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Interview with Chris Nicolaes

Chris Nicolaes
Chris Nicolaes
MD
Lectra - Germany and Eastern Europe
Lectra - Germany and Eastern Europe

Many companies now follow a hybrid model which off-course influences their sourcing pattern.
Chris Nicolaes talks about the sourcing industry and the latest technological innovations with Mary Christine Joy. Synopsis: Lectra is a multi-national company employing thousands of employees. It provides integrated technology solutions to companies worldwide. In the apparel and fashion industry, they cover a broad area including collection, management, facilitating collaboration and enhancing the value of customer's brand equity. Chris began his career in 1982 as a management consultant with RND, a consultancy firm. He holds an MBA from Newport University, Utrecht, and degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from Eindhoven University of Technology, also in the Netherlands. He was recently appointed as the MD of Lectra for Germany and Eastern European regions. Excerpts:

Being newly appointed to this responsible position, what vision do you, Chris Nicolaes, have in mind for Lectra Germany and Eastern Europe?

In Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia, there is a growing competition because of financially strong international brands, which vehemently crowd into the market. Companies are forced to expand into new markets, to focus on retail activities and to increase their brand awareness. In the mean time Eastern European Manufacturers compete for the production orders of these brands. We want to help to bring both "worlds" together and support brands and manufacturers to find an optimal way of collaboration. To get there, Lectra offers more than products; we provide consulting to our customers and assist them to adapt their business model to make nearshoring as efficient as possible, reducing time-to-market and increasing margin.
 

You have worked as a management consultant before. Keeping that experience in mind, how do you find the management in textile companies of Europe? How is it different from the management of Asia or America?

It's hard to tell as every region has its companies and every business is run by people.

What are the current trends in sourcing? Can you elaborate a bit on this?

For the textile and fashion industry, I would say that there are two main aspects - there are brands, retailers and manufacturers, and what we notice is that more and more retailers as well as manufacturers start creating their own brands. So, many companies now follow a hybrid model which off-course influences their sourcing pattern. Another trend is towards nearshoring or reshoring. That means, due to increasing wages in China, but also the influence of fast-fashion, fewer companies source in Asia, but rather come back to Eastern Europe to be more flexible and reactive to the demand at acceptable manufacturing cost.

What are your strengths that will help you in taking your vision forward?

I have been associated with various companies in the last 20 years of my professional life. I love to be in this dynamically developing market where you have to max the alignment of the company to the market needs. My experience helps.

If we ask in general, can you let us know of the latest technological innovations going on in fashion, textile and technical textiles industry?

3D technology is a real revolution in all fashion industries. With the concepts of a lean product development approach, Lectra's business consultants assists its customers in streamlining the whole product development process and all elements involved, to minimize time-to-market by reducing the need for physical samples drastically and at the same time boost the efficiency of the organization which off-course leads to increased margins.

I would like to quote one of the earlier statements from Lectra CEO - "Our customers in these markets are undergoing far-reaching structural changes. Thanks to its worldwide network, Lectra understands the mechanisms of these changes and goes far beyond providing just a technology…" said Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO. What are the far reaching structural changes noticed in Germany and Eastern Europe?

The structural changes would be the shifting of brands from sheer designing and eventually manufacturing companies into the retailing business and retailers and manufacturers developing their own brands; so it becomes a world of hybrid companies. At Lectra we support our customers in this change process by providing business consultancy and PLM solutions, enabling better-controlled product development and integration from design to manufacturing, resulting in increased efficiency and shorter time-to-market without losing the competitive edge.

How would you describe Asia as a market for ERP and PLM software?

As the labor costs are rising, also Asian market players feel the need to introduce more automation. Their whole supply chain needs to be managed efficiently, which calls for integrated PLM solutions. With our subsidiaries throughout Asia - five alone in China - we are firmly established and can help our customers to enhance their business processes.

Germany has always remained an ardent adapter of latest technologies. Do you agree? Please explain your stand?

I don't completely agree, as I believe that American companies are always trying to be on the leading edge. However it is true that German companies have always adapted latest technologies early.

How do you see Russia as a market for software solutions? Its expertise lies in technical textiles, isn't it? May be, integrated technical solutions for technical textiles would work the best in Russian market.

The Russian market definitely has a lot of potential. Lectra's team in Moscow is in that market for many years, and we have many customers in fashion and technical textiles who we will further support in their growth in a changing environment.
Published on: 02/10/2014

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.