Styles

Developers, merchandisers, designers, partners or other roles can use Infor PLM for Fashion's Styles module to add different types of information for the design and development of the product. You can store this information: generic info, commercial info, colorways, sizes, characteristics, measures, sample and sample comments, Bill of Material, Bill of Operations, Costing, Care and Content info, Compliance test info, images, and attachments.

The information is added in so called clusters and a cluster can have more detailed sections. Information is available in these areas:
  • Within the style clusters only
  • Within the style cluster as well as in a contextual pane
  • Only in a contextual pane

These information clusters are available for Style development:

Style Overview

Includes the base outline of the product such as name, description, product category, sub category, main supplier information and prices, market information and prices and planning information, The product data can be predefined in so called generic look up tables, free fields, data and quantity fields.

Style Commercial Information – Overview 2

Dictionary-based predefined commercial descriptions of a product are made and selected in Style Overview 2. The selected Dictionary items provide indication to appearance, where used on the product, climate information, durability, and other applicable items. The information can then be enabled for websites.

Style Colorways

Defines what the sales colors are for the certain product. The colors are added to a style in these ways:
  • Ad hoc
  • Using colors from a color library
  • Using colors from a predefined sub-palette or color palette
Style colorways contains these components:
  • Information about the color that is retrieved from the color library
  • Certain fields from the style level that are also enabled can vary at the style colorway level. Think of deliveries (drops), user defined fields, retail price, theme, channel, and market fields

Style Sizes

Sizes are added using size ranges. You can add all sizes of a range and deactivate the ones that are not needed. You can also create concatenated sizes when facilitating grading for undergarments. A concatenated size would be a combination of characteristic and size, for example, bust area Cup and Width. The system sees this as a size, but for grading, the system will understand what part of the size code is ‘cup’ and what part is ‘size.’

Style Characteristics

Some products may have additional dimensions when working with ‘cup’ sizes or length. Other factor is when indicating the differences of a product by country or region. You can set up characteristics and also add them to a style.

Style Measurement

In Style measurement, these subpages are available:
  • Initial measures and tolerances
  • Graded increments
  • Graded measures
  • Summary page of accepted and rejected sample pages
  • Sample pages – in any status

  • In style Measures you can see all Points of Measure from one or more grade rules and their initial measure value and tolerances.

    Also available is the summary of approved and rejected samples, as well as the revised measures and notes. These initial details give you the measurement information on a quick glance.

    In Style Measures, you can run these actions:

    • Add POMs from POM library

    • Add POMs from one or more grade rules

    • Add hoc POMs

    • Change priorities of a POM to a higher priority: optional to default or critical and default to critical

    • Replace POM lines with or without use of original grading

    • Copy POM lines from other Styles and add them to this style. It uses a logic to copy from styles that might have different size ranges to map the from and to size so that you get the right measures when copying

    • Work with style measures relative to another dimension (cup or width)

    • Add optional measures from grade rule

    • Add or replace an inherited how-to-measure image

    • Add translations for each POM line for name and description

    • Add part information (top or bottom)

    • Copy row values

    • In Style measures summary page

    • In style measures summary page, you can see the approved or rejected sample pages (sampled sizes) for a style or style colors

    • See the number of samples made including number of iterations per sample subtype

  • Graded increments

    In style increment measures, you can add the relative or incremental measures for all the POMs and sizes of the size range. You can make these adjustments from the style measures increments page:

    • Copy Standard Increment values that can be cascaded to all the sizes

    • Adjust increments at POM size level

    • Have negative value but also positive value on both sides of the sample size

    • See the sizes that are inactive but still show the grading
  • Graded measures
    • Shows the grades measures based on initial measures and graded increments

Style Sampling

Sampling is done in different ways in PLM.

  • Creating manually sample pages through Style Measurement
  • Creating a request for sample through the request process
    • This automatically generates a sample page in Style Measurement while the style has measures
    • If there are no measures, customers can use the request for sample process
  • Creating a request for sample + cost through the request process
    • This automatically generates a sample page in Style measurement and a cost column in Style Costing

Style Measurement – sample pages and evaluation

  • Style sample pages are created manually or automatically when you are sending a “request for sample.” The sample page is created for one or more sizes of a size range and it can be at style or style color level. Within the sample page, you can run these actions:

    • Add evaluation comments

    • Add actual measures

    • Supplier can add supplier measures

    • See deviations and deviations outside the tolerance

    • Revise a measure

    • Accept and reject the sample

    • Undo the acceptance or rejection

    • See the number of iterations for the sample type-subtype (for example, prototype iterations 1 and 2)

  • A style sample is evaluated through the Style sample page comments, where the comments added to a sample are visualized in a contextual pane. Each sample comment is given a tag to group the comments by its nature. There are nine default tag types you can use (for instance, workmanship, grading, fit, etc.), and the tag types are configurable so that only relevant tags are displayed (product category level). The comments are generally contextual to the info cluster or sample page open, but it is very easy to make them visible for all sample pages and you can also group them in a better way. To each comment, you can add images and decide if it is public (visible to suppliers) or private information (internal only). Style sample pages and their comments are generated in a sample comments report.
  • You can also add the comments to the sample request

See Requests for samples, quotes, labdips, and tests.

Style Bill of Material or BOM

The Style BOM defines what materials (fabrics, leather, etc.) or trims (zippers, packaging, threat, or labels) the product is made of. You can create multiple versions of a BOM.

BOM contains these features:

  • Add materials, trims, and styles to a BOM

  • Create multiple BOM versions

  • Indicate what main material is used

  • Indicate multiple main materials and see their content in composition information for a style

  • Has quantity information for materials, trims, and styles (net, gross, size dependent)

  • Serve as the starting point for cost calculation; Price information (Purchase, cost), including exchange rate information

  • Serve as a starting point for calculating the care information by Style - using the material or trim care instructions

  • Link operations from the Bill of Operations (BOO)

  • Replace items on the line and keep certain added values such as quantities entered

  • Define a Geographical BOM – specific for a certain region. Requests can then only be sent to suppliers related to that Geo, or that are neutral (independent of Geo)

  • Check on BOM lines if the suppliers for the BOM lines are neutral (independent of Geo) or match the Geo as indicated in the BOM header

Adding BOM information is done in several ways:

  • Adding materials, trims, and styles through ad hoc – if permitted through the role

  • Adding materials, trims, and styles through libraries

  • Adding materials, trims, and styles through Favorites for BOM only

  • Consumption (quantities) based on Style size (size dependent)

  • Trim size dependent on Style size (component dependent) or alternatively

  • Select component sizes for given BOM lines

  • Select the style sizes for given BOM lines

  • Copying and adding lines to BOM or between BOM versions

  • Easily copy BOM lines from another Style while working on the Style BOM

  • Inherit material and trim colors to BOM lines

  • Copy sales colorways to BOM lines

  • Add color information using a color library or color palette

  • Add text in color pitches instead of using a color

  • Browse for a single item or use the action panes (multiple items possible to select in one go)

  • Consumption (quantities) on the BOM line is dependent on the batch quantity in BOM header turning it into a percentage (Batch quantity)

Style Bill of Operations or BOO

A BOO is added for purpose of instructions, operation instructions, or for the purpose of more global capacity requirement at a kind of work center level. These features are available:

  • Multiple BOO versions possible

  • Main version used in cost price calculation

  • Operations list with predefined operations to it

  • Hourly rate overwrite

  • Calculation of standard allowed minutes (SAM) based on input of operations

BOO operations can be added ad hoc or from the operations library or operations list library.

Style Sourcing

Style sourcing gives you a complete overview of the sourcing prices, whether they are provided on a request, directly on a costing page, or in the style sourcing area. Manually provided prices on the style sourcing page are easily transferred to the costing page.

The style sourcing page gives you a good overview of all supplier's prices and different terms and conditions. Currently, the solution shows the information at the style level.

Style Costing

Creates style cost based on price information added and visible on BOM lines. Cost overview is expressed in a base currency, meaning application converts prices using the given exchange rates. Costing uses cost models that are flexible to set up. System can default the right model for the right type of business, department, or product category. The model is made for manufacturers or for sourcing companies.

Sourcing companies using Style Costing:

  • The cost model would include cost elements that are automatically populated on a request. Think of elements defining sectionized cost, FOB only, or detailed cost

  • Supplier can enter the values on the request or on the cost sheet (for instance material, trim, operation cost and final FOB price)

  • Based on FOB price additional cost elements could be part of the model that will lead to the land cost price and finally could even show the margin if retail price is used on the style

  • For different suppliers and or different BOM versions cost can be compared

  • Style-color costing is possible directly on the style cost area (not on request)

  • A comparison can still be made comparing to own BOM cost

  • The retail and wholesale price can be included for margin analysis

Manufacturing companies using Style Costing:

  • The cost model will include elements that retrieve all information directly from the Bill of Material and the Bill of Operations

  • Based on the direct BOO or BOM product price e additional cost elements could be part of the model that will lead to the land cost price and finally could even show the margin if retail price is used on the style

  • A comparison can be made between own and different other BOM /BOO versions

    A combination of the above components is possible depending on the set up of the cost model.

Style Care and Content or C&C

Defines your label information plus the care instructions (wash), and defines the composition information that must go to the labels.

These features are available in care and content:

  • Create multiple versions of C&C pages

  • Labels information

    • Find the label in the trim library. All main items labeled as LABEL are displayed automatically to select for this page

    • Add image

  • Care

    • Based on all the BOM lines components, it can retrieve the lowest level of all BOM’s care symbols information automatically

    • Possibility to add non-standard text

    • Manually add care symbols from care library

  • Composition

    • Based on the indicated lines on the BOM, the system can generate the content information so that it is completed with more commercial information

  • Use this in cases that there are multiple main materials

Style Compliance

In Compliance we can see the different test from standards or compliance lines for other purpose. Each test line gives visibility to the style's standards within the outside testing limits.

  • The test lines are added manually or through the Standards (templates with predefined test lines)

  • Tests are performed per supplier, style or supplier, and selected style colors

    • Directly on style manually

    • Request for compliance tests (see Request process)

  • Test results are added and deviations are displayed
  • Definition of a test line is broad from industry standards to just a checklist

Style Requests

All requests that are generated for a style are displayed. You can create sample, cost, sample+cost, and compliance requests. See request process.

Style Pattern

Pattern information are added to this section. There is pattern header information and lines for each individual pattern piece. Patterns are picked up from the pattern library. Pattern images are also displayed in the Style Images and Style Pattern section.

Style Marker

Marker information are added in Style Marker as header information and different lines for the marker table.

Style Integration

Shows whether or not the style is integrated when Infor BODs are applied and this also shows the updated information from the system it was integrated with.

Style Attachments

All attachments tagged by how and where they were entered on the style.

Style Audit

Changes made to overview page, BOM header lines, Measurement header lines, Sample pages, and Requests. All changes are stored and you can decide from which status they are displayed in style Audit. Data Lake also includes all the changes but is not an official audit tool as it has a possibility to purge the data out.