FlexPLM leverages the power and scalability of Windchill, PTC’s web-based content and process management product, to improve the product development process. By improving collaboration and increasing the visibility of all product-related information across its global organization and the supply chain, Umbro expects to shorten lead times and reduce its development costs.
The global markets for sports apparel and footwear increasingly overlap with the leisurewear market, and Umbro is positioning its range of product lines to benefit from this convergence. Cycle times in the leisurewear market are typically even shorter than in sports apparel and the cost pressure is extremely high. This trend has driven companies like Umbro to invest in product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions to improve competitive advantage in this fast-moving business.
We chose PTC’s FlexPLM solution for its broad set of capabilities, including its excellent design interface, strong workflow support and the ability to get started quickly, said Graham Collins, Umbro’s PLM project manager. When we looked at the different solutions available on the market, PTC’s expertise was most convincing. The PTC Value Roadmap tool helped us clearly identify the link between improvements in our product development processes and our corporate objectives.
The PTC Value Roadmap is a fully configurable, interactive software application that matches a company’s unique goals with vertical industry best practices. Applying the Value Roadmap enables users to align and prioritize business and product development goals with industry-specific process improvements.
FlexPLM will be used by about 100 users within the design and product development teams at the Umbro UK headquarters and an office in Hong Kong. PTC’s global services team is deploying the solution and helping to establish new design workflows that will replace the manually organized product development processes.
FlexPLM will be integrated with Umbro’s existing enterprise resource planning system, linking the product development and enterprise systems.
