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California Apparel News Published on April 16, 2004 AIMS Makes EDI Simple In the increasingly complex world of apparel manufacturing—a world, until recently, notoriously computer-averse—the acronym EDI is still a thing of mystery and even fear to many. EDI, which stands for electronic data interchange, is the computer-to-computer communication process required these days by a majority of major retailers from their suppliers. EDI encompasses everything to do with a transaction, from purchase orders to advance shipping notices, invoices to UPC codes, all communicated electronically. Every retailer has its own EDI requirements, and, more and more, the major chains simply will not deal with apparel manufacturers who are not EDI capable.
EDI can be a daunting prospect, particularly for smaller manufacturers who are just getting used to using internal business software. In fact, one of the toughest EDI issues is that of integrating an EDI software program with business software, since, as separate applications, they do not generally share information. That means information has to be entered twice—with double the manpower cost and double the risk of error—unless a way can be found to bridge the gap and allow the data to flow seamlessly from one system to the other. Enter AIMS—Apparel Information Management System software. AIMS has spent two decades listening and responding to the industry’s needs.
Crucial to this integration have been two partners of AIMS: EDI Direct, a division of Innovative Systems, which translates documents into and from a standard format into the standards and requirements of trading partners, and Progressive Label, which features a full line of bar code printers and supplies that fully assist the integration of EDI with AIMS. Together, the three entities provide a state-of-the-art approach to EDI that is unmatched. And that perfect flow of information is critical to ever-tightening bottom lines, and avoiding the inevitable chargebacks if any aspect of an order is non-complying. Not surprisingly, AIMS’ clientele has been duly impressed. “AIMS’ EDI integration is the best I’ve seen,” says Adam Rodriguez, chief operations officer for C&C of California. Rodriguez, who has worked on AIMS “many years,” explains that his company “bought the basic system when we were much smaller, and now we are extremely big and we didn’t have to upgrade anything—the software has brought us up to this level.” The addition of the EDI module has brought C&C to the forefront, with no technical stumbling blocks between the company and even the biggest, most stringent retail chains. Data flow “is automated,” he relates. “Once you enter something, the system has the ability to carry it through all the way to the end. It’s very cost efficient.”
AIMS’ clients are also impressed with its user-friendliness, its comprehensiveness, and the strength of the customer support service, which is renowned for its quick response time and its willingness to listen to and learn from its clients.
“I would say that the enhancements they’ve developed they did through customer feedback,” says Laura Sherman, general manager for Frankie B. “Certainly that’s true for the new EDI requirements. AIMS had to be responsive to that need, which is a major programming change. And they have been.” Sherman, who has worked on “15 programs in 40 years,” describes the system as “outstanding.” “You can’t function anymore without a computer,” she says. “If I had no computer system, given a choice, I would select AIMS.” |
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Marvin Davila, vice president of operations for Blue Cult, has worked on other systems, but AIMS “has a very good EDI system, which I haven’t seen in other systems,” he explains. The denim powerhouse has 30 to 40 users on AIMS, and, he says, “I don’t think there’s a way we could do this without the AIMS system, especially the EDI. It automates everything from assigning UPC numbers and creating UPC files to receiving and processing orders and generating price tickets. It automates the whole operation, allowing me to basically use less people to do the work. And I have check and balance control at all times.”
