KÖLN, Germany — October 11, 2010 — The IMB Select 2010 is kicking off in its new form with a
series of top-class lectures. Entitled “Heading for the future: enhancing global collaboration”,
the lectures cover the entire spectrum, from sourcing to retail and from order placement back to
procurement. On both days of the event, lecture blocks will alternate with Speakers Corner
presentations, culminating in Future Talk, the concluding highlight of the fair, on the afternoon
of the second day.
Just as the hall plan is based on the five defined areas of the textile value chain, the
lectures of the supporting programme shed light on the various areas of day-to-day business in
logical order. On 9 November 2010, Session 1 will focus on the umbrella topic “Sourcing &
Production Line Management”, whilst Session 2 will be dedicated to “Manufacturing Management”.
Because fashion is more than just clothing, this block of lectures will open with a presentation on
sourcing shoes by means of a management system. The initial results of research conducted as part
of the EU project “Open Garments”, which examines the creation, production and marketing of
individualised clothing, will be presented by the project leadership. A high-tech company from
France will be reporting on the possibilities parametric pattern design in 3D opens up for the
product development of functional sportswear. A provider-neutral lecture on system-controlled
collection development rounds off the first session.
Process control is the magic word in the core segment of the supply chain for clothing. From
collection development and production all the way to delivery or from order placement by retailers
all the way to the necessary sourcing of materials and ingredients prior to production, the reach
of the latest-generation software packages and control systems extends deep into the upstream and
downstream areas of the value chain. The abbreviations for the latest solutions are ERP, PDM or PLM
and promise modular or holistic solutions for using and actuating the necessary data transfer. A
major jeans manufacturer from Turkey will talk about his experiences with an ERP system. An
American consulting company will report on the introduction of PLM systems to the clothing
industry. The connections between range planning and PDM will be illustrated by means of an example
from the German women’s wear sector.
Session 3 on 10 November 2010, “Finished Goods & Retail Management”, is dominated by the
handling and labelling of finished goods and the special relevance of e-commerce in territorial
states. A speaker from Moscow will talk about the possibilities of e-commerce for the market entry
and sale of fashion in Russia. The following lecture deals with alternative methods for article
surveillance and unambiguous labelling. Finally, a board member from Gerry Weber AG will report on
his company’s live experiences with RFID.
Several other company presentations during Speakers Corner will be followed by the highlight
of the lecture programme at 4 p.m.: the Future Talk, a one-hour panel discussion on: “Dialogue
Marketing and CRM: gather, evaluate and entice”. Providers from the field and users from the
fashion industry and retail sector will discuss the future of a customer approach driven by
specific data and the unbelievable extent of the potential this vast field holds – potential which,
in many cases, has yet to be exploited.
IMB Select 2010
Fashion & Textiles: IT Systems, Services and Strategies
09 – 10 November 2010
Posted on October 5, 2010
Source: Koelnmesse GmbH
