Long Beach Company Takes Different Approach to Software Business
Add Long Beach, Calif.–based Apriso Corp. to the growing list of software companies offering supply-chain management solutions for production-heavy industries such as apparel and textiles.
With the logjam of products in the marketplace, Apriso executives knew they had to bring something new to the table. So the company developed FlexNet2003, a solution that acts more immediately than current forecast-driven systems.
The system has the same goal as most systems: to allow manufacturing personnel to attain real-time, fine-grained control of their people, processes, materials and machines. However, Apriso is achieving this goal with a “bottom-out” system that is event-driven rather than forecast-driven. It focuses from the bottom up, starting from supply, production and distribution levels. That’s where things usually go wrong along the vast supply chain of manufacturing companies.
Each module is based on local process descriptions that can be tailored by the people directly responsible for specific areas in an organization. Any person, process, machine or material can interact with the applications through industrystandard portals or interfaces.
The company said its Web-based system does not use the billions of lines of codes for which standard systems are known. It’s collaborative and modular with a family of management applications that interact globally in appropriate languages and time zones to orchestrate processes in production, quality, maintenance, material, receiving, fulfillment and labor.
It fits in more with the “execution-oriented economy” of today, said Greg Gorbach, director of collaborative manufacturing research at the Dedham, Mass.–based ARC Advisory Group, an industry analyst and consultancy organization. “The event-driven, distributed bottom-out architecture is what companies need to reinvent themselves into the lean, demanddriven enterprises of the future,” he said.
Apriso launched FlexNet at a Forrester Research conference recently in Boston. Feedback has been positive so far, according to Apriso. The program’s ability to interact with emerging tracking systems—such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, which more shippers, manufacturers and retailers are using—has also sparked interest.
OptiTex in Deal With Pointcarre
New York–based CAD company OptiTex USA Inc. has forged a distribution deal with Pointcarre USA Inc. to integrate OptiTex’s 3-D fabric viewer into Pointcarre’s software product line.
The implementation will permit Pointcarre users to verify textures and drape them over a parametric 3-D model, allowing for measurements of all aspects of the human form. The viewer is part of Opti- Tex’s 3-D Runway application, noted Yorum Burg, chief executive of OptiTex.
“Our customers have been asking for a real 3-D merchandising tool,” said Lenny Weiss, vice president of sales and marketing for Pointcarre USA. “We are recognized for our realistic fabric simulations. This adds a new dimension to the design and product development capabilities.”
OptiTex’s product line is Microsoft Windows–based and includes digitizing, pattern engineering, grading, marking, advanced automatic nesting, made-to-measure services and draping.
Gerber Signs On Maidenform
Tolland, Conn.–based Gerber Technology Inc. has signed on innerwear company Maidenform Inc., which will use Gerber’s WebPDM (product data management) solution to manage development and workflow and shorten development-cycle times.
The lingerie maker based in Bayonne, N.J., used the system for nine months before signing a contract.
The system coordinates product-development tasks by linking design, engineering, costing and manufacturing information through a centralized database of product-related information. Its purpose is to provide an automated means to control and facilitate the flow of up-to-date information to authorized participants throughout an organization during the entire product-development cycle.
Maidenform’s Anthony Tedeschi said the company expects WebPDM will help managers become more disciplined in managing tasks and standardizing information and processes throughout the company.
