Eight-tier planning system for fashion company Stichd

Fashion company Stichd has an extremely complex planning process. To help the company get a grip on its multi-dimensional supply chain, Involvation set up an advanced planning system consisting of no fewer than eight planning layers. During Supply Chain Media’s S&OP Selection Day, it became apparent that this makes Stichd much more flexible.

Stichd is an ambitious and rapidly growing fashion company that serves a multitude of sales channels and is constantly tapping into new markets. As a subsidiary of Puma, it develops and produces a diverse range of sportswear, as well as fanware (e.g. Manchester City, Max Verstappen) and leisurewear for well-known brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s.

“Stichd’s planning process is an extremely complex puzzle,” stated Hans van der Drift from consultancy firm Involvation. “It is sometimes necessary to reserve capacity at suppliers as many as 18 months ahead, even though at that point it is not yet known how the new product line will look. This only becomes clear as the design process progresses, and only then can the necessary materials be purchased. Once a new item is in production, the next question is how to allocate stocks to regions and sales channels.”

Setting up an 8-layer planning system

To enable Stichd to get a grip on this multi-dimensional supply chain, Involvation set up an advanced planning system comprising eight different planning layers. The system is based on Logility software. At the highest level of abstraction, supplier capacity is planned for up to two years ahead. The lowest level is for planning orders for individual items, such as from retail stores.

Van der Drift explained: “The strength of Logility is that all planning layers are constantly in sync with each other and use the same dataset. This makes Stichd much more flexible than before, when it was still working with all kinds of outdated systems and Excel. The company can now plan better, including financially, and respond faster to changes because everything is in one system. As a result, Stichd now has a strong foundation for achieving its growth ambitions.”

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