MCS, formerly known as Marlboro Classics, has increased the potential distance between them and their competition through their recent implementation of the WFX Cloud based fashion product lifecycle management (PLM).
MCS, formerly part of the Valentino Group in Valdagno, Italy, is one of the brands acquired in 2013 by Emerisque. During this period of significant change, MCS chose to implement efficiency enhancing process improvements.
Bringing in industry specialists to project manage the process change, MCS is using a full array of the WFX system’s capabilities. In doing this MCS has incorporated all technical and design information into one Cloud-based location and at the same time has integrated supplier interactions, messaging, critical path and product approval management. All systems are live and ready for the next development season.
In choosing WFX as their PLM supplier, MCS is now able to run its entire product development cycle in a collaborative manner. This was previously impossible through their existing legacy systems.
The MCS company management have complete operational transparency due to the inherent Cloud functionality, with 24-hour access to product data and reporting. In addition to the up-to-the-minute information flow, WFX’s product lifecycle management system enables MCS to distribute product and transactional information to their other enterprise platforms. The PLM will also generate full process history.
Nur Basaran, Brand Director of MCS, said, “The WFX Cloud based PLM platform was quite obviously the right choice for us. The dynamic approach to product development that the system allows has been a key factor in our choice, alongside the affordability and predictable total cost.”
WFX’s system was a perfect match for MCS’s requirements. The smooth planning and implementation of the switchover has allowed MCS to hit the ground running. MCS opted to have the entire process change and training managed for them by WFX’s London based fashion specialist implementation partner 1970i.
Nur Basaran explains, “We opted to have on-site training rather than on-line training, which has meant that we had experts on site after the implementation. That was really efficient and allowed our staff to practice with guidance after each section of the process was taught. This face-to-face approach was certainly a contributing factor in us hitting our deadlines and undoubtedly improved adoption.”
Under the project management of 1970i’s Ben Muis, the entire project was completed in just eight weeks. Ben highlights the excellent functionality of WFX’s system: “We obviously benefited from the way that WFX is designed to work for this industry and the pre-configured Cloud core, but we did push the functionality as far as we could to give MCS the best possible result. The implementation can be considered a model for other WFX Fashion PLM customers to emulate.”
