Tecnica: Finishing First in Winter Sports Manufacturing
Client: Tecnica SpA
Challenge: Integrate an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution capable of controlling each individual stage of the manufacturing process and extend it in successive phases as Tecnica executes an ambitious acquisition strategy.
Solution: STEALTH, CSC’s ERP application that manages the fashion business from source to customer.
Results: A new ERP system that has automated supplier and customer processes companywide, enabling — through a single database — greater synergy of resources and the ability to identify inefficiencies by managing both standard and actual costs.
Related Information
Learn more at www.csc.com/STEALTH.
Download a PDF (307KB) of this case study.
The term “winter sports” used to conjure images of heavy woolen clothes, bulky boots and old-fashioned wooden ski equipment. Today, sportswear and equipment manufacturers rely on technology to give athletes and sports enthusiasts the ability to do more and be safer, more comfortably. In 2001, Tecnica SpA, known for its innovation in winter footwear, looked to CSC for an IT solution that would enable the company to more efficiently and flexibly manage its manufacturing processes as they evolved.
Ambitious acquisition campaign
At the time, Tecnica was ready to embark on an ambitious acquisition campaign to establish the company as a leader in the winter sports market. When Tecnica selected us through a competitive process, the company’s goal was control of each individual segment of its manufacturing processes, including those of new acquisitions.
This was not a simple matter. One merchandise line’s manufacturing processes needed to manage remaking the line multiple times a year, from scratch; handle materials coming from across the globe and transport them to manufacturing plants scattered around the world. The process also managed shipping products to customers located globally. At the same time, they had to track tens of thousands of individual stock-keeping units encompassing style, color and size selections.
A STEALTH solution
Tecnica chose CSC for our 25-year legacy of relevant expertise and industry knowledge, and for our STEALTH solution (see sidebar). STEALTH is a product we developed to manage the entire supply, manufacturing and logistics processes for clothing and apparel manufacturers and retailers. Under the agreement, we would provide STEALTH, along with architecture design, system development, integration and support services.
To build STEALTH, we drew from our history serving the fashion sector. The most recent release, STEALTH 3000, is a Web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) application that manages a business from source to customer. Using a scalable technology and distribution, and manages seasonal cycles and market events. Its business processes relate to product and seasonal offering definition, wholesale-cycle sales and distribution, and supply chain and production. STEALTH’s application architecture enables users to customize and remake their systems as they develop new product lines and as requirements change — an essential capability for the fashion industry’s high rate of refresh.
“From the start, Tecnica has been guided by a business development approach that places processes and the use of ERP in a strategic and central position,” says Vincenzo Reale, CSC Fashion & Retail account manager. “This, at the outset of the 21st century, showed a highly innovative attitude in Italy’s fashion and retail market, as Tecnica was one of the first in its sector to use ERP for such a large project.”
Now that STEALTH is fully integrated with Tecnica’s IT architecture, the system has automated both supplier and customer processes, enabled greater synergy of resources, and verified inefficiencies by managing both standard and actual costs.
“Implementing the project on time and on budget was made possible by the remarkable professionalism of the CSC team, which at all times showed in-depth knowledge of our structure and our business, not to mention the solution they offered,” says Dario Giuriato, Tecnica Group Information Systems manager.
New companies, new systems
As Tecnica acquired new companies, it also ended up with multiple, different IT systems. Adopting STEALTH therefore became more strategic for Tecnica, as it found itself dealing with new integration issues. The company turned to us again for help in making STEALTH into Tecnica’s sole business software for all of its companies, wherever they were located.
We began by integrating the solution in Tecnica’s Nordica brand, whose operations were initially located in two different sites. Tecnica decided to fuse its operations with Nordica’s and create one production site in order to optimize resources. This enabled Tecnica to reduce resource usage and costs, and standardize its entire codification process. Recently, we also completed transformation of Tecnica Hungary, Nitro and Dolomite’s systems so they could use STEALTH as well.
Today, by using STEALTH as its ERP solution, Tecnica has been able to realize economies of scale, reduce costs and continue to leverage its investments. This has helped establish them as the world’s leading manufacturer of ski boots; outdoor, after-ski and winter footwear; and in-line skates. The company uses STEALTH to manage eight merchandise lines and nine brands at its subsidiaries and at 19 manufacturing locations scattered globally.