Leading footwear company selects Visual Assortment Board, 3D-enabled Centric PLM and Centric Pricing to enhance product development process
CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Centric Software®, the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market leader is pleased to announce that Wolverine Worldwide (NYSE: WWW), which operates one of the world's largest portfolios of footwear and lifestyle brands, has selected Centric PLMTM—to help drive efficiency and growth. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, price and sell products such as apparel, fashion, home, footwear, sporting goods, consumer electronics, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Charlie Hall, Senior Product Operations Manager at Merrell, the world's leading hike and outdoor footwear brand and a key component of Wolverine Worldwide's portfolio, acknowledges that in order to win in the current environment, speed is critical. "About 12-18 months ago, we reached a crossroads with respect to our digital solutions. We determined that we really weren't going to get any further ahead or have any leverage without investing in a PLM solution. The product spec is the backbone of the development process. To not have that digitalized and connected with our other digital tools was really hampering us in terms of progress with the speed-to-market initiatives we were putting in place."
"As our product development processes evolved and to further advance our digital infrastructure, the need for a modern PLM solution like Centric PLM became obvious," says John Burch, Senior Vice President of Global Footwear for Merrell who has 35+ years of experience in footwear development and operations. Burch continues, "We required a fully integrated PLM solution that allowed our global teams real time visibility to our product creation pipeline, from ideation to launch. At the same time, we wanted to fully leverage our digital asset investments, and consolidate development inputs with all supply chain partners to improve speed to market and reduce costs."
One immediate benefit is time savings. Hall estimates that moving to Centric PLM saves between 2,500 – 5,800 instances of re-entering data across 500 – 700 active spreadsheets per season. Another benefit is enabling sustainability. Hall says, "For the last few years, the argument has always been that if we have PLM, we'll start to understand the where-used and the material consolidation—all the things that we need from a sustainability and traceability perspective. Therefore, we needed a best-in-class PLM tool."
Addressing Centric's 3D capabilities, Hall says, "Putting a CAD file right into a product spec meets the expectations around where PLM solutions and digital development as a whole are going and agrees with our 3D roadmap; what we think of as the best possible scenario in the coming months and years." A concrete result of 3D is that it cuts down on sampling by moving a product further along with digital iterations before any physical sampling takes place.
Wolverine Worldwide is also adding Centric's Visual Boards, which empower buyers, merchants, designers, planners, sourcing, sales and retail teams to view an assortment strategically in a visual pivot table fashion for optimal performance at retail and a coherent brand experience across all channels. Sumi Scott, Chief Merchant at Merrell says, "I'm most excited about the visualization of the data, which right now, is a very manual process for us. Being able to visualize the line and cut it by the data attributes will be amazing. And something as simple as picking a color and being able to filter on every shoe in that season on that color, and to be able to say, 'how does black show up in the line?' Having the quick ability to do that is really great for our teams."
Scott says, "Centric Pricing is another example of technology to streamline our processes. We're going to start simply—what are some easy ways that people can go into the tool and extract that data and start to use it, just so that the teams start going in there more regularly. I'd love for people to spend time in Centric Pricing and be looking at competitive assortment architecture."
CEO of Centric Software, Chris Groves says, "We are thrilled that Wolverine Worldwide, a century-plus multi-brand company, has chosen Centric Software to further its digital transformation. With our suite of retail and brand innovations that positively impact speed and the bottom line, Wolverine is well-positioned for continued success and future growth."
Learn more about Centric solutions.
ABOUT WOLVERINE WORLDWIDE (http://www.wolverineworldwide.com)
Founded in 1883 on the belief in the possibility of opportunity, Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) is one of the world's leading marketers and licensors of branded casual, active lifestyle, work, outdoor sport, athletic, children's and uniform footwear and apparel. Through a diverse portfolio of highly recognized brands, our products are designed to empower, engage and inspire our consumers every step of the way. The Company's portfolio includes Merrell®, Saucony®, Sweaty Betty®, Sperry®, Hush Puppies®, Wolverine®, Chaco®, Bates®, HYTEST®, and Stride Rite®. Wolverine Worldwide is also the global footwear licensee of the popular brands Cat® and Harley-Davidson®. Based in Rockford, Michigan, for 140 years, the Company's products are carried by leading retailers in the U.S. and globally in approximately 170 countries and territories. For additional information, please visit our website, http://www.wolverineworldwide.com or visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Media Contact
Aurore Evee, Centric Software, +16479155377, [email protected], www.centricsoftware.com
SOURCE Centric Software
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