Case Study

Byer California Keeps Fashions Fresh

About Byer California Founded in 1964, Byer California is a garment manufacturer specializing in fashions for girls, juniors and misses. The companys merchandise is sold in major department stores as well as in small local retailers throughout the United States. Byer California operates design centers and warehouses in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with showrooms in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Charlotte. The majority of its manufacturing operations are overseas. Situation To keep styles as fresh as its customers are young, Byer California designers are constantly on the lookout for the newest trends. The company prides itself on speeding new fashion ideas from concept to retail racks as frequently as eight times a year. In comparison, its competitors plan their lines six months to a year before their clothes reach the stores. As a result, Byer California must quickly move products from design concept to finished goods. With its supply chain growing to include off-shore manufacturing facilities in Latin America and Asia, Byer required an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and network to provide end-to-end process oversight and control. The company also needed to modernize the video collaboration network at the heart of its design and sales processes. Solution Byer connects its design centers and warehouses in San Francisco and Los Angeles with its showrooms across the country using an MPLS-based IP virtual private network (VPN). This secure and flexible any-to-any network will transmit critical design and production data for use by new ERP software that Byer California is customizing to meet its unique requirements for speed and detail. The company will be able to use this technology with its global partners, providing a full picture of its supply chain. Byer is also installing high-definition video equipment to update and enhance its heavily-used video conference facilities. Speed is What the Customers Expect Speed is a core competency in the fashion business: in mere weeks a new design can go from hot to not, and slip from the full-price rack to the closeout discounter. Byer leads not by focusing on a market niche, like competitors who make only skirts or blouses, but by responding fast to its young customers changing tastes. Girls and juniors are great customers, said Fernando Gonzalez, CIO. Since theres always a new fashion trend, they never wear anything out, and they dont pass it on to their younger siblings. The bad thing is that theyre always shopping and wanting to see new things in the store. That search for something new means Byer works constantly to design, manufacture and ship new styles. Anything in our warehouse now isnt going to be there ten weeks from today, Gonzalez said. Every eight to ten weeks, we have a whole new product line. Byer California has relied on its mastery of the design, manufacturing, shipping and sales processes to please its young customers and the places where they shop, be they small retailers or major department store chains. Its designers, pattern makers and market makers the specialists who determine how to maximize the pattern pieces cut from a bolt of cloth all reside in the companys California design centers. Warehouses are located nearby. If its a rush job, we can go from a blouse design to a sample in four hours because our sewers are here in California. For a dress sample, Byer California Facts Business Needs Manage fashion design, global production and delivery  process to keep pace with fast-changing trends Networking Solution An MPLS-based IP virtual private network (VPN) integrates  design, manufacturing, sales and logistics activities among California design centers and warehouses and showrooms in Dallas, New York, and Charlotte Business Value Ability to move from design concept to delivery in as little  as eight weeks, keeping fashions fresh and customers happy Industry Focus Clothing fashions for girls and young women  Size Annual revenues of over $300 million 

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the turnaround is seven to eight hours, Gonzalez said. We can go from design to in the stores in eight to ten weeks. If price isnt an issue we can manufacture the garment in the U.S. and do it in three. Customer care extends throughout the process. Before clothes ship, Byer adds customer value by pre-tagging garments with prices. Such responsiveness is a hallmark for Byer and now its business as usual. As Gonzalez noted, its what our customers expect. Byer watches store sales closely to see how each style is selling. Another competitive advantage is we can quickly shut down the pipeline, said Gonzalez. For example, we may sell 30,000 units to a retailer and plan to ship 5,000 a week over a six-week period. By the second week, we call the stores and check to see whats selling and can alter production accordingly. Such fast action can save Byer the markdown money retailers receive for clothes that dont sell at full retail. More Miles to Cover, but No More Time For years, Byer California manufacturing was centered in the U.S. but the unrelenting pressure of economics caused Byer, like many others, to move the bulk of its manufacturing offshore. For a company that lives by speed, that extended supply chain poses a real challenge. To meet the compressed production schedules demanded by Byer and its customers, garment factories in Latin America and Asia have to quickly shift gears. Communicating every stitch of information about designs, materials, production schedules, shipping and delivery is essential to Byer Californias success. When Gonzalez moved to Byer California he knew that the companys existing ERP software and frame relay-based network could not keep pace with its changing operations. To make global manufacturing work, managers needed complete and detailed visibility and control of the entire supply chain. They also required extreme flexibility. We might send a skirt pattern off to China to be made that requires an 8-inch zipper, Gonzalez said. If the manufacturer only has some 7-inch zippers on hand wed love to let them access our system and confirm that these will work. That way they can make the skirts without waiting. Retailers too needed better data. The old software counted garments by the dozen using a standard distribution of sizes, but customers were asking to order by the single piece. Stores needed to know not just the number of garments Byer California shipped, but the cubic volume of warehouse space the shipment would require. No off-the-shelf ERP software had all the required features, so Gonzalez decided to customize an application from a major supplier to add the needed capabilities. The design process posed challenges as well. Intense collaboration is required among teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and New York who meet by video conference to work out the details for every new garment. Cameras transmit images of samples and fabrics as new designs come together, allowing it to tailor products to meet customer needs. Its a two or three-hour meeting, not a videoconference where youre sitting across from each other, said Gonzalez. The facilities needed updating to take advantage of newer high-definition technologies.

Lastly, Byer Californias new voice over IP (VoIP) communication system was still in its shakedown period. The system was causing problems and dissatisfaction with employees, but Gonzalez did not want his IT staff tied up in resolving those concerns.

Anything in our warehouse now isnt going to be there ten weeks from today. Every eight to ten weeks, we have a whole new product line.
Fernando Gonzales, CIO, Byer California

Building the Base for Speed and Flexibility Gonzalez knew the network would be the springboard for Byer Californias success as a global operation, so he tackled that first. You start by looking at your internal processes and the systems that require a longer term effort, he said. But dont attempt to fix these if your network is having issues. Byer California chose AT&T to implement an MPLS-enabled IP VPN to transmit data, video and digitized voice between the companys headquarters, design, warehouse and showroom locations and its data centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The networks any-to-any connectivity provides the flexibility and resiliency required to continue operations in an emergency. Data is replicated at the data centers, which serve as backups for each other. The network has given Byer California a firm foundation and is serving as a building block for the new ERP system. Video is also now strongly supported, providing added flexibility. During Market Week in New York the big stores all come in to our office on 30th and Broadway, said Gonzalez. A customer might like a blouse sample but feel it has too many ruffles. We will have a videoconference between New York and our California designers and may remake it and send it to New York the next morning to see if this is what the store wants. That all now occurs through videoconferencing over the MPLS network. When stores place their order the Byer California sales people enter it into the system and print out an illustrated catalog of the customers collection on the spot. Support from AT&T also straightened out the VoIP communications system. Gonzalez buys system maintenance from AT&T as a managed service. We outsource support to AT&T, he said. We can add a user and handle moves, but if we have a performance issue we dont have the necessary knowledge. We turn to AT&T to provide us that expertise. With the network as the foundation, Gonzalez is implementing the new ERP system and high-definition video conferencing equipment needed to complete Byer Californias modernization. Now this style leader can continue to keep young ladies across the U.S. and the trend-setting stores where they shop in fashion and looking good.

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