Renuar and its successful switch from Lectra to OptiTex
The old way
Julie Ben-Yossef started working for Renuar 7 years ago as Production Manager. When she first arrived, Renuar was a fairly new company with little strategical and operational infrustructure. Julie helped put together different departments and hired much of the manpower. Today, Renuar has 10-12 departments and the business runs smoothly. It has 40 branches, most of them franchisees.
Historically, Renuar used pattern design software from Lectra. When Julie started working for Renuar they were paying and annual fee for suport and training but they were not getting hi quality service. Julie tried to request support from the systems` provider at many occassions but did not receive satisfactory responses. Moreover, she was binded to use certain hardware for which she seldom got support or parts. She decided she couldn`t keep working with systems that not only didn`t shorten their pre-production cycle enough but were limiting her in so many other ways like the kind of peripherals (plotters, cutters, digitizers) she needed to work with. She also needed to lower costs.
When Renuar needed a new pattern design station, Julie decided she would get a quote from OptiTex.
The new way – A successful transition period
OptiTex offered to lend Renuar three stations for three months. The most difficult part was to convince the pattern designers to open up to the change. Julie had to make a special effort to make sure everyone used the new systems. "OptiTex constant support was a crucial factor for the success of this project. We got assistance from OptiTex people for as much time as we needed. Their support was incredible". Because of the initial antagonism, the implementation`s success was astonishing. "The most fierce opposition transformed into the most enthusiastic embracing of the new software". The pattern designers became profficient users of OptiTex products, the Time-to-Market was reduced significantly, every pattern creation took many less steps than it used to. "We even realized that our requests and improvement ideas where rapidly implemented into new versions of the products".
When asked, Galit, one of Renuar`s leading designers expressed her contentment about the user interface: "It is so much better than the competitors, easy to use and friendly. I am very familiar with other CAD applications and sometimes I would like to approach other CAD companies and tell them: please learn from OptiTex how to design a CAD software. Use their incredible tools and ease the user`s experience".
After these first three months Renuar were totally satisfied with the change. They purchsed the systems and even added some stations.
The added benefits
The transition to OptiTex brought some important changes in the way Renuar`s designers worked.
- Through OptiTex`s native Windows environment they got acquainted to the advantages of working under Windows, so they updated all their manual work into the computer. Today they have all their provider`s information and all their specs computerized.
- The Bruto/Neto ratio decreased noticeably. Not only did the pattern making process benefit from the introduction of OptiTex systems, but the entire pre-production process as well.
- "Since the moment we started using OptiTex systems", Julie tells us, "I feel the need to convince our providers, customers and even competitors to switch to OptiTex. I can not understand why someone would want to use any other software."
