SUCCESS STORY
CarharttIndustry• Manufacturing

Solutions• OpenText™ BizManager™

Services• OpenText Professional Services

Results
Consolidated, comprehensive
B2B platform
Maximized efficiencies,
transaction-processing, andcycle times
Rapid increase in partner
onboarding time
Real-time visibility, monitoring,and reporting

Global workwear brand launches
comprehensive B2B platform
with OpenText
Carhartt standardizes and streamlines information exchangewith OpenText™ BizManager™
“When you increase speed to market,
you’re increasing your value-add topartners. We’re onboarding a lot morepartners every year, and we’re onboarding
them with ease. OpenText BizManager
made us a heck of a lot more efficientand so we’re bringing more value to thebusiness as a result.”
Mark Hurt

Manager of Enterprise IntegrationCarharttGlobal workwear brand launches comprehensive B2B platform with OpenText

Established in 1889, Carhartt is a global premium workwear brandwith a rich heritage of developing rugged products for workers on
and off the job. Headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, with more than
5,000 associates worldwide, Carhartt is family-owned and managed
by the descendants of the company’s founder, Hamilton Carhartt.
From its humble beginnings producing denim overalls for railroad
workers and manufacturing apparel for First World War and Second
World War soldiers, to today’s global production of diverse workwear,
outerwear, and hunting gear, Carhartt has remained committed toproducing clothing that is known for its quality and durability. As thecompany has expanded, the complexity of its business network has
also grown. As a result, Carhartt recently launched a new platform
for EDI—the electronic exchange of business documents—to its
community of business partners. OpenText BizManager delivers
speed, value, and efficiency to the company’s business network withstandardized, synchronized, and streamlined exchange of information.

Challenges
Multiple EDI technologies
Weathering the challenges of time, competition, and fluctuating markets,
Carhartt has expanded its business; however, the company’s EDI
was struggling to keep up. The ability to quickly and easily exchange
information with suppliers, distributors, retailers, and other business
partners is vital, and documents such as purchase orders, invoices, andadvance ship notices are critical to the business. “Our EDI process was
not streamlined. We had multiple tools to manage EDI transactions,which didn’t allow communications and direct connectivity
functionalities,” says Mark Hurt, Manager of Enterprise Integration
at Carhartt.

Navigating these multiple EDI tools was difficult for users and EDI-related
processes were slow and inefficient. “We had delays in our process,which sometimes delayed shipment dates,” explains Hurt. The
company’s goal was to consolidate and centralize from several tools
to a single platform for secure, consistent, and rapid exchange ofdata, files, and documents.

SolutionA single comprehensive platform
Carhartt sought a comprehensive solution that would provide full
EDI value-added network (VAN) services, including communicationand mapping functionalities. “We needed a partner that could
provide the VAN, the EDI mapping technology, as well as that
communication software piece that we were missing,” says Hurt.
After evaluating several solutions, the Carhartt team selected
BizManager, a comprehensive platform for managed file transfer,messaging, mapping, translation, tracking, and auditing. By sharing
technology with the OpenText™ Trading Grid™—the world’s largestB2B network—and incorporating and simplifying industry standards,
the solution ensures the uninterrupted flow of information anddirect, secure transport of all types of data and documents.
“OpenText was able to deliver everything in one cohesive toolset,
including the communication connectivity. We’re now anin-house development shop, and we do all our communication
connectivity and mapping,” says Hurt.

“I think our reputationinternally with ourbusiness departments
has improved. They know
they can come to us withpretty much any request,
and we’re going to be able
to supply what they need,using the BizManager tool.”
Daryl Morgan

EDI Analyst
CarharttGlobal workwear brand launches comprehensive B2B platform with OpenText

BizManager’s fully integrated mapping was a key selling point.
Users can change the format and types of documents being
processed based on predefined mapping instructions, and quickly
create mapping rules. “A lot of tools did mapping, but we werelooking for a one-tool solution for mapping, and OpenText wasable to provide that,” says Hurt.

Benefits
Efficient, streamlined, and standardized information exchangeWith the new solution in place, Carhartt can connect and control
its information exchange to maximize efficiencies and reduce cycletimes. “The biggest value that we’ve seen is the speed andimprovement of processes,” says Hurt. He adds that the solution
has expanded Carhartt’s EDI capabilities, “We now have EDI set up
with our vendor community and our retail/wholesale community—
our suppliers as well as our customers.”
Seamless and speedy onboarding
Carhartt is also enjoying the benefits of seamless onboarding, withmore than 200 trading partners now on the platform. In the past, theteam had struggled to bring new partners onto its network. “It wasa challenge for the team to get new partners onboarded. With
OpenText BizManager, we can hit our onboarding goals muchfaster,” says Hurt. “When you increase speed to market, you’reincreasing your value-add to partners. We’re onboarding a lot
more partners every year, and we’re onboarding them with ease.
OpenText BizManager made us a heck of a lot more efficient andwe’re bringing more value to the business as a result.”“With OpenText and our strong internal team, we’re confident
in responding to new challenges and supporting our businessmoving forward.”
Mark Hurt

Manager of Enterprise Integration
Carhartt

Leveraging in-house resources
With BizManager, Carhartt has upgraded its B2B capabilities using
its own staff. “We wanted to have the expertise in-house and be
nimble enough to respond to customers. For example, we got specchanges last week that the team went through and was able to put
in this week. In the past, with external resources, it took several
weeks to get responses. So, we found great value in keeping theteam here, keeping the team nimble, and expanding our footprint,”
says Hurt. Daryl Morgan, EDI Analyst at Carhartt, adds, “I think ourreputation internally with our business departments has improved.
They know they can come to us with pretty much any request,
and we’re going to be able to supply what they need, using theBizManager tool.”Global workwear brand launches comprehensive B2B platform with OpenText

Real-time visibility and reporting

Conclusion

The team has also seen significant benefits from the solution’s real-time
visibility into the status of transactions. “Now, we can monitor 24/7.
We have monitoring and controls that we’ve put in place, and reports
inside the tool, which help us stay on top of everything. That has
been another of the biggest benefits that we’ve seen—that thewhole monitoring piece is straightforward,” says Hurt. “I can go
into leadership meetings and say, ‘My team can take on anything
because we monitor 24/7. We get email alerts internally if there are
any issues. And we’re right on top of it.’ That is one of the hidden
jewels of the solution.”

A valued partnership
The Carhartt team credits the experience and expertise of the OpenText
Professional Services and Customer Support teams for its success withthe platform. “The Professional Services team was very responsive
to our needs, and the Support team is phenomenal. When we havetechnical issues or questions, they’re always very responsive andattentive,” says Hurt. “With OpenText and our strong internal team,
we’re confident in responding to new challenges and supporting ourbusiness moving forward.”

Scalability and efficiency
Not only does the solution support Carhartt’s current and futureneeds for scalability during peak transaction periods, the new gains inefficiency also enhance operations. For example, Carhartt has beenable to better prepare for seasonal increases in volumes, such asouterwear sales in the fall and winter months. For example Carharttusually runs about 290,000 to 300,000 transactions a month. Last
year, that spiked to 725,000 transactions in the month of December.
“Things have to be put in place prior to these months to make surethat we run as efficiently as possible. Having BizManager has
helped us to improve our efficiencies,” says Hurt.

About OpenText
OpenText, The Information Company,
enables organizations to gain insight
through market leading information
management solutions, on-premises orin the cloud. For more information aboutOpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX)
visit opentext.com.
Customer stories
opentext.com/contact
Twitter | LinkedIn
Copyright © 2021 Open Text. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks owned by Open Text.
For more information, visit: https://www.opentext.com/about/copyright-information
07/21 SKU18570