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Talking Industry 4.0-Enabled Transformation For Fashion
64 Plays4 days ago
Emma talks to Nicolas Favreau, Product Marketing Director for Lectra, about what Industry 4.0 means for fashion, how the industry can achieve higher levels of traceability and transparency, what role AI will play in extracting insights from unstructured fashion data - and much more.
For more analysis of Lectra's new announcements, look for a full report on The Interline next week.
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
I think the key is in the transformation of the whole ecosystem, not only manufacturers, not only retailers, not only you mentioned that are sometimes contradictory. Hello, everybody. Emma here, your host of the Interline Podcast.
00:00:32
Speaker
This time on the show, we're talking to Nicola Favreau, who is a product marketing director at Lectra. Lectra has 50 years of experience in the fashion industry, providing powerful software, hardware, and services to build agility and efficiency. I wanted to speak to Nicola because of his position and experience with one of Lectra's newest solutions for fashion, called Valier Fashion.
00:00:55
Speaker
and how the platform is supporting a more digitised workflow for fashion businesses. The platform aims to revolutionise the fashion ecosystem by simplifying every stage of fabric cutting, from preparation to planning and execution.
00:01:08
Speaker
and support sustainability objectives, better collaboration between different business units as well as brands and their manufacturers to achieve a best-in-class performance. We also discuss what the next industrial revolution with technology at its core signifies for the fashion industry from lecturers' viewpoint. With the more segments of the fashion value chain and various roles are becoming increasingly digital, lessons fashion can learn from other industries like furniture and automotive,
00:01:36
Speaker
and how to balance growing consumer demand for fashion with expectations for greater traceability and transparency. All this and so much more. Over now to my conversation with Nicolas. Welcome to another episode of the Interline Podcast. My name is Emma Ferdinand-Bustin and it gives me great pleasure to be here today with Nicolas Favreau. I hope I'm saying that right. Um, welcome to the podcast, Nicolas. Thanks for being here.
00:02:03
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you. And you said it right. Yes. I am Nicola Favreau. I'm glad. um So let's start out by getting to know you. ah Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Tell me about your career and what your day-to-day looks like at Lectro? Yes. ah So I'm Nicola Favreau. I'm Product Marketing Director at Lectro. And I'm in charge of designing manufacturing solutions.
00:02:29
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by combining equipment, services, software and data within three major industries, fashion, automotive and furniture. And to tell you more, I have a ah mathematical background. Now I work in the industrial environment.
00:02:45
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However, previously I've worked in a more digital and tech business, which is to me important, an important track record in in the context of the industrial transformation we're living. So what I can add is that I'm very committed in my mission not only to observe this evolution and the transformation of the industry, but to take an active role in it.
00:03:11
Speaker
Absolutely. um I'll slot in another question. How do you think your mathematical background has helped you in your in your role and in your day-to-day? How has it kind of shaped what you do? I'm just curious. Yeah, I mean, Lee, I think it's, let's say, a pragmatic approach. man This is what I keep from that ah that training, let's say. I'm not in the day-to-day in the figures.
00:03:39
Speaker
ah out of business figures, but I would say the pragmatic approach, definitely. And can you tell us a little bit more about your your typical day and what do you do when you come into the office and a little bit maybe about your team? Yes, with my team, it's really about designing proper offer. you know um we We may talk about this, but all the three industries I mentioned, they are facing great changes um and the really We are motivated, committed in defining the right solution to face those challenges that are different depending on the market. So it's our day to day is about defining the right solution, selecting the good technology, position properly in each region with the right language and and each offer, each product made of equipment, engage our teams in the right development, our R&D team.
00:04:35
Speaker
So it's all about that ah to, in the end, define the right solution to help our customer to transform themselves in this challenging context. Yes, absolutely. And speaking of a challenging context, the world is changing so fast and especially in the fashion industry. We know that Lecturer has for a very long time been an advocate for industry 4.0. I think it's really something that the company makes clear. Can you tell me a little bit about what that means to you, this industry 4.0? And it can be across your three different ah sectors that you mentioned, but obviously focusing on fashion would be optimal. But um just in general, what do you think industry 4.0 means and how important is it?
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, but I think for what regards the industry for the zero transformation, there is something common in all those three industry I mentioned, even for others. You know, starting from the beginning, Atlectra we've launched in 2017, our 4.0 strategy. We announced that strategy, baiting on disruptive technology, 4.0 technology that are the cloud, the big data, the IoT, and the artificial intelligence. And since that year, we've been developing all our solutions based on those technologies. And for what regards the manufacturing solutions, we call it cutting-room 4.0.
00:06:04
Speaker
It's such a name behind the this this concept of Industry 4.0, applicable to the the cutting room. To me, this is exactly what Industry 4.0 means. It's all about technology. It is a revolution revolution driven by technology. That's all.
00:06:23
Speaker
and and and I will add it is providential because it looks to be today the solution to the great challenges of those industry. Even if those challenges are different depending on the industry, automotive fashion and furniture, it is for us the solution ah to to to fix those those challenges is definitely the industry 4.0 and the technology that supports this this transformation.
00:06:53
Speaker
Right. um And I just want to zoom in on fashion in particular. How do you think that um the vision that Lectro has for the next industrial revolution is going to show up in the everyday lives of fashion professionals? And how should they be thinking about their priorities? Yeah, that's a very interesting question, but very frequent question. That's the concern of every player. They know they have to adopt this this revolution, not for the sake of it, not for just for change, but to to find a way to to fix their issue and to transform themselves. And I have i have quite a clear answer on this, that it is based on technology. As I said, this revolution is firstly, technology. And it answer new fashion needs, that's why
00:07:48
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the way it's going to show up is by the adoption of those technologies. So I need to be more concrete. Let me give you some examples. First, the cloud. I mentioned the cloud. The cloud technology, or sometimes we call it platform, will connect all players over the supply chain.
00:08:06
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Within electron manufacturing solutions, this cloud access will occur through a shared comprehensive workflow, but still it is a cloud solution. And thanks to that cloud, every player will work from order processing to cutting execution on the same cloud. So that is the collaboration between players, from designers to manufacturers, from brands to subcontractor. From a country to another, each operation can be optimized considering constraints and objectives of the others.
00:08:37
Speaker
That's the power of the cloud. So this is the first technology. A second one is data. Data or big data, because this cloud solution factors a comprehensive and common state of data. It gives the same visibility and transparency and traceability to the whole ecosystem.
00:08:55
Speaker
And I should mention a third one, which is artificial intelligence, probably the most des disruptive one, which usage is allowed, by the way, by the two first one, cloud and big data. Without those one, you cannot have artificial intelligence. But since we are to deploy cloud and data, we can plug artificial intelligence. And now there is no limit in computing. Artificial intelligence can express it its full potential.
00:09:21
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And this unlocks a new level of manufacturing performance. So it's really the adoption of those technologies that create the change and the revolution. And one more thing I need to be complete on on this question is that if those technologies are very powerful, they will be useless if not properly adjusted to the fashion context and workflow. That's also the value added of Electra and this specific frame, our solution.
00:09:53
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very technology is designed by fashion experts embedding their expertise. And that is very important to match with the reality of the process and the constraints of our customers. So all in all is with those technology and expertise we intend to offer a revolutionary way of manufacturing.
00:10:10
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And it's disruptive. This is what we call value of fashion, by the way. Yes. we're and We're going to talk about that more for sure. um I really agree with you what you said. ah The reality is really important because I think a lot of fashion professionals know about all the things you've mentioned in terms of AI. I mean, everybody knows about AI now.
00:10:30
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um and cloud computing, ah but it's really about grounding it in the practical steps. And you mentioned that that your work is also, that's why I was interested in your background with with mathematics, because I think you really have to keep grounded in reality, because some of these concepts seem very abstract. so i I totally agree that the reality is important with matching up um the advanced capabilities that Lecture has. So just before I talk about Valia, oh, actually, let's talk about it now because I think it's pretty interesting. um So I'm interested to know more about it. And at the the solution is a cutting solution. And it promises to optimize every stage of fabric cutting through digitization, integration, workflow management, and real-time visualization.
00:11:19
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So previously it was focused on furniture, but it's grown now to include fashion. um Were you part of that change? And when did the adoption of fashion into Valia happen? Do I have this correct? Yes, you are correct. And I should just add just a few things. First, Valia fashion is a digital platform.
00:11:49
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based on cloud that connects all players of the supply chain, whatever they are, whoever they are, um through a unique workflow from other processing to the manufacturing. And by connecting all the players following the same objective, we create a unique proposition. That is a real revolution for the industry. That is value of fashion.
00:12:15
Speaker
That's true. We've launched value furniture and there is a, that is a great success, a real change. We've launched, we launched it in January 24 and this bring the digital transformation in an new industry ah furniture industry with its own DNA. You know, the furniture industry is made of integrat integrated companies working in pool mode. Pool mode means you produce only when you have an order and just when you order a sofa, you buy your sofa.
00:12:45
Speaker
It triggered the the production, so that's why they're working in pool mode with very low volumes compared to the fashion, with specific challenges around the label to maintain the know-how of the resources, and also to consider environmental impact and comply with the new CSR and traceability regulations. For all those reasons, we can Confirm now that value furniture makes sense and revolution the furniture industry. But this value furniture is not value fashion. Fashion context is different. The volume, the impact, the workflow is different. You need, for example, two but to manage sizes of the garments, which is not the case in when making sofa. So we had to adapt this value furniture, those technology for the zero to the fashion context.
00:13:35
Speaker
to train our AI model, to work with fashion experts, to to develop additional things, to match with these different contexts. And we know now we reached our objective. It's proven work. While I'm speaking, we already have users, testers, first adopters using it and making incredible achievement. I can claim it now because we have we have ah proven results. I can say we have a revolution in our hands. And that's why it's time to launch, to make this change and and launch Valia Fashion because we have made the adjustment compared to Valia Furniture to make this solution suitable, relevant and and performing in in fashion in a fashion context.
00:14:23
Speaker
So you mentioned how furniture is different from fashion and obviously there are many differences. um So you work across all three that you mentioned furniture, automotive and fashion. Do you see any crossovers? Have you been able to take any lessons from the other sectors and actually implement them into ay you know your day-to-day or the value fashion platform. um And do you think that there can be lessons learned in a wider context for fashion from different industries, um even though they're quite different? Yes, definitely. Definitely. I talked about furniture industry. We learn from that experience and we get, for example, the capacity to produce on demand, to manage
00:15:07
Speaker
low volumes to comply with the coming traceability regulation and constraints. So definitely this is something we can count on and capitalise on.
00:15:19
Speaker
This is from our experience on the and the furniture market. For what regards is the automotive, the context is different. Again, it's a ah completely different ah industry. It is a very concentrated industry. you know If you take ten ten the 10 biggest players, they control the majority of the business.
00:15:43
Speaker
So it's a very concentrated business and that is very different within the different and fashion market. Another difference is that this automotive industry is driven by optimization, repeatability. When you produce a car you do it for Whatever the component of the car, you do it for 10 years. Same thing, 10 years. it's It's completely different when making a garment. Each day is different. So this industry is driven by optimization, repeatability, and operational excellence. They work in a very tense and tight supply chain mode. Any shortage in in in and and the flow is affected. Remember the cheap shortage last year? it was It was a mess. So in such a context, answer can't be the same.
00:16:29
Speaker
And for what regards the automotive, really the context context is very, very different. But if I have to get something from the automotive that is still interesting for in a fashion context, I will mention two things. First, I know by looking at the automotive industry that there is still a place of improvement, whatever the criteria, whatever your achievement always and the most important always you still have place of improvement and you can always improve. There is a real gap in terms of of performance and some criteria between those industries so I can tell that and they always push the limit.
00:17:10
Speaker
And I also also know that the most impactful place where making ah this improvement is the cutting room. So that's the first lesson I learned from the automotive industry. Still you can improve. And the second one is the power of the data. Power of data by collecting data all over the world.
00:17:34
Speaker
In real time, you know we have thousands of equipment connected so we can kind connect combine and look at a huge amount of data tap into it. And by combining combining it with artificial intelligence.
00:17:49
Speaker
It gives outstanding results. It's just amazing so things we can do with data. and and And I learned that from automotive as well. They look very precisely deeply in the data and they can get a new place of improvement always. So it's it's a lesson learned from the other industry as well. We should be very ah interested in in the the the data we ah we generate when producing. For sure. and I want to draw on something that you mentioned. I'm very interested in the EU sustainability legislation that's coming up and we've touched on traceability and transparency, which is so important um today in fashion. And I think what you mentioned about data is going to be really key in unlocking
00:18:38
Speaker
a better fashion future. um But we also know that consumer demand is more kind uncompromising than ever. So you know people want speed, style, and a low cost.
00:18:50
Speaker
But um there's also this imperative for traceability. And do you have any thoughts on what you believe is the key to managing and meeting demands? um And do you have a personal opinion about consumerism and about sustainability and and what the outlook is in terms of fashion specifically? Yes. So first of all, I completely agree with your your statement. And and they the the question is,
00:19:20
Speaker
is is good, the answer is not easy. But the observation is correct and fully agree. And that is what is true is that whatever the model or the demand, the demand is changing and is more and more demanding. And to me again, oh what is sure is that a full digital transformation of the industry is called. You know, I heard this recently from discussing this week with a fashion expert.
00:19:50
Speaker
And he said this, we should move from a labor intensive model to a data intensive model, where whole players from creation, manufacturing, promotion, even retailer, they all have to work in a synchronized way through data. So that's a bit conceptual, but but I think it's true. That means all fashion industry players must must transform themselves. That's the only way to to to solve this this problem.
00:20:17
Speaker
from distribution networks to supply chain, taking into account corporate social responsibility issues and continuous adjustment of their product range and their positioning strategies. And they have to do that together.
00:20:35
Speaker
and If I can add, this is what we intend to do at Electra. We want to be the partner of this required transformation. This is what we are looking for when providing a connected digital workflow to our customer so that they can make significant material savings. They will ensure traceability of the entire textile supply chain.
00:20:56
Speaker
And so that they will play a direct role in reducing the environmental impact. That's not easy, definitely. But I think the key is in the transformation of the whole ecosystem, not only manufacturers, not only retailers, not only designer brands. It has to be a common transformation. And to me, that is the key to meet this rising and market requirements you mentioned that are sometimes contradictory. Exactly. Yeah. the The contradiction is what makes it such a difficult problem um for sure. And linked to this is really on demand manufacturing and customization. So I wanted to ask you for your thoughts on how close you think the fashion industry is to achieving these ideas of design to production processes at scale.
00:21:50
Speaker
um Do you think it can play into sustainability? um And is it feasible for fashion? we You mentioned it for furniture because it's, I think, a bit easier. um So what are your thoughts on that? How can they the fashion industry you really scale the design to production process? The on-demand model is not ah cannot be applied for the whole consumption.
00:22:15
Speaker
It's not that scalable, so it will exist. It's a model, but it's part of the transformation of this market that is very complex. Fashion market is both becoming more and more complex and diverse.
00:22:29
Speaker
I would say it's being disrupted. You know, you have those new stakeholders, new players arriving, like huge companies covering the whole supply chain, from social network distribution to manufacturing, you can manage on machine or but or Amazon, but you also have smaller players rising.
00:22:48
Speaker
EPIR specialized with a clear ah strategy or a clear message around environment and so on. so And you also have new tech profile arriving in the business. Profile from data, from from from the web. A new business model around the web, by the way. way ah You also have second hands. So you have many, many different descriptions.
00:23:12
Speaker
arriving and on-demand model is not the only one on the only answer and it won't be the only answer you will still have on-demand model but we will have others you will have other technological descriptions you will have different consumer behavior your regulations that depend on the region so and this or this in a world that is becoming Or i don't I don't know if it's more instable, but that is still instable. So all this create an environment where there is no one answer. Customization, one on on-de-demand production, small batches, local shoring, massive production, or ever anything. It's not the only answer. It's not a single viable model that will arise. But but it's more the future is more a hybrid model.
00:24:05
Speaker
where traditional mass production co-exists with agile, on-demand co-exists with batch production based on powerful productive model. That's maybe the transformation the transform mission batch production need to adopt. So whatever the transformation of the industry, whatever the model, what is important is the flexibility, the responsiveness to the market. And also the sustainability and traceability is a common concern for the whole suppression.
00:24:34
Speaker
But whatever the model, because it's designed for that value fashion will help the players to face this new challenge. This is the way value fashion is designed, not only to match with one model on demand, customization, mass production, but to match with all of them to address the whole industry. That's the way value fashion has been designed. Yes, I agree. I think it's not as simple as saying There's just one idea and you know we know it's good for sustainability. We know it's good for many things for customers too, but it's some it's not easy just to say that there's one future um and one process that's going to be dominant.
00:25:16
Speaker
um and I wanted to get your opinion on what you think the next 50 years look like. We just spoke a little bit about it. It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but um lecture has been around for 50 years, which has probably seen a lot of change in that time. Obviously, the technological advances have been significant. um We can't predict anything, but what do you think are the forces that are going to most likely shape fashion in the next 50 years, it can be technological or otherwise. If ah I had to be more pragmatic, I would...
00:25:53
Speaker
of this landscape, I'm pretty sure that the next 50 years in the fashion industry will be shaped by two macro trends. Again, not a surprise, I already said it, but it is about sustainability in one hand and technology in in the other hand. Sustainability because there will definitely, we will have all an increased ah consumer demand for eco-friendly practices, for green materials, for recycling.
00:26:22
Speaker
for respectful working conditions. That is also very important. um And regulation also will push supply chain towards a sustainable and ethical production. So that's the first i'm sure transformation that I'm sure is for the long term is the sustainable transformation. And the second one is the technical innovation, technological innovation. The advances in and artificial intelligence, in machine learning will favor creation process, supply chain efficiency, transparency, and even the customer engagement, I think. If all the supply chain transform, I think it it will it will engage also the end users.
00:27:08
Speaker
So those are the changes that we that can pri and predict for the next, I don't know if it's 50 years, but for the future around the change, around the landscape and really a big trend around the sustainability and the technology. And this is positive. We should not be alarmists. So these changes will create a dynamic landscape in which to exist, the player will have to transform their model.
00:27:39
Speaker
And whatever the the future is, this is precisely where Electra will be for the next 50 years with our customer to face this sustainable and technical challenge with a lot of enthusiasm because we really believe in it. So this is where Electra will be for the next 50 years. Yeah, I agree. I think it's daunting, but it's exciting. There's um a lot of opportunity in this.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah, and and it's for all players, all stakeholders. There's a lot of opportunity for technology companies, for brands, for um the companies involved in sustainability. And um I think what sometimes is a bit scary is that it has to happen fast. um And like you mentioned, ah technology is just changing day by day. There's something different, it feels like. But but I agree, I'm positive. And um I think your positivity as well is is well-founded. So um Nicola, it's been a pleasure having you on the podcast. Thank you so much for sharing your insights um and we'll be looking out for your work and the work that Lecture does in the next 50 years and and closer to that too. Yeah, it will be a pleasure. Thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Nicola.
00:28:55
Speaker
Be sure to give Lecturer a follow on their social media platforms, and if you'd like to learn more about their Valia fashion solution for fashion, visit www.lecturer dot.com forward slash en forward slash products forward slash Valia, or get in touch with a member of the Lecturer team today.
00:29:12
Speaker
There are many more exciting guests in our podcast schedule. So make sure you don't miss an episode and subscribe to the Interline podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and give us a follow on LinkedIn and Instagram. Also be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, where we give you our analysis on the biggest stories of the week in the world of fashion technology. Thanks very much for listening. Bye for now.