Clothing maker installs collaboration software

VF Corporation, the manufacturer of Wrangler and Lee jeans and North Face outdoor clothing, is implementing collaboration software to improve the way it works with suppliers.

The company's European arm is midway through installing the web-based, supply chain software to improve the flow of information between suppliers, designers and product developers.

The project is the last component of a two-year programme to update VF's supply chain IT.

VF Europe president Tim Wheeler says better collaboration is key to the firm's long-term strategy of improving production, development and procurement systems.

'The collaboration component was really the last step on a path started originally with buying product development management (PDM) software,' he said.

VF updated its PDM capabilities to provide better quality control and faster time to market in support of an increasing number of lines produced annually for each of its 50 brands.

Having installed QuestPDM software from supplier Geac, VF last month started to implement the final collaboration component of the application.

'This latest piece is connecting with our suppliers, factories, contractors and mills,' said Wheeler.

'In today's world, you have to be able to connect all this product development into your source of supply so that internal staff can talk to each other about developments, and so issues can be quickly picked up by the whole supply chain.'

Wheeler says the collaboration software will allow VF to share data in a more sophisticated way, giving suppliers manufacturing information and receiving updated responses back.

'Some parts are already modelled, tested and coming on-stream with a couple of brands. Ultimately, we have quite a complex scope to cover,' he said.