Little Me® Children's Brand Finds the Right Fit with Yunique
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Usability and Integration Key Factors for Company Rich with PLM Experience
NEW YORK, NY - February 27, 2007 - Yunique Solutions Inc., developer of the fashion industry's top-ranked product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, announces that privately-held S. Schwab Company has successfully implemented its plmOn(TM) product lifecycle and srmOn(TM) supplier relationship software solutions across it global design, product development, and sourcing operations. After utilizing three separate product data systems over the past decade, most recently including in-house developed software, the company chose Yunique and has just completed its first full live season of use.
Founded in the early 1900's, S. Schwab Company is the owner and marketer of the Little Me® line of newborn and toddler clothing and today employs more than 400 people across its Cumberland, Maryland (USA) headquarters, New York design/development/sales, and Hong Kong sourcing offices. The company, which recently launched a consumer web store (www.littleme.com), sources products primarily from Asia and sells them through department stores, specialty shops, and their own Little Me Stores in the United States.
"Unlike many companies that are implementing their first PLM system, we have been working with and improving on product data systems for some time," said Doug Schwab, Senior Vice President and CIO. "Our previous systems just never quite gave us the user-friendliness and scope of functionality we needed to achieve full buy-in from our teams and vendors. Our criteria for the new system was probably more stringent that most buyers simply because we have so much experience in this area."
Must-have's identified by Schwab and Applications Specialist / plmOn Administrator Carol Gilmore included a web-based solution that could easily be deployed around the world, an effective interface with factories that would enhance collaboration on costing and specs, a simple-to-integrate computing environment and, perhaps above all else, ease-of-use for everyone. "With Yunique, we found everything that we were looking for," noted Gilmore. "Because it is so much easier to input, locate, and manage information, the implementation went quite smoothly. Yunique helped us make all of our artwork, bodies, fabrics, prints, sketches, specs, and other product information easily accessible in one system."
"Yunique's ease-of-use has allowed us to expand the use of PLM into the fashion and technical design departments as well as across our entire supply chain," added Schwab. "Some of the other systems we evaluated appeared to be very capable, but they were just more complex than what we felt we wanted or needed. With Yunique, all of our global teams find it simple to work with the system to input and access the information they need to perform at their best."
Since starting with Yunique's plmOn system in the second quarter of 2006, Schwab has also fully integrated the PLM with its sales planning and ERP systems. According to Schwab, "This bi-directional integration has helped us save numerous steps in our process. For example, we can automatically bring images from our product development process into our wholesale planning system; and when we adopt a style in plmOn, it automatically populates the information in our ACS Optima ERP system. Yunique's choice of Microsoft's SQL Server database platform has enabled us to complete these important interfaces without undue complication."
Yunique's ease of use is also paying off in other ways for Schwab. Gilmore stressed that, "We were very pleasantly surprised with just how easy it is for users to get productive with the system. The amount of training required was minimal. That has really helped us get to were we are in such a short time."
"Their standard implementation methodology included an extensive analysis of our processes, which was very helpful and gave us a means of benchmarking the time savings," said Schwab. "Even though we already knew how to get from point A to point B, Yunique has delivered to us a vastly improved vehicle for us to get there. Our people are very comfortable with using it as the system aligns closely with the way they work naturally. Navigating around the system is simple because it works just like the Microsoft products we are all familiar with in our day-to-day jobs. Selecting Yunique has been very good for us - the system just works!"
About Yunique Solutions
Yunique Solutions Inc. is a New York-based developer of 100% browser-based product lifecycle management (product lifecycle, digital asset, and supplier relationship management) solutions that enable today's fast-paced apparel, home textiles, and accessories retailers and manufacturers speed more trend-setting merchandise to market by improving collaboration across their entire supply chains.
Yunique's flagship plmOn(TM) and srmOn(TM) products comprise a comprehensive suite of industry-specific technologies and services including digital asset (image) management, tech pack management, quotation and bid management, sample and production planning and tracking, pre-concept line management, and materials management. Based on the latest Microsoft .NET platform, Yunique's software solutions leverage the internet to provide organizations with the ease of use and global connectivity needed to execute, analyze, and optimize their businesses.
Yunique Solutions was ranked #1 in customer service among PLM solution providers in a 2006 independent survey conducted by Apparel magazine. For more information on Yunique Solutions and its products, phone (212) 672-0098 (New York), e-mail info@yunique.com, or visit the website at www.yunique.com.
