software that provides modular functionality. Customers can start with any component and add capabilities as needs grow. Those already using WebPDM can carry forward their existing data and processes into FLM. This evolutionary architecture protects and extends software and training investments.

The Design layer contains the software used for conceptual development (such as Corel Draw® or Adobe Illustrator® and Gerber’s Vision Fashion Studio), pattern development (AccuMark PDS), grading (AccuMark GMS), marking (AccuNest), and three-dimensional prototyping (V-Stitcher). 
The Product Data Management layer captures and catalogs the design layer information for use by all other departments. WebPDM for FLM is the latest evolution of Gerber’s WebPDM, the leading and most proven web-based Product Data Management (PDM) system available for fashion. Materials, specifications, costing and sourcing requirements, image management, workflow and more are controlled and shared across the enterprise using WebPDM for FLM. It maintains all component libraries containing technical specifications, color management, multi-dimensional Bill of Material and costing. It also manages line assortment and storyboarding images, data and full reporting.

The Information Collaboration layer, enabled by FLM, effectively controls and manages information throughout the global supply chain. It consists of robust workflow, sample tracking, partner licensing and integration tools that disseminate the necessary information to retailers, brand developers, suppliers and factories that need to interact with the data. These new elements are the critical pieces that extend WebPDM to the level of Fashion Lifecycle Management™:

§ FLM Workflow coordinates scheduling and enables communication for all lifecycle processes. It offers seamless integration to WebPDM functions and existing data.

§ FLM Request Tracker is a unique module that coordinates detail level request and tracking information across the supply chain. Users collaborate on all types of requests from multiple vendors, including fit samples, fabric samples, lab dips and trim.

§ FLM Partner Licenses enable remote, browser-based collaboration with external vendors and also serve as a paperless “spec pack” for real-time change management. Security features determine who can perform which actions and what information is revealed.

§ FLM Integration Tools eliminate isolated data “silos” or double entry of data in other business systems. These tools can be used to import and export key business information required by other systems.

Gerber Professional Services 
Gerber’s professional business consultants provide an end-to-end solution tailored to customers’ current and future processes. These fashion industry experts provide consulting, development, implementation, educational and training services to ensure complete customer satisfaction. Professional Services personnel work to reduce implementation and recurring costs while improving processes.
 
“Fashion Lifecycle Management is the direct result of substantial input from our existing customer base and years of experience in providing the industry’s leading product data management software,” said John Hancock, president, Gerber Technology. “Customer and market feedback regarding our strategy and product offering has been extremely positive. The evolutionary nature of FLM protects and extends our customers’ investment while giving them new tools to accelerate their product delivery, reduce costs and increase their sales.”

 
About Gerber Technology
Gerber Technology (www.gerbertechnology.com), a business unit of $530 million corporation Gerber Scientific, Inc., develops and manufactures the world's leading brands of integrated software and hardware automation systems for manufacturers and retailers in the sewn products and flexible materials industries. These systems automate and significantly improve the efficiency of information management, product design and development, pre-production, and production processes. The company offers specialized solutions to a variety of end-user markets including apparel, transportation interiors, furniture, composites and industrial fabrics. Gerber Technology’s world headquarters are located in Tolland, Connecticut, U.S.A. with regional offices, agents and distributors in 125 countries serving a total of more than 17,500 customers through eleven Customer Solutions Centers on 6 continents. The company engineers and manufactures its products in various locations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Established in 1968, Gerber Technology is one of four businesses of Gerber Scientific, Inc. (www.gerberscientific.com) of South Windsor, Connecticut, U.S.A., a corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the “GRB” symbol.