Companies in the retail, apparel, footwear, luxury and consumer goods industries can make the onsite vendor compliance audit process faster, easier, more accurate and more productive with the new Factory Audit Mobile App for Centric 8 from Centric Software, Inc.
The latest mobile app for Centric 8 product lifecycle management (PLM) software offers an easy-to-use application for conducting and documenting onsite factory audits with any iOS-enabled mobile device. The app can link audit information to the vendor scorecards in Centric 8 PLM for retail, apparel, footwear, luxury and consumer goods, where it becomes available to both brand owners and suppliers.
The Factory Audit Mobile App for Centric 8 is essential to help companies ensure that they address government, social and contractual regulations, document compliance and mitigate risk. The app lets auditors capture compliance findings data on the spot as they conduct assessments, enter ratings for each category, and document specific compliance issues such as safety, age, discrimination, wage or harassment.
“During Centric’s recent Customer Advisory Board meeting, supply chain managers spoke passionately about the difficulties and risks associated with today’s complex compliance environment,” says Chris Groves, Centric’s president and CEO. “Those customers viewed demos of the app with tremendous enthusiasm, and have helped shape it to provide the maximum benefit to their audit processes.”
Brand owners can use pre-defined, pre-installed audit templates or configure their own templates. Auditors—whether direct staff or third-party—can respond to audit questions in writing, by recording comments using the device’s microphone, or by capturing and storing photos with the audit results using the device’s camera. Audits feature a conclusion that summarizes findings for review with factory managers. The device’s touchpad is used to capture required signatures. GPS location data verifies the audit location.
All findings can save to vendor scorecards in the Centric 8 PLM system. If an auditor is working at a remote site without Internet connectivity, he or she can save findings on the mobile device and upload to the Centric PLM system when Internet connectivity is available.
Working within the Centric 8 PLM suite, companies can easily track and compare supplier performance and the global audit process. Auditors and factory managers can review and monitor progress and performance.
Suppliers can see actionable items to improve ratings. Management can use the information in supplier negotiations and sourcing decisions for collections in development. Since the PLM system keeps audit reports and scores, companies can easily use them in future vendor selection processes, or to document performance for regulatory reporting purposes.
The Factory Audit Mobile App is the latest mobile app for Centric 8 PLM from Centric. Others include: Capture It for iPhone App, allowing capture and upload of photos directly to the Centric 8 PLM system for instant review, mark-up and analysis; Collection Book iPad App, directly linking a collection of styles from a PLM system to customers through an interactive mobile device; and Sample Review Mobile App, providing quick view and edit functions.
“The Factory Audit Mobile App gives brand owners, and their suppliers, an important tool to help develop their relationships, and assure that they fully comply with government, social and contractual regulations,” says Groves. “The broadening portfolio of Centric PLM mobile apps is another step toward assuring that Centric continues to be the most innovative provider of PLM solutions for retail, apparel, footwear, luxury and consumer goods makers.”
