Ortovox Sportartikel, a German producer of mountain safety equipment and mountainwear, has selected Centric Software to provide its product lifecycle management solution.
Centric Software is a specialist provider of PLM solutions, particularly for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods companies.
Ortovox was founded in 1980 in the south of Munich and got its start making avalanche safety transceivers to help locate people in mountain rescue situations. Ortovox’s range now includes a range of apparel and climbing and ski backpacks.
Using a unique blend of Tasmanian merino wool and innovative fibers, its mountainwear offers functionality, comfort and protection in a mountain environment.
With Ortovox products now sold in 1,770 outlets worldwide, Ortovox says iis in a strong and growing position in the mountain sports market.
As Stefan Krause, head of product, explains, like any company involved in the great outdoors, Ortovox faces the extraordinary challenge of climate change, as well as the more conventional challenges of a growing business.
Krause says: “We develop high quality products for the great outdoors, so we are dependent on the weather.
“The winter season is getting shorter and there is less snow – thus the demand for high quality protection for winter activities will decline.
“While we are both a summer and winter company and we make products for mountaineering, alpine and high alpine climbing as well as skitouring and freeriding, competition is strong: there are a lot of high quality outdoor companies out there, addressing the summer and winter seasons.
“To address these challenges and to keep up with our continuous growth, it’s important for us to have more transparency in collection planning. We needed to improve the way IT supports the way we work and create a central product database.
“For that reason, we began to consider using a PLM system. From our point of view, a good PLM system is the basis for the continuous improvement of our processes.”
With positive references from Centric customers in the outdoor apparel field such as Norrøna, Ortovox chose Centric’s PLM solution.
Krause says: “We will begin by focusing on materials development. Safety and function are key values of Ortovox and our expertise lies in the intelligent combination of the natural material of merino wool with other innovative fabrics.
“That’s why it’s very important to set up the complete lifecycle and the associated processes of our products in the PLM.”
Krause adds: “On the one hand, we expect to get a complete picture of our products in one central system which is connected to our ERP and other software.
“On the other hand, we want to connect design in product development with master data of trims, fabrics, colors, care instructions and other information. The aim is to simplify our workflows as well as to increase the efficiency and safety of product development.
“We are right at the beginning of our partnership with Centric, but we hope to grow a trusting long-term cooperation that is characterized by personal contact and reliability.”
Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software, says: “Ortovox is a renowned leader in mountain safety and practical, comfortable clothing for outdoor activities.
“We are proud to be part of the continued growth and development of a company that is actively involved in saving lives and improving safety in mountain sports. We look forward to a long and productive partnership.”
