CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
1 December 2005
Implementation Investments
Stearns Reinforces Quality Status With Geac Collaborative Design Solution
Stearns Inc., a supplier of personal flotation devices (PFDs) has awarded a US$289,000 contract to enterprise software company Geac®. Stearns, which counts the US Navy as one of its major customers, will now roll out Geac's QuestPLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solution to its designers based at its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. Stearns expects the collaborative design system to go live for the first of its five product lines by the beginning of 2006. The remainder of Stearns' lines are expected to be on line by the beginning of 2007.
The software is being provided by a division of Geac that specializes in IT solutions for the apparel and footwear industry. The PLM solution, which will be deployed at Stearns on the DB/2 database, incorporates five integrated applications: QuestPDM; Workflow; Integration; PDF Print Server and StyleTime.
Stearns' products include life jackets, waders, rainwear, hunting and fishing outerwear, and marine accessories, and these constitute thousands of stock keeping units (SKUs) which all need to be carefully managed. Although a significant proportion of Stearns' products are still made in the US, it also utilizes Asian factories. The new system will help Stearns embrace its global community of vendors and contractors worldwide, who will be alerted to up-to- date product information via PDF-based design documents generated from the QuestPLM system.
Paul Ebnet, Stearns' president, said "We've been in business since 1941 where we started out as a major supplier of a variety of outdoor products. We have a reputation for quality products and as a result we're the market leader. We see our investment with Geac as critical to reinforcing this quality status going forward. Not only will we be able to better synchronize the design and manufacture of our products to get new lines made 'right first time' but we'll be able to better manage the collections for our worldwide customer base."
Cindy Hilde, Stearns' systems manager, said "The team at Stearns has taken a lot of time and research in assessing the best system. Geac's QuestPLM is our top choice as it is an integrated solution which encompasses a host of essential applications for collaborative design. Together these tools will help Stearns reduce time-to-market, enhance visibility to our extended suppliers, improve efficiency, cut costs and save time. As important as the software, we feel that Geac will offer excellent implementation support during the next few months. Vitally, we believe they will provide us with great consultancy and advice in how to make the best use of our QuestPLM solution once we are fully operational."
Geac provides an integrated, end-to-end solution to the apparel industry which encompasses PLM and its enterprise resource planning system called System21. Peter Quinn is the VP and general manager for Geac's apparel business in the Americas and he concluded: "We're delighted to add Stearns to our global base of over 400 leading apparel and footwear companies who use our software to manage their global operations. These brand companies have a monumental task in coordinating their complex global design, manufacturing and supply chain operations and Geac is proving time and time again that we can step up to their challenges."
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