Overview
JR286’s primary business is the design, development, sourcing, and distribution of sporting goods accessories and equipment globally. They specialize in products for running, training, hydration, football, baseball, and basketball for major brands including Nike.
Situation
JR286 struggled with a cohesive technology strategy for their product lifecycle management. Their main tools to manage product data were Excel and an outdated Oracle Agile combination. This resulted in multiple versions of the truth – known to cause miscommunications, increased time to market, and other delays.
For JR286, this resulted in a lack of standardized attributes for products or adherence to product creation milestones. To streamline and improve their processes and communication across the enterprise, they implemented PTC FlexPLM. As a key enterprise platform for JR286, they sought guidance and expertise in the implementation and roll-out of the tool. Their main tools to manage product data were Excel
and an outdated Oracle Agile combination.
Solution
JR286 turned to ArcherGrey for help. From the start of JR286’s journey with PTC FlexPLM – to the fully implemented system they have today – ArcherGrey has been there.
ArcherGrey started by creating a plan for the implementation and configuration of FlexPLM tailored to the client’s needs. This plan enabled JR286 with the following functionalities: product classification, product colorway, creation & attributes, material library, measurement specification, development samples, and much more.
Having a plan isn’t enough – to be effective the solution must be sustainable, require minimum maintenance, can be upgraded easily, focuses on out-of-the-box functionality – and stays on budget. ArcherGrey achieved this by customizing two areas: semi-intelligent SKU generation and implementing a standardized tech pack.
In addition to the implementation plan, ArcherGrey conducted an assessment, provided recommendations, and participated in the data migration from the legacy system.
Impact
The solution automated many of the manual processes JR286 was using. ArcherGrey was able to improve the product brief to commercialization cycle times, provide a central repository for all product-related materials, improve cross-functional collaboration across the entire organization and business partners, enhance SKU management capabilities, and provide more accurate and timely reporting with constructive KPI measurements. The success of these efforts allowed JR286 to reduce their development time by 40% within the PTC framework. These efficiency gains allowed JR286 to continue to expand into different product categories, lines, and brands.