New Centric Software® PLM Release Drives Complete Consumer Product Experience
Centric Software is proud to announce that the latest release of its flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, Centric 8 PLM version 7.3, is now available. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, luxury, sporting goods, furniture, home décor, cosmetics & personal care and food & beverage to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Responding to the challenges of the fashion, retail and outdoor industries, this latest release of Centric PLM™ debuts three new modules focusing on Product Change Tracking & Management; Product Packaging; and Product Presentations as well as enhancements to existing inspection, project management and 3D capabilities.
"Our customers increasingly need to deliver unique product experiences for consumers that encompass everything from the aesthetics and type of packaging the product arrives in when ordered online to the sustainability credentials of materials and components," says Ron Watson, VP of Product at Centric Software. "Many customers also want to manage a wide variety of different products in PLM and wish to offer creatively themed packages, such as a complete outfit with accessories, a sports kit plus gear or even a gift basket assortment including hard or soft goods."
"This release brings even more elements of product development and go-to-market into the Centric PLM ecosystem and offers powerful flexibility and control. Teams can conceptualize almost every aspect of the holistic end-to-end product experience, from quality assurance to 3D packaging design, product presentations to buyers and other teams as well as insights into product changes, without having to leave Centric PLM. Ultimately, it empowers companies to ideate, execute and enrich the end-consumer's full product experience."
For companies that follow a project-based rather than seasonal approach, a new Project feature groups products from different product families with different lifecycles together for a single market launch. Visibility over multiple products at once empowers better decision-making and successfully brings products to market on time while minimizing the risk of errors.
On the quality assurance front, enhancements to the Final Inspection module offer additional product inspection process options with more flexible workflows and enriched reporting and defect analysis roll-ups for deeper understanding of the root causes and potential solutions of quality issues.
Centric's 3D capabilities are enhanced with Rhino file type connectivity for hard goods, footwear and accessories, as well as the addition of Conversations in the 3D viewer, enabling comments for a collaborative 3D workflow.
At the packaging end, the new Packaging Proofing module empowers teams to develop, iterate and proof copy and artwork right in Centric PLM to ensure compliance of product packaging or to give it that wow-factor.
Engineering change management, which is a traditional process for many accessories and gear businesses, is supported by a completely new Centric 8 PLM module. The impact of a change is computed automatically, reducing manual work and empowering users in their decisions and go-to-market strategy.
Finally, from line plan reviews to e-commerce merchandising meetings, there are many instances in the product lifecycle that warrant a presentation to stakeholders. Rather than pulling data and images from PLM to create external presentations in a solution like Microsoft PowerPoint, for example, teams can now create presentations directly in Centric PLM. Users curate products per various goals such as clothing items in a 'set' that go together, by look, persona, theme, promotion, etc. Changes to products are automatically updated in presentations, saving time and reducing errors as well as eliminating tedious click-work.
"The latest version of Centric PLM includes new innovations for everyone," says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. "It gives brands, retailers and manufacturers greater flexibility and control, enabling them to ideate the overall consumer product experience directly from PLM. We are proud to continue to work closely with market-leading companies to expand the digital transformation potential of Centric PLM."