Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials, has revealed a new strategy conceived to empower fashion and apparel, automotive and furniture companies to succeed as they step into the Industry 4.0 era.
Anchored in the digitalization of industrial processes, from creation to production, Industry 4.0 is creating a new organization of factories’ ecosystems. Increasingly flexible with optimized resources, factories are propelling a new digitalized lifecycle for products that will benefit consumers.
Furthermore, mass production is leaving increasing room for large-scale customized production, as well as providing quick-to-market, quality products expected by increasingly impatient and demanding customers.
In order to face these changes, a digital value chain is essential to provide real-time connections between creative teams and product development teams, smart factories, suppliers and consumers.
“To meet these new challenges, our customers can depend on our software and equipment offer, already compatible with Industry 4.0 principles, our deep knowledge of the industrial Internet of Things since 2007, and our teams’ expertise in specific industries,” stated Daniel Harari, CEO, Lectra. “Thanks to these strong fundamentals, we are massively enriching our offer, leveraging the latest technologies and integrating best practices, to entrench Lectra’s position as an Industry 4.0 visionary.”
Reflecting Lectra’s new strategy is the launch of a Software as a Service (SaaS) offer, reinforced by cloud and developed since 2015. This offer, capitalizing on data analyses and exploitation, will translate into even smarter, connected equipment and finely tuned integration between equipment, software and services. New industry-specific services will reinforce the offer, enabling Lectra to continually improve customer processes. Initially tested in 2017 with select customers, some of whom have been involved with the offer since the beginning of the design, the new offer will be commercialized from 2018.
“Bringing increasing value to our customers, Lectra will increase the share of revenues dedicated to R&D to 10% for the period from 2017 to 2019, representing a rise of about 50% between 2016 and 2019. This way we can support our customers on their path towards operational excellence, indispensable if they are to succeed in the context of the fourth industrial revolution,” concludes Daniel Harari.
Lectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions (software, automated cutting equipment, and associated services) specifically designed for industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles, and composite materials to manufacture their products. It serves major world markets: fashion and apparel, automotive, and furniture as well as a broad array of other industries. Lectra’s solutions, specific to each market, enable customers to automate and optimize product design, development, and manufacturing.
With more than 1,550 employees, Lectra has developed privileged relationships with prestigious customers in more than 100 countries, contributing to their operational excellence. Lectra registered revenues of $288 million in 2016 and is listed on Euronext.
Sets record by selling 3000th Vector in 10 years
Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials, has announced the recent sale of its 3000th Vector in 10 years. The Vector range has revolutionized the automatic cutting room for fabric, enjoying immediate success with fashion, automotive and furniture manufacturers. Today, Vector is the undisputed reference for the fabric cutting room, as reflected in the 15 per cent rise in sales in 2016.
Manufacturers’ enthusiasm for Vector, in both developed and emerging economies, is due to a range of competitive advantages. Vector’s record machine availability of over 98 per cent plus its overall performance minimizes the cost per piece, bringing profitability to operations for Lectra customers. In addition, Vector’s cutting precision and the capacity to produce pieces without spaces equates to significant gains in materials, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for manufacturers.
A series of decisive innovations for Vector have ensured that Lectra continues to help customers attain their increasingly ambitious objectives for operational excellence. Since 2007, Vector has made true technological leaps, pushing the boundaries for speed, quality and reliability. The new generation of Vector, launched in 2012, established new standards for productivity and controlling performance which remain unrivalled today. At the end of 2016, two new models joined the Vector family: Vector iQ, whose cutting device enables a 10 per cent rise in productivity, and VectorAuto iX6 which specializes in synthetic fabric cutting for seats and car interiors.
Vector owes its reliability to the multiple sensors it is equipped with. Launched with 120 sensors, today Vector has 180 sensors to implement preventive and predictive maintenance. Vectors installed across the world communicate in real time with Lectra’s five international call centers, where experts can immediately intervene remotely.
“A pioneering solution in the Internet of Things, Vector was the first cutting solution on the market connected to the Internet and which used a system of predictive maintenance. The Vector range fully answers Industry 4.0 concepts and its innovative services are a major asset for the cutting room of the future,” underlines Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO.
Lectra’s solutions, specific to each market, enable customers to automate and optimize product design, development, and manufacturing. With more than 1,550 employees, Lectra which has developed privileged relationships with prestigious customers in more than 100 countries, contributing to their operational excellence. It registered revenues of $288 million in 2016 and is listed on Euronext.
Lectra’s new supply chain program benefits industry a lot
Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials, anchors the quality of digital data exchanges between brands, retailers and suppliers at the core of the company’s new, finely-tuned supply chain program.
The current trends are moving the fashion industry towards full digitalization. Technologies like 3D and augmented reality are responding to the growing desire for personalization and the drive to improve the customer journey. These phenomena are propelling the continual exchange of large volumes of digital data along the supply chain, and increasing the need to secure data transferred between brands, retailers and their many suppliers across the globe.
Lectra’s new supply chain program guarantees data integrity across digital exchanges to cut development time, boost productivity, improve product quality and fit, reduce time to market, and heighten consumer satisfaction. The program ensures a robust and connected supply chain, essential for fashion players to operate efficiently in today’s high-speed fashion market, with new consumer demands and their need to feed online and in-store channels rapidly and regularly.
Crucially, contractors and their suppliers do not always use the same versions of software applications, or they may use entirely different solutions. As a result, valuable information created up front is frequently compromised – and even only partially transferred – often generating costly errors and confusion in product development and production, resulting in lost time, efficiency and productivity for both parties.
By improving data exchange between contractors and supplying partners, Lectra’s supply chain program delivers multiple benefits. In addition to providing in-depth analyses of current co-development processes, the program offers a customized action plan to reduce the cost of product development, share fashion industry best practices, eliminate non value-added activities and ultimately improve product quality and lead times.
“For contractors and suppliers, keeping in step with the fast-paced fashion industry has accelerated the mutual need for digital data along the supply chain. But the quality of data exchange has not evolved at the same momentum. Lectra’s program expertly fills this gap to support our customers as they compete in this rapid market,” underlines Céline Choussy Bedouet, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Lectra.