Centric Software: Get PLM Educated: 5 Things Before You Say "Yes" to PLM

Campbell, Calif., November 16, 2017 

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software, the leading Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for fashion, retail, luxury, footwear, outdoor and consumer goods companies, will host a Get PLM Educated Seminar at the Running Event: 5 Things Before You Say “Yes” to PLM with industry expert speakers Dale Bathum and Colin Israel. The seminar will be held at the Austin Convention Center, Room 12B, Wednesday, November 29, 12:00 –1:30 p.m., register here.

Many outdoor active companies find themselves asking questions like, “How do I know if my company is PLM ready? What does my company need to know before we proceed? What obstacles do we need to consider? Can we afford it?” All active brands today need a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Whether companies are looking to drive business growth or get their head above the data madness – it’s time to understand how the PLM process works.

Hear directly from industry experts who have asked themselves these same questions, implemented PLM software and are now helping educate the industry by discussing 5 fundamental questions that everyone should ask before implementing PLM.

Manufacturers have deadlines to meet, materials to test, and new products and collections to design. This is hard to do effectively using spread sheets, emails and old ‘silo’ systems to keep track of all product creation content. Many time sensitive goals are thwarted by figuring out which spreadsheet version has the most current data. Inevitably errors, delays and stress levels increase. Costs are then difficult to control. Products predictably miss market windows and margins erode. PLM systems save time, energy, mistakes and money.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software provides a “single version of the truth” from all departments; line planning, calendar management, materials management, quality management, collection management, technical design and retail execution, all live – in live time in one program. With PLM, the information a design team is looking at is the same information seen by the product team, sourcing team, executive team, and even vendors. Centric is scalable to various size companies to fit the growth needs of each customer. The featured speakers will explain how to prepare a company for PLM:

Dale Bathum, founder of STM Worx – A well-known figure in the industry for over 25 years, Dale started his career at Nike, founded Bite Footwear, and worked as Chief Product Officer at Crocs. He is co-founder of Evervan Group (serving brands like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Columbia, Crocs) and now works with companies to help improve their speed-to-market strategies, often incorporating PLM as a vital part of that strategy. He is also President and Founder of Keiretsu Forum Rockies, part of the largest angel investment group in the world investing roughly $80 million in early stage companies this year.

Colin Israel, founder of Black Ink Strategy – Colin has extensive experience in the Apparel and Outdoor industry, including roles as CFO, COO, CIO and GM. He brings a global perspective following Expat assignments in Europe and Asia. Colin spent nine years at Deloitte in Strategy & Operations Consulting and Enterprise Risk Services, where some of his major clients included Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Google, Apple, Mattel and Qualcomm. Colin’s firm specializes in business transformation and application systems implementations for the apparel and footwear industry.

Please join Centric at the upcoming Austin, Running Event to learn valuable insights that lead to improved product development, increased margins, reduced costs and drive business growth.

The Running Event, Austin Convention Center, Room 12B, Wednesday, November 29, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. This Lunch & Learn seminar is complimentary, but you must register to attend.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric’s flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion and Apparel PLM in 2016 and Frost & Sullivan’s Global Retail, Fashion and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, Centric Software, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com,

Communications: Beth Cochran, Cochran@whatsuppr.com