Web-based PDM: Once the Exception, Now the Norm

摘要

Not long ago, a typical product development timeframe looked something like this: A product was designed in New York, specifications were faxed, a sample or swatch was shipped back, and this went back and forth for a month or longer before a production-ready sample was completed. Web-based product development management (PDM) technology is revamping the entire process for many of today's apparel companies. "That same designer can put together a packet of information on a given day in New York, and literally by the following morning, every office in the network around the world can be evaluating what it's going to take to develop the product, pricing it and talking to factories, literally within a 24- to 36-hour period," says Rick Darling, president of the global brands group at Li & Fung USA, where Gerber Technology's WebPDM system was recently implemented.