Centric PLM Drives Collaboration and Creativity at Crocs

Going Faster

“Speed to market isn’t just important, it’s absolutely critical. Every brand in the world is really focusing right now not just on how to be bigger, but how to be faster.”

Michelle Poole, SVP Global Product & Merchandising at Crocs shares the biggest pressure on the successful footwear brand. Significant growth showed flaws in current processes and spurred the company to invest in Centric PLM.

How has Centric PLM brought about positive change at Crocs?

Rapid Growth

Crocs was founded in 2002 in Boulder, Colorado and has become an incredible successful brand globally. Crocs sell in over 90 countries worldwide.

“I think the challenges we faced in the last few years were because of the success of the brand. We grew so rapidly, and we also grew in different ways and in different regions and that led to a lot of misalignment,” explains Poole.

Crocs selected Centric PLM, knowing that its single, actionable version of the truth approach would help Crocs to prioritize projects, streamline workflows and focus on what they do best –making great shoes.

Focus and Prioritization

Cody Bumgarner, Senior Manager for Product Operations at Crocs reveals how Centric PLM has given teams focus, “Before Centric, we really struggled with communication flow. We struggled with prioritization. After we implemented it, it really helped us to focus in and narrow that down and be a little bit more specific at what we do best which is build great products.”

Prioritizing project is a huge advantage of Centric PLM’s role at Crocs as Stefano Ferniani, Senior Director of Italy Product Creation Team at Crocs explains, “It definitely takes off the stress from prioritizing the projects, you don’t have to think about the ‘What do I have to do today?’ The system should tell you based on everybody’s needs, based on the schedule, based on the priorities. You need the system to support you, and Centric 8 I think does it perfectly.”

The Heartbeat of the Organization

When Crocs first started to work with Centric PLM, Poole admits there was a perception inside the organization that it was ‘just a product system’,

“I think wherever you are in the world, whether you sit in development, in product management, design, in merchandising, in finance, it’s going to give everyone access to the same level of information at the same point in time”

Molly Wilhelm, Product Line Manager for the Kids division at Crocs adds, “One of the most attractive things that I found within Centric is that it helps create one source of truth for all of our different departments.”

More Control

Crocs are now able to work more closely with suppliers with clear, precise information and the ability to stay on top of timelines. Teams can control what information they share with suppliers via Centric PLM, “It’s good to have innovation but it’s also good to have good security,” says Ferniani.

Looking Ahead

The future is looking bright for Crocs and Centric PLM. “We’re really excited about the opportunity to take the information which we use within the system and spread that throughout our organization to really drive process change, creativity and a more collaborative environment at our company,” says Bumgarner.

Wilhelm concludes, “If we didn’t have Centric, I’m not sure we could ever do business.”