Weathering the Storm

Unlike most companies, London Fog sees signs of celebration in the skies when dark clouds start gathering. For more than 80 years, the company's trademark raincoats and outerwear have been synonymous with quality and protection from inclement conditions. But even a company with a business model predicated on weathering storms can find itself seeking shelter, as London Fog did at the turn of the century, when mild winters and mounting debt led it to seek Chapter 11 protection.

In 2001, London Fog emerged from bankruptcy stronger than ever, even earning the distinction of a No. 1 rating for brand identity in rainwear and outerwear from Women's Wear Daily magazine in 2002. Enjoying blue skies financially, London Fog was ready to take another step forward, and in 2004 the company decided to implement Jesta I.S.'s Vision.FC 3.1 and Vision Sourcing & Demand Management 7.1, Jesta's product lifecycle management and enterprise resource planning suite.

A New Challenge Arises
Implementing an entirely new suite is never a simple task, even when conditions are perfect. For London Fog, the difficulty of implementing the Jesta I.S. apps was compounded by the fact that the company had recently relocated its headquarters from Seattle to a joint venture based simultaneously in Toronto, Ontario and Shelton, Connecticut. On top of that, according to Robert M. Berger, principal of Berger Management Systems, who was brought in to assist in the implementation, "there were no employees who came with the relocation, so the system (had to) be intuitive and install rapidly without customization."

Berger explains the parameters that he was given for the implementation: "London Fog wanted an established software system that was in use for long periods of time at companies larger than we were." Jesta I.S. fit the bill. "The application had been refined over many years," Berger points out, "and was technologically current in its Oracle format. Furthermore, Jesta provided a Manufacturing tracking system and as all product was manufactured in non-company factories, this was an invaluable feature for extending our control of product production."

Clear Vision Emerges
The Web-enabled Vision.FC was chosen to standardize information management with vendors around the globe, with the goals of reducing product development lead times, improving inventory effectiveness, and solidifying partnerships through the increase of mutual efficiencies. Vision Sourcing & Demand Management were selected with the goal of providing London Fog with a concrete base for future growth and resource optimization.

In spite of the complexities, the company completed its implementation ahead of schedule. Of course, it wasn't all clear skies and smooth sailing during the implementation process. "Some of the issues of the implementation were revisited as the options provided were broad," says Berger. "We were able to accommodate these procedural options changes without affecting the schedule. London Fog is quite proud that the system was installed in less than six months, allowing the first season's product to be purchased on the system rather than through a manual process which would have had to be input later."

Icing on the Cake
Simply achieving a six-month deployment schedule is a solid accomplishment. Seeing benefits almost immediately is icing on the cake, but that's exactly what London Fog is enjoying.

"The system has been installed for only a few months and we're in the midst of our first shipping season," says Berger. "We have been able to operate with a customer service/allocation/distribution staff that is considerably smaller than the previous environment. Information is passed smoothly to our warehouse management system. We expect further performance increases as we improve analysis on the first year's sell through," he says.

Berger isn't alone in his assessment. "The rapid and meticulous implementation of the Jesta I.S. systems," says Richard McCaffery, president and CEO of London Fog, "has provided London Fog with a business system that will enable us to have a competitive advantage in the marketplace, which is critical to our success. The areas we are targeting are increased speed-to-market, partnership management, reduced inventory risk and increased operational efficiency."

The Silver Lining
It will take time to see if those targets are met, but everyone involved in the deployment agrees that London Fog has put itself in a position for strong future growth.

"I can't address proprietary issues relating to growth plans," Berger says, "but I can say that the smoothness of the implementation and the strength of the support has made London Fog a strong reference account for Jesta I.S. It's likely that we will review each new enhancement with an eye toward implementation and will participate actively in the customer area of their systems design."

A successful implementation on this scale would be a silver lining for any company, but unlike most, London Fog can now look forward to the dark clouds behind that silver lining, and prepare for many, many rainy days yet to come.