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Technical contributions
Oursourcing in fashion logistics
Increasing requirements, shorter cycles, growing complexity: the fashion industry is facing logistical challenges. Structured outsourcing models provide relief, ensure efficiency and enable focused action along the entire value chain.
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AI in the company - using opportunities sustainably
Artificial intelligence has long been more than just a trend - it is fundamentally changing the way we work, decide and organize. The following article provides a concise overview of the latest developments in generative AI, highlights legal frameworks such as the EU AI Act and shows how companies can meaningfully integrate AI into their strategy, processes and roles. We also take a look into the future: at AI agents, digital twins and the opportunities and risks associated with them. Get inspiration on how you can not only understand AI, but also actively and responsibly shape it.
eInvoice
E-invoicing has been mandatory for domestic B2B sales since the beginning of 2025 - and this also affects many companies in the fashion industry. Six months after it came into force, we take this as an opportunity to summarize it once again: What exactly is an e-invoice, to whom does the obligation apply - and how can the changeover be successfully implemented both technically and organizationally? We present the two e-invoice formats Zugferd and X-invoice once again and provide a practical overview of the requirements and implementation options.
Dealing with complexities in supply chains
Many companies in the fashion industry are struggling with increasing complexity in their supply chains. The complexities in textile supply chains are not only due to internal structures, processes and strategies, but are also driven by external factors. On the one hand, customers are demanding seamless transparency in the supply chain and, on the other, legal requirements are constantly increasing. In addition to the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence to Prevent Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz - LkSG), sustainability reporting and the digital product passport should also be mentioned here.
Customer management 2.0
The "customer is king" - and their expectations of companies are constantly increasing. The digital transformation has accelerated further in recent years and is changing the way companies interact with their customers. Omnichannel strategies, artificial intelligence and automation are shaping modern customer management. At the same time, the volume of customer data is growing exponentially, while data protection requirements are becoming stricter. How can companies use this data efficiently to create personalized, relevant and seamless customer experiences? Which technologies and strategies are crucial to meet the growing demands? In this article, you will get an overview of current trends, challenges and success factors in modern customer management.
Business Intelligence in the Fashion Industry
The fashion world is fast-moving - trends change rapidly and competition is fierce. BI helps companies to identify market trends, optimize inventories and better understand customer behavior. Data-driven decisions can increase sales and deploy resources more efficiently. Those who use BI correctly not only keep their finger on the pulse, but also set new standards in the fashion industry. This newsletter provides an introduction to BI, which architectures are possible, how can a change to a data-driven company succeed? How can BI systems be successfully introduced?
Digital Collaboration
Digital collaboration is an overarching topic in all industries and sectors that is gaining in importance year after year. In order to promote collaboration internally or externally, whether upstream with suppliers, producers or downstream with customers, there is an ever-growing repertoire of software. At the same time, attempts are being made to adapt everyday processes to collaborative working. Nevertheless, there are always problems with implementation, the advantages of digital collaboration remain unused and the high expectations cannot be met. In this newsletter, we want to introduce the different types of collaboration and show you some ways to implement them.
Use of warehouse management systems
Warehouse management systems (WMS) play a crucial role in modern companies. In view of increasing requirements, complex supply chains and ever shorter response times, efficient warehouse processes are essential. They not only provide a better overview, but also help to make optimum use of resources and remain competitive. Find out why WMS are particularly relevant in the fashion industry in this article.
Business Process Management
Business Process Management (German = Business Process Management) is already used by many companies. Due to the ever faster changing factors influencing companies, it is important for companies to always keep an eye on their customers, competitors, trends, technologies and requirements through standards and laws. This article will give you an initial insight into what it means to use business process management in your company.
Change management in product development
In the fashion industry, product development is a dynamic process that is characterized by constant adjustments in order to meet product design, quality and customer expectations. Changes in design, material selection or or colors are part of everyday life. Efficient change management is therefore essential in order to be able to react flexibly to market requirements without jeopardizing quality and adherence to deadlines.
Digital product development
Digital product development is revolutionizing the way companies design and bring their collections to market. The seamless integration of 3D design, virtual prototypes and digital material libraries makes processes faster, more flexible and more efficient. But for all the benefits, digital transformation also brings challenges: new technologies need to be implemented, existing workflows adapted and teams trained.
Collaboration in quality management
In a world that is increasingly networked and complex, collaboration in quality management is becoming more important than ever. Quality is no longer the task of a single department, but the result of a joint effort by everyone involved - from production to marketing and IT. Effective collaboration is the key to achieving quality goals, promoting innovation and ensuring sustainable success. In this article, we look at how collaboration between different stakeholders, the integration of processes and the use of systems can lead to continuous improvement in quality.
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EDI
After more than 40 years EDI is still a relevant topic for all companies today. By automating the exchange of business data between companies, efficiency gains can be realized, errors avoided and transparency gained. EDI is certainly not a new term for many, but there is often a lack of clarity about the basic functions and what positive effects EDI actually brings. In this newsletter, we want to provide a brief insight into the relevance, basics, content and benefits of EDI.
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Green Logistics
Green Logistics is a modern approach that aims to make logistics processes more environmentally friendly and efficient. By implementing sustainable practices in the planning, management and control of material and goods flows, companies can reduce CO2 emissions and make optimum use of resources. This not only leads to a lower environmental impact, but also to an increase in operational efficiency. Green Logistics offers innovative solutions to tackle the challenges of climate change and achieve economic benefits at the same time.
Recognize and serve customer needs with the help of successful
Today's world is characterized by strong competition and Customers and their needs can be analysed for companies with the help of personalization in order to successfully develop their market, product and competitive strategies. By identifying and analyzing customer needs, companies can adapt their offers in a more targeted manner. This data, which is collected at various touchpoints, helps companies to tailor their offers and services more specifically and effectively to customer needs.
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Customer Journey
The customer journey is a tool that describes the entire process that a customer goes through with a brand or company from their perspective. By aligning marketing and sales strategies with the customer journey, a seamless and appealing customer experience can be created.
Sustainability reporting
As the requirements for financial and non-financial sustainability reporting increase, so does the need for high process quality and therefore also data quality with the associated system landscapes. Companies often fail due to data quality, which makes it difficult to set up a comprehensive reporting system. In this technical article, we examine the crucial role of data and its management.
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Application Lifecycle Management
Volatile business environments bring with them constant challenges, including with regard to software development and provision. Flexible, easily adaptable software environments are created in order to meet constantly changing requirements and avoid long-term and sluggish mammoth software projects. Application lifecycle management provides support for efficient project management on the one hand and successful management of the software lifecycle on the other.
Returns logistics
Which strategic approaches to the design of warehouse logistics offer optimization potential for B2B and B2C returns?
Returns have become an integral part of today's retail world. This is why the importance of efficient processes in returns logistics continues to grow. What can be the right approaches here to handle returns cost-efficiently
Focus on data migration
Data migration is the last crucial step before the go-live of a new software solution. How can a smooth transition be achieved? What needs to be prepared? What steps need to be followed during implementation and how can the process be documented? We show how data migration becomes a success factor and which aspects need to be considered during documentation.
CUTOVER and GoLive - The final phase of the software project
Software projects require staying power. After a long period of process and system design, testing and training, the cutover marks the start of another very intensive and decisive phase, namely the transition to productive operation with the new system. What is the right approach here? Which tools are needed?
The newsletter provides the right answers and shows how the cutover can be a success.
Strategic approaches and methods for aligning warehouse logistics
Which methodical approaches to the design of warehouse logistics offer optimization potential?
The choice of the "right" logistics location is also becoming increasingly important due to growing competitive pressure. More and more companies are establishing an online presence alongside their physical presence and pursuing a multi- or omni-channel strategy. All of this requires a reorganization of distribution structures as well as stable, transparent and consistent processes.
The challenge of a software project
Today's world is changing more than ever before. Companies are faced with the challenge of facing and responding to changing market conditions. Advancing digitalization offers good opportunities to pursue new chances and opportunities. One possibility is the introduction of new software. But how do you find the right software? And how do you ensure a successful introduction?
This article is intended to give you an initial insight into the necessary basics of methodology and vendor selection. It is also intended to provide food for thought & insights into the procedure for planning and successfully implementing software projects in the company.
Overall quality management
In times of constantly increasing customer needs and legal requirements, quality management is becoming more and more important. To meet these demands, holistic quality management is essential
.In addition, the topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important for customers and therefore also for companies. In order to retain customers with a brand in the long term, consistent product quality must be guaranteed.
Innovation management
Innovation management plays a central role for companies in times of constant market and customer transformation, as it helps them to actively respond to these external influencing factors. It enables companies to develop new and improved products, services or processes and thus strengthen their competitive position.
However, this management also brings with it challenges, such as the risk of failure or the need to continuously adapt to change. Nevertheless, effective innovation management is essential in order to be successful in a dynamic business environment and ensure sustainable growth.Download
Knowledge management in the company
In a fast-paced and ever-changing business world, it is crucial that organizations have a solid knowledge management system in place to capture, share and leverage their knowledge.
However, implementation is often difficult and various challenges arise. This article looks at some of the most common problems associated with knowledge management in companies. It also presents practical solutions that can help companies to successfully implement their knowledge management strategies.
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Process design in intralogistics
Many processes in logistics can now be automated, but customer demands are increasing at the same time. In addition, ever shorter product life cycles are influencing what logistics structures and processes will look like in the future. In order to achieve market advantages, companies must react quickly and flexibly to changes.
When are automated solutions worthwhile and what will the interaction between manual and automated processes look like in the future? In this article, we present the intralogistics processes and look at the opportunities and challenges involved in handling them.
Product Lifecycle Management
Space management, vertical and digital product development, supply chain law, time to market, cost efficiency, customer requirements, quality, sustainability, collaborations, margin planning, quantity planning, discontinuation planning... These are just a few of the buzzwords that accompany the fashion industry throughout the product life cycle and pose challenges in terms of implementation. In increasingly complex structures, digital support in the form of a PLM system is essential for successful companies.
Master data management
The amount of master data to be managed and maintained is growing, the effort involved is increasing and the interfaces are becoming more complex. At the same time, there are not only internal but also external requirements for master data to be and remain up-to-date, standardized, unique and consistent. But how can a company meet such requirements in its processes? In this newsletter, we want to give you an initial insight into the most important aspects of master data management.
Project management - more than just bureaucracy
In a constantly changing world, companies have to (successfully) deal with the technical, social and economic innovations and complexities that come with it. Project management is an important aspect of this. It supports the planning, coordination and implementation of simple or complex projects, such as the introduction of a new ERP system. All aspects, from scope to budget to time, that are necessary to achieve the project goal are taken into account, monitored and controlled. This is because the failure of a project can have serious (financial) consequences. Good project management, on the other hand, can help to implement projects faster, with fewer resources and lower costs. With the overview of content, methods and tools in this article, we would like to give you some food for thought/insights.
Warehouse management systems - warehouse management as a success factor for B2B and B2C businesses
Logistics processing is increasingly presenting many brand, manufacturing and retail companies with challenges. More and more business models, service offerings, shipping service providers and customer requirements are leading to a strong diversification. Uniform processing for all orders is history and processes in the area of warehouse logistics often reach performance limits and can only be realized at high cost. Read this article to find out how the introduction of warehouse management systems can improve logistics processing.
Supply chain management - strategic control of volatile supply chains
The management of global supply chains has become a major focus for companies in recent years. It is not only the faltering logistics services or capacity bottlenecks of producers and suppliers, but also changing market developments and regulatory influences that are making efficient supply chain management increasingly difficult. But what are the right ways to meet these challenges and limit negative influences on your own business? In this article, we provide an insight into successful methods for developing supply chain management.
Enterprise Content Management
Terms such as enterprise content management, document management or enterprise information management are on everyone's lips. But the meaning of these terms is not always clear in companies. What does what actually mean? One thing is very clear. Managing content and information is a major challenge for most companies and the solutions and concepts associated with these terms can make a valuable contribution to increasing the quality of work and efficiency within the company. In this article, we provide an initial insight into the meaning and application of the terms as well as examples of the implementation of individual projects.
Test management
Project management is a term most people know when it comes to the success of projects. Unfortunately, good test management, on the other hand, is often still not a standard and, in the worst case, leads to many errors only being found during productive operation. Correcting these then costs time and money. According to studies, this costs up to five times more compared to errors that were discovered earlier. The good news? Good test management pays off! In this article, we provide an overview of the content, methods and tools that will help you put this into practice.
Collaboration
Collaboration has been an overarching topic in all industries and sectors, and not just since the last two years of the pandemic. In order to promote collaboration internally, but also externally, be it with suppliers, producers or customers, more and more software is being made available on the one hand and attempts are being made to adapt everyday processes to collaborative working on the other.
Change management: actively supporting change in companies
Habits create pathways in the brain. Habits are "cheap" and cost less in terms of metabolic physiology. Nevertheless, we are not slaves to our habits, because every pattern can be modulated! Change management is the targeted process of change within a company. While this change can affect various aspects, it always starts with the same thing: Employees who agree to change their habits.
EDI For Fashion - established standards as automation and efficiency drivers
Digitalization through automation has been the topic in all areas for several years, across all industries! Especially when it comes to joint optimization beyond the boundaries of individual companies, this topic has become indispensable. Naturally, automation also plays an important role in the area of data exchange. EDI is certainly not a new term for many, but there is often a lack of clarity about the basic functions and what positive effects EDI actually brings with it. In this newsletter, we want to provide a brief overview of the basics, content and benefits of EDI.
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Agility
Agility is a widely used term in the business world, and not just since yesterday. Agility is often associated with "modernity", particularly in projects and operational structures. But what does agility actually mean? And how exactly does it manifest itself in the context of companies, management and projects?
Customer management 2.0
The "customer is König"and with it, their increasing demands and expectations of companies. The almost fläcomprehensive digital transformation is bringing new hrden für customer management. Customer expectations are rising, communication channelsare growing, more and more touchpoints are being created along the customer journey and customer data is growing exponentially. This presents companies with a new challenge, because how can all of this data be managed and ultimately delivered to the customer in an individual and targeted manner? In this article, you will gain a brief insight into the trends, challenges and requirements that customers and CRM entail.
Virtual product development
Almost every clothing company is involved in product development. It is therefore one of the most important core competencies of a company. On the one hand, being more receptive to consumer wishes and being able to react more quickly to changes, and on the other hand, a general increase in environmental awareness and the trend towards sustainability have shown in the last two years that digitalization is also gaining more and more influence in this area. Product development forms the interface between design, purchasing, manufacturers and producers. With 3D technologies for product development, for example, more and more new technologies are entering the market and opening up new possibilities and opportunities to develop collections even more efficiently, creatively and ecologically sustainably in the future. This challenges companies to act and forces them to rethink processes, structures and strategies. We would like to give you some food for thought/insights here.
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Overall quality management in the company
With the wide range of products on offer in both the stationary and digital retail environment, the quality of products is becoming increasingly important for customers. Therefore, achieving and, above all, ensuring reliable quality is intrinsic to winning customers and retaining their loyalty to a brand in the long term. In addition to the actual product quality, there are also various sustainability issues in this context: Where does a product come from? Under what conditions was it produced? What materials were used?
Green Logistics - Designing sustainable logistics processes
More and more companies are recognizing that sustainability aspects are increasingly coming to the fore. Be it due to new legal requirements and regulations, customer demands or as a conscious part of the company's identity. However, despite a growing awareness of the topic, many organizations still lack a holistic concept and successful implementation. Find out in this article how you can achieve positive effects even with comparatively small measures using the example of your logistics processes and how sustainability can be seen as an opportunity.
eCommerce logistics - challenges and solutions
Logistics is changing. Customers go through their personal customer journey across channels, seamlessly, anytime and anywhere. Expectations in terms of goods availability, speed, process transparency and communication are high. A few large B2B deliveries become many small B2C orders or one regular customer becomes 1,000 one-off customers. This poses major challenges for logistics. Effective processes in line with customer expectations stand in contrast to cost-intensive warehouse processes. To meet these challenges, logistics processes need to be more customer-oriented and as efficient as possible than ever before.
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Quality management
Quality is still a decisive unique selling point, which is why it is all the more important to continuously put it to the test. Increasing customer needs and rapidly changing market developments, as well as digital technologies and environmental changes, bring with them complex challenges and pose new challenges for quality management. This calls for innovative solutions for developing product and process quality and optimization potential. This article will give you an initial insight into what it means to implement quality management in your company.
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Business Process Management
Business process management is already used by many companies. This means that companies always keep an eye on their customers, competitors, trends, technologies, quality requirements, standards and laws, for example. As external influences are changing faster and faster these days and the economic environment of companies is becoming increasingly dynamic, volatile and complex, it is more important than ever to adapt to the environment more quickly. - This article will give you an initial insight into what it means to implement business process management in your company.
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User experience in e-commerce: How to break down barriers to purchase and
inspire end customers
Success with your own online store no longer just means offering a good product at the right price. The online shopping experience has long been a decisive factor in whether the customer makes a purchase or just visits the site. If this is perceived as tedious, slow and cumbersome, the purchase will be abandoned. In the worst case scenario, customers will then look elsewhere next time - alternative offers are just a click away.
Find out what makes a good online store today, what best practice there is and what you need to do behind the scenes inthis article. this article.
Success factor IT strategy and systems
It is not only the digital revolution and the trend towards Industry 4.0 that are changing the business world and placing new demands on companies. Corona has recently shown what a scalable, flexible and future-oriented IT structure is like. Existing systems have been subjected to a stress test as a result of the crisis and this has often revealed digitalization backlogs that have led to considerable technical process-related problems: Can employees work in a decentralized manner? Can orders be recorded and goods scheduled from the home office? Can adjustments be mapped in rough and detailed planning?
Final update - data exchange pilot project
In the project, 37 market participants (IT providers, ingredient manufacturers, clothing manufacturers and associations) worked on a
new, standardized textile industry language, technical principles and innovative mechanisms to
exchange essential data groups in real time and at low cost with a minimum of manual
effort.
The data exchange pilot project will end in July 2020 and the
participants will have to make key decisions regarding the future implementation of automated data exchange.
participants have made important decisions regarding the future implementation of the project results.
Against this background, we would like to summarize the most important results in this 3rd publication on this topic
promptly before the details are published in a best practices recommendation that is currently being developed.
IT security
In this article, we shed light on what IT security means for companies, what types of cybercrime there are and what options, requirements and special features need to be considered in order to make your own IT more secure. The document is structured in such a way that it can also be used directly as employee information.
Marketing surplus goods - possibilities, requirements and special features
In this article, we look at the possibilities of using secondary sales channels such as outlets and marketing to counter the new special framework conditions. What are the possibilities, requirements and special features here?
Identify and serve customer needs with the help of successful personalization
The expectations of B2C customers in the fashion industry have constantly increased in recent years due to the high speed of growth and innovation in the market. Individuality and personalization, which can be used to express personal style, have long been a central component of the range of services offered to customers in relation to the product.
Technization to fully automated - when does what make sense?
Logistics as a core competency has long been established again in the industry, as shown by the results of the logistics benchmark in recent years. What they also show is that although we are making progress with the mechanization and automation of our intralogistics systems, there is still a lot of potential.
Update on the data exchange pilot project
The data exchange pilot project is developing important approaches for the flexible, fast and sustainable value chains of the future. The area of sustainability in particular places completely new demands on the topic of "automated data generation". These can only be met if the value chain from cotton production to recycling is viewed holistically and innovative automation approaches are developed.
GMFV Newsletter
Open costing
The proportion of products procured in full business has been increasing for years. As pleasant as it is that the complexities lie with the supplier, at the same time the transparency of how the supplier's prices are created is decreasing. As price pressure is also increasing, you and your supplier cannot afford to make mistakes. Open costing has proven itself as an approach if the necessary prerequisites are in place.
Successful projects with practical change management
Whether you want to develop a new product, reorganize a department, introduce a new IT system or even integrate a company - the changes affect almost all employees of a company and sometimes influence the corporate culture. These projects often fail due to a lack of communication or insufficient involvement of the employees affected - change management issues. We will show you how you can apply change management practically and successfully.
Change management - potential in the development process There is a lot of talk about digital processes in the product development environment. The focus is often on future topics and new technologies. Obvious optimization approaches that even small companies can use immediately (so-called low-hanging-fruits) are often overlooked. One such area is the topic of "changes". Changes produce costs. However, poor products/products that do not meet market requirements (if changes are not made) cost even more. The question of how many changes are still "good" is therefore not easy to answer. However, you can create structures in your company in which only value-adding changes are made for the most part and which give you the opportunity to identify and avoid non-value-adding activities.
The 5-step plan for dealing with VAS services
In the course of verticalization and also due to the expansion of sales with eCommerce partners or via platforms, sector companies are increasingly confronted with additional requirements for equipment, price labelling, sorting, article surveillance and other services for key customers. This can lead to high costs in logistics that are inadequately set up for this, which is then reflected in costs and longer throughput times. This can be countered with a 5-step plan.
Design: advance costing instead of changes
There is a lot of talk about digitalization in the field of product development. The focus is often on future topics and new technologies. Obvious optimization approaches that even small companies can use immediately are often overlooked. A systematic preliminary calculation, i.e. a well-founded price estimate at the sketch stage, can significantly reduce development costs because important parameters (such as material and production costs/sewing minutes) are already taken into account at the beginning when designing a new model. Find out more in the presentation by our experts.