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INTERDESIGN INNOVATES TO POWER GROWTH WITH CENTRIC HOME PLM

HOUSEWARES COMPANY CANNOT CONTAIN ENTHUSIASM
FOR PLM SYSTEM AS THEY ESTABLISH A SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

“I want to be able to go to one place to see product dimensions,product weights, colors, colorways, to see SKUs involved . . . wedid not have a tool that allowed us to do that before. It was a lotof manual work to get even fairly simple answers.”
Brandon Gray, Engineer and Subject Matter Expert at InterDesign
describes the situation at their company prior to Centric PLM ™.
Radu Ghiorghie, Design Director at InterDesign adds, “We neededa PLM tool that addresses the total product, collects everything
in one spot, and has that ability to save on costs, speed timelines
and improve communication across departments.”
Even after a few short months post-implementation of Centric 8
PLM, InterDesign is more efficient, with roles and responsibilities
clearly defined and centralized product information with visibility
and inter-departmental communication much improved. Whatrole did Centric PLM play in getting them to this point?

ENTERPRISING EXPANSION		

Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, InterDesign is a privately-heldhousewares company that was established in 1974 as anentrepreneurial start-up. The company grew over the past 40+
years to become a global entity with two branches: mDesign
their e-commerce brand that sells direct-to-consumer andiDesign, the retail arm. Today, they are a worldwide leader inhousewares, selling to over 100 countries with distribution in
Ohio, Europe, China and Japan.

FROM START-UP TO
INTERNATIONAL PLAYER

It wasn’t that there was a lack of technology—Ghiorghie recalls
a time where there were four different CAD programs just inengineering—but how do you connect all the systems in ameaningful workflow across every department?
“The company started out small, where it was easy to justget everyone around the table. Information and knowledge
resided with people rather than systems,” Ghiorghie explains.
“As we evolved into a global company, larger distributionmeans you have to do things faster. More people translate
into more stakeholders, translates into the necessity for better
communication tools. It brought into focus the need to address
the total product lifecycle and the complete definition of theproduct. It is important to have that one source of truth—notin emails, not in parallel spreadsheets—all collected in one
spot with visibility to improve communication across the entire
workflow of design and production.”

FORM AND FUNCTION			“CENTRIC PLM GIVES US
THE ABILITY TO ASSESSNOT JUST THE VOLUME BUT
ALSO THE QUALITY OF OURINNOVATION.
– RADU GHIORGHIE

CHALLENGES+ Growing complexity of different
channels+ Product characteristics not fully
defined at the front-end

Choosing which PLM system to go with was an interdepartmentalaffair. Because InterDesign has both retail and e-commerce
brands with somewhat different needs, a cross-divisional, crossfunctional team did the evaluation.

+ Managing high volumes at fasterspeeds

Says Ghiorghie, “We had conversations and product demos withfive final PLM vendors after an initial search. The solution had towork for every function: design, engineering, marketing, sourcing,product management.

+ Disparate systems©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

“InterDesign has enjoyed steady growth over the years. SaysGhiorghie, “The evolution of ways-of-working is a mirror of ourgrowth as a company from both points of view of our employee
footprint and the complexity of our operations. With that growth,came a cultural shift and in parallel, being cognizant of thecontinuous advancement of technology made us realize that weneeded to have a strategic goal around digital transformation
tools. Which led us to PLM.”+ Unclear roles and messy handoffs

“Centric 8 has the ability to work for retail with multiple products—a great fit for
us. It is very intuitive and has a highly adaptable interface. And it’s very graphicdriven which was a major factor in our decision. Centric merges the robust
information that you have in an excel spreadsheet, with something as colorfulas a Pantone book. And everything is brought together with the functionality ofa website—it works well across all disciplines.”
Gray adds, “The user interface, just from a usability standpoint is phenomenal.
And the ability to customize a view and see the information is another great
benefit that Centric can provide that others couldn’t necessarily show us in thedemonstrations.”

PUTTING PLM INTO PLAY				“We’re really excited that we were able to go live on time and on budget. It wasquite a feat to do that over just a short six or seven months. A lot of steps wereplanned but many things we learned by doing,” says Ghiorghie. Regarding theusers, “Change behaviors first and mindsets will follow. Start with a few things
that unite goals across departments, like focused objectives, clear productcategorization and accountability. Simplify and hard-wire these things in thesoftware first. We found the ‘start small, pilot that’ approach very helpful.”

RESULTS+ Product information is in one digital,accessible repository+ Total product definition at the frontend+ Improved efficiency andcommunication across functions+ Roles and responsibilities clearly
defined+ High levels of user adoption
achieved+ Have a tool to measure innovation

Fortunately, there was buy-in from executive sponsors at the outset, which is necessary, but so are informal champions. These are theinstrumental people who lead through their knowledge and passion for the project, helping to get others on board. “User adoption has
been high and the willingness to listen to the ideas of users is one of the keys to success in implementation. No matter what I think is thebest idea, there’s oftentimes many better ideas out there,” says Gray, embodying the open-minded spirit of which he speaks.

THE POWER OF PLM

Key goals have been met: product information is in one digital, accessible repository, with roles and responsibilities clearly defined andhigh levels of user adoption achieved. There is total product definition at the front end.
“All information from concept origination through product initiation into the marketplace lives in one place. I have easy access to not
only what something is now, but the history of what it has been in the past. From an engineering perspective, that gives me a very
comprehensive view of what was tried before; what has and hasn’t worked,” says Gray. He continues, “Something that Centric is very
good at, is showing you information in a customized, personal way. And that makes it very powerful. People have responded positivelyto that.”
Ghiorghie adds, “It also provides role clarity, understanding and simplifying. When you take a process and workflow approach, youeliminate overlapping responsibilities and that has been tremendously helpful in cleaner handoffs among disciplines.”
Important also Ghiorghie says is, “the ability to see where everything is at any point in time especially at the front end, where we really
nailed the product definition and categories. All that information is now very well organized for product development. We are seeing
these benefits immediately.”
Ghiorghie expects shorter time-to-market and the ability to determine the return on investment when it comes to tooling. They havestarted using the calendar with WBS (work breakdown structure) workflow—who’s responsible for what and time-frames involved.

INNOVATION INFUSION

Ghiorghie has an admirable aspiration regarding innovation.
He describes how product development in the housewares
industry is both innovative and iterative. “Innovation isanchored in consumer behavior and is solution-driven.
Iteration is fashion: trends, color, finishes. Both have theirplace but we need to understand which one, in whatpercentage, is connected to market success. It will allow
us to match risk with rigor when it comes to focusing ourdevelopment energies—which areas to pay attention to andwhich areas to scale back.”
Ghiorghie enthuses, “We can establish key metrics aroundinnovation: things like what is the revenue that comesfrom new product introduction over one year, three years.
Understanding productivity and product placement. Centric
PLM gives us the ability to assess not just the volume but
also the quality of our innovation.”©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

InterDesign(www.idesignlivesimply.com) and (www.mdesignhomedecor.com)

InterDesign® began as a housewares design company in 1974 with a core goal in mind—to offer innovative storage products for the home at areasonable price. We design products that provide solutions for organizing your everyday living space. Our product solutions are designed for thebathroom, kitchen, pantry, closet, laundry room and more.
InterDesign is based in Solon, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. We have grown to be a global leader in housewares with distribution facilities in North
East Ohio, Europe, China and Japan. We sell to over 100 countries across multiple continents.
Everyday living has its challenges. And let’s face it, most of us appreciate the little things that make a difference. So, why not create products thatmake organizing just a little more effortless? We’re very passionate about creating exciting products for new spaces. Our products always offer
more than meets the eye—they solve problems, enhance the home, and add a little something special.

ABOUT CENTRIC SOFTWARE (www.centricsoftware.com)
From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion,retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor, consumer goods and home décor. Centric’s flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric 8,
delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fastmoving consumer industries. Centric SMB provides innovative PLM technology and key industry learnings for emerging brands. Centric Visual
Innovation Platform (VIP) offers a new fully visual and digital experience for collaboration and decision-making and includes the Centric Buying
Board to transform internal buying sessions and maximize retail value and the Centric Concept Board for driving creativity and evolving productconcepts. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.
Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital
Mock Up and PLM solutions.
Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013,2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016 and 2018.

www.centricsoftware.com©2020 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved. Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software.
All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.