In a recent discussion with Ben Robbins, Senior Director of Product Management; Blake Simms, Global Marketing Director; and Ernestine Tiongson, Senior Specialist at PTC, I gained valuable insights into the strategies, development processes, and capabilities of the sustainability features of PTC’s FlexPLM.

Addressing the Sustainability Challenge

As the global population increases, resource consumption rises, driven by production innovation, resource availability, and enhanced visibility of products and services. The resulting environmental impact has made sustainability a critical concern for the global ecosystem. Governments worldwide have imposed resource usage caps, advocated for sustainable processes and materials, and set ambitious goals for achieving net-zero emissions.

“The apparel industry accounts for about a fourth of global greenhouse gas emissions, with raw material sourcing and processing being the biggest culprit due to the high volume of products and distance they are transported,” says Ben Robbins. He adds, “PTC offers best practices and capabilities to better control and offset carbon emissions in product design, development, and production. We provide our clients with recommendations on alternative materials and are working on better sourcing and manufacturing-related recommendations.”

Sustainability Management: Strategy, Goals, and Functionalities

PTC collaborates with multiple third-party ESG and sustainability metrics providers such as Worldly, TrusTrace, Inspectorio, and Textile Exchange, to bring critical material, supplier, and product sustainability KPIs into FlexPLM.  This data is then leveraged by material and product teams throughout product design, development, and sourcing. This comprehensive data collection enables users to meet sustainability reporting requirements and manage ESG goals by recommending better materials and reducing resource usage, such as water and energy.

PTC’s sustainability KPIs are available in two forms: materials and suppliers. For materials, FlexPLM combines third-party data with the Bill of Materials (BOM) and fiber information to enhance accuracy. Users can attach relevant certificates, accessible with a simple click. Supplier data includes third-party machine efficiency data and related certificates. This combined data forms the product BOM, detailing material use, sourcing data, and process efficiency. The system offers both BOM data and sustainability ratings for each material, culminating in a total sustainability score. The no-code tool allows users to drag and drop sustainability KPIs and map them to data elements, generating dynamic charts.

Sustainability Management: Alternatives and Recommendations

PTC enables users to choose alternative materials and suppliers directly within the FlexPLM solution. The visually engaging interface allows users to review their entire product line and select better options based on sustainability ratings. Similar options are available for suppliers, with scoring levels, admissions levels, sourcing options, and usage data. This comprehensive control over sustainability ratings facilitates the achievement of ESG goals.

Sustainability Management: The Road Ahead

PTC plans to integrate more data providers, such as the Leather Working Group, to enhance data accuracy. The company is also investing in sub-component and sub-fiber level tracing and reporting capabilities. Future updates will include region-specific sourcing and shipping route planning, providing complete source-to-destination tracking and visibility.

Conclusion

The discussion with PTC’s team and the platform demonstration highlighted the robust KPIs control, reporting ease, and intuitive nature of FlexPLM. The software's strength lies in FlexPLM’s proactive engagement with clients to develop market-driven sustainability functionalities. PTC employs best practices by forming client working groups, gathering insights on customer challenges, and showcasing updates to a broad audience before deployment. By continuously collaborating with customers for innovation and developing highly intuitive solutions with an engaging user experience, PTC remains a leader in the retail PLM market.

Author: Sujan Thomas Mathew, Associate Director, and Principal Analyst at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions