S.OLIVER GROUP Achieves a Big Bang Success with Centric PLM

3D Technology, Product Presentation and Quality Testing give full transparency

Centric Software? is delighted to announce the release of a success story about its customer, S.OLIVER GROUP.

S.OLIVER GROUP was established in 1969 and, in just a few decades, has become one of Europe’s leading fashion companies. In addition to the brands s.Oliver and QS, the brand portfolio also includes comma, LIEBESKIND BERLIN and COPENHAGEN STUDIOS. The company employs over 5,100 people internationally and boasts 12,000 styles. Today, it sells 50% of products through its wholesale and franchise network, and the other 50% through retail stores and e-commerce.

Prior to selecting Centric Software’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, S.OLIVER GROUP was looking to rapidly replace a decade-old legacy system to harmonize workflows across four brands, reduce costs and streamline vendor processes. Three years into their Centric PLM? project, they have successfully achieved their key objectives, as well as enhancing product quality and further digitalizing their business. Centric PLM’s 3D technology, Quality Testing and Product Presentation modules have resulted in reduced time and money spent on creating physical samples, manual work and quality testing.

“Our target was clear — we had to digitalize processes, drive efficiencies and decrease operating costs,” says Oliver Hein , Chief Operating Officer at S.OLIVER GROUP.

In the midst of pandemic lockdowns in 2020, teams at S.OLIVER GROUP and Centric Software quickly mobilized and implemented Centric PLM in just 4 months, to 900 users — completely remotely.

“It was quite challenging,” says Hein. “But at the end of the day, we had a big bang success.”

“Working with the Centric tools means not only working more efficiently, but also working on our mindset,” continues Hein. “Process thinking, cooperation and trust are key success factors for implementation and daily use.”

S.OLIVER GROUP has ongoing targets to fully connect their physical and chemical testing processes to the system and conduct every step of the quality inspection process in PLM. They have also successfully integrated 80 of their top 100 vendors into the system, and plan to have all 100 integrated by the end of 2023. Simplified workflows, time and cost-savings have been realized.

“In a nutshell, our process from end-to-end is managed mainly through Centric PLM,” says Hein. “We have a clear target to use one point of entry for all data and do away with redundant information living in different systems.”