R&D Overview
Status: Foundation draft · Owner: Unassigned · Last reviewed: Not yet reviewed
This handbook is a shared research space for designing or evaluating a product lifecycle management (PLM) capability for apparel. Its job is to turn real product-development work into a testable domain model, explicit product decisions, and implementation-ready requirements.
Working thesis
An apparel PLM system should keep product intent, material definition, fit, samples, approvals, and change history coherent from concept to production handoff. A BOM is one of the central records, but it only works when its style, variant, supplier, cost, and release context is clear.
Scope
| In scope | Questions at the boundary |
|---|---|
| Style, colorway, size, and SKU structure | Which system creates the sellable SKU? |
| Materials, trims, and variant-aware BOMs | Where is available inventory tracked? |
| Technical specifications and sample rounds | Which system owns pattern files and markers? |
| Costing, sourcing, approvals, and release | Which system issues purchase and production orders? |
| Evidence, decisions, and integrations | What must be synchronized with ERP, CAD, PIM, or MES? |
Research method
- Discover: Observe actual workflows and collect existing artifacts.
- Model: Define terms, entities, relationships, states, and exceptions.
- Validate: Walk the model through difficult apparel cases and compare it with real products.
- Decide: Record options, trade-offs, ownership, and reversal triggers.
- Deliver: Convert accepted findings into requirements and acceptance scenarios.
Initial success criteria
- A domain expert can locate the authoritative definition of a style, SKU, material, and BOM.
- A real product can be followed from first concept through an approved production package.
- Color- and size-specific materials can be represented without duplicating entire styles.
- Every proposed capability is linked to a workflow problem and evidence.
- System ownership and integration boundaries are explicit.
Next pages
Read the research roadmap, then the product hierarchy, BOM fundamentals, and capability map.