Fasturn Making Inroads in Apparel Market
Fasturn Inc. is on the move again. The developer of operations management software, which went through a restructuring last year, has moved its top brass from Los Angeles to Redwood City in the Silicon Valley, just across the street from industry giant Oracle Corp., to where most of the new management traces their origins.
The company will maintain its offices in the Century City section of Los Angeles as a sales base for Southern California. Company executives said the move north was made to stay close to the Silicon Valley’s stable of tech talent. In the meantime, Fasturn is making inroads with apparel industry clients. After securing contracts earlier this year with Karen Kane and Kellwood, the company is close to inking a couple more deals, according to insiders, though nothing has been officially announced.
In the meantime, Fasturn is busy rolling out a new version of its Operations Network (OPN) software, which helps companies manage communications and tasks between its main base of operations and through its network of suppliers.
The new version 4.0 includes an “enterprise operations calendar” tool, which gives users the true status of any operation whether it’s an ad campaign or a rollout of a new denim line. It enables collaborative operations to span over multiple projects, organizations or companies and is good for joint marketing campaigns or multi-tier supply chains, said Bob Harrington, the company’s marketing director. The goal is to ensure coordination and synergy of activities, beyond whether they are individually on time or not.
“It’s basically more modular. When users implement it they can do it in sequence to give themselves the most benefit,” said Harrington. “It makes it easier for executives to look over whatever project is going on at any time.”
The new structure also allows users to make features of the program available to other customers or suppliers. The calendar feature is automatically updated by the main OPN software as different players in the supply chain go about their daily duties. It prioritizes issues based on the main objectives of a company’s management, said Harrington.
New Deals for Avery, NGC
Fasturn isn’t the only tech firm making deals. Avery Dennison, based in Framingham, Mass., recently landed a contract with specialty retailer Talbots, which will be using Avery’s InfoChain Express for scan-and-pack product identification throughout its supply chain.
Talbots operates more than 800 units in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Using Avery’s system will allow the company to gain total vendor compliance as it relates to tracking shipments.
Miami-based New Generation Computing Inc. (NGC) has also been notching new sales, having finalized deals with Wilsons Leather and Haggar Clothing Co.
Wilsons will be using NGC’s e-SPS Internet-based sourcing software to help improve cycle times, manage production and collaborate with vendors throughout its Asian production bases. The system allows Wilsons to track orders, distribute specs and receive real-time updates throughout the production process, said Alan Brooks, NGC president.
Haggar will install e-SPS at its headquarters in Dallas to obtain end-to-end visibility of its global apparel production, streamline communications and monitor garment shipments from vendors’ factories to its distribution centers.
The software will be accessible to the company’s global partners and contractors via the Internet.
Shippers’ Guide Hits The Web
The “Shippers’ Guide to Department Stores and Chain Stores,” which provides shipping instructions from more than 1,000 retailers nationwide, will soon have an Internet edition available to the trade.
The guide’s publishers plan to launch the Web version on June 15 via www.shippersguide.net. The guide offers marking, packing and shipping guidelines to help vendors avoid chargebacks and misshipments. The Web version is priced at $349, which is the same price as the print edition.
Appointments at Intentia, QRS
Linus Parker has been appointed president of Intentia Americas, which markets B2B software to the fashion industry and others. Parker replaces Mike Nutter, who is now serving with Sweden-based Intentia International AB as vice president, global account operations.
In other recent-appointment news, James Rowley has joined Richmond, Calif.-based software provider QRS Corp. as senior vice president of engineering and chief technology officer.
Rowley will spearhead the development and enhancement of software applications to address the supply-chain technology needs of QRS’ retail clients.
