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.
Opportunity
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manage product data were Excel and an outdated Oracle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and an outdated Oracle Agile combination.”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: semiIntelligent 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 will allow JR286 to continue to expand into
different product categories, lines, and brands.