AIMS360′ Customer Support has one of the most important tasks here at AIMS.  That task is resolving issues with a  positive attitude and keeping our customers satisfied.  The core strength of any business is the quality support that they offer!

We would like to congratulate the AIMS 360 Customer Support team for a job well done! Looking at surveys conducted from October 2012 to February 2013, the Support team received 5 stars on nearly all questions that were asked once a ticket was closed.

Here is how Customer Support scored:

Hat’s off to the team for a wonderful job!

For a more details about AIMS 5 Star Customer Support and to learn how AIMS can help grow your apparel business, please contact us today!

310-361-5710 | info@aims360.com | www.aims360.com

The language of the Apparel Industry

Clothing manufacturing companies, apparel businesses (both wholesale and retail), warehouses, and any other components that are involved in either the production or distribution of that product have a unique language.  After 41 years of being in the apparel industry I picked up all of the industry language. I now teach apparel classes as a professor at several colleges and have been the managing partner at AIMS since the days the apparel software company began. It is imperative that if you want to do business in this industry, you must first learn the internal semantics.

There are many key words and acronyms within the industry that apparel companies around the world use daily to convey their business needs.  Let’s start off with one of the most essential key acronyms, which I also happen to come up with for my students, PLADS.

1. P rodution/Manufacturing and Importing
2. L ogistics/Shipping
3. A ccounting/Finance
4. D esign/Merchandising
5. S ales/Marketing

These five key items together, make for a successful business.  Just like you have 5 fingers, there are five key components in PLADS and when you close those 5 fingers and make a fist, you have a strong and successful organization.  If you were to remove one of your fingers (or in our case) take one of the key components out, that fist would weaken, your business would be missing a key item in running efficiently.

Businesses today are running at a much faster pace than ever.  In this day of great technology, no one has time for snail mail, inputting hand written orders, etc.  An apparel ERP software is like the muscles in your hand which has several functions. When moved properly the muscles make the hand move. Technology is a key factor that lets everything run seamlessly together and efficiently. The employees at a company are like the joints connected to the muscles they direct everything. Therefore, companies with talented employees that can use a strong ERP system to manage operations, take orders electronically, use automated emails to communicate, and do thousands of other tasks automatically run the most efficient businesses in the apparel industry.

Knowing the correct words, abbreviations, and acronyms whether it is internally with peers or with buyers, vendors, suppliers, etc.  will take you a long way.  So, why do we use special words and acronyms you ask?  It’s simple… convenience! We, the fast-paced fashion industry, have demanded the need to make things shorter and quicker.  The saying “Time is money” could not be any more relevant now than now.

What is an acronym?

Acronyms are shorter forms of words or phrases.  These abbreviations and acronyms come into play daily, especially when certain written or verbal processes of your business are standard and routine.  For example, “Yves Saint Laurent” is often written as “YSL.” You can see how writing the three-letter acronym can save you a lot of time and keep your business documents and purchase orders from sounding repetitive, and plus, how many people really want to say that name over and over again???  LOL (laughing out loud)

Key Acronyms

Once you understand the key elements of running a successful business, you should familiarize yourself with key acronyms that are used daily in various processes of the industry such as:

Production/Planning

• UOM – Unit of Measure (yards, gross, dozen, unit)
• BOM – Bill of Material (list parts required to assemble product)
• WIP – Work in Process (goods in the process of being made/not yet in inventory)
• OTS – Open to Sell (stock + WIP – Orders = OTS)
• OTB – Open to Buy (for retail buyers, this is money or merchandise budgeted for purchase during a time period that has not been ordered)
• CMT – Cut, Make, Trim (full package production of garment offshore or domestic)

Shipping

• FOB – Freight on Board or Free on Board

“FOB shipping point” or FOB origin” indicates that the buyer pays the shipping cost and takes responsibility for the goods when they leave the sellers premises.  “FOB destination” designates the seller will pay shipping costs and remain responsible for the goods until the buyer takes possession.

• LDP – Landed – Duty- Paid (total cost of finished garments entering the U.S. including transport and import duty fees)

Technology

• CAD – Computer Aided Design (textile, pattern, storyboards, etc.)
• CAM – Computer Aided Manufacturing (cutting machines and digitizing pattern)
• CAB – Computer Aided Business (QuickBooks, AIMS ERP Software, etc.)
• ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning

ERP systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc.  ERP systems such as AIMS360 automate this activity with an integrated software application or applications.

• MRP – Material Requirements Planning

MRP is a production planning and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes.  Most are software based.

• PLM – Product Lifecycle Management (managing the product lifecycle from a-z)

Business Related

• FTC – Federal Trade Commission (issues RN# for clothing manufactures)
• RN# – Registration Number (identifies manufacturer of clothing and must be on care label)
• RMA/RA # – Return Merchandise Authorization (number given for returns)
• EDI – Electronic Data Interchange

EDI is used primarily by department stores and larger companies and is a set of standards (software) for exchanging information/automated P.O.’s, returns, creating, transmitting and receiving documents.

Here are some other key acronyms that you you should look up and understand:

These are just a few of the many key acronyms that will help your business move forward.  Once you understand and have mastered the language of the industry you find it easier to communicate and build your business.

Aside from being the industry’s leading apparel software, AIMS has been teaching “Understanding Apparel Principles and Costing” to aspiring fashionistas for over 16 years in trade schools and universities throughout the U.S.  Classes are currently being taught at FIDM, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Art Institute of CA San Diego, Cal Poly Pomona AMM, UCLA Extension, and Saddleback College Irvine, CA.

For a more detailed list of acronyms and to learn how AIMS can help grow your apparel business, please contact us today!

310-361-5710 | info@aims360.com | www.aims360.com

Business Intelligence Makes for Intelligent Business

AIMS, the fashion industries’ leading apparel ERP software company has been offering solutions to thousands of apparel companies for the past three decades. In those many years, companies have not only been able to take orders, manage inventory, plan production, ship, etc., they have also gathered years of data which AIMS has successfully been able to allow clients to extract and analyze. AIMS has recognized the need of more sophisticated reporting by clients and has developed and introduced numerous new business intelligence tools to help clothing manufacturing companies grow to the next level.

The days of crossing your fingers and hoping you’re making the right business decisions are long gone.  Today, with business intelligence tools at your fingertips, you can run your apparel business based on hard facts and key insights that help guide your critical business decision making, so you confidently travel down the most beneficial strategic paths.  Imagine knowing precisely which fabrics yield the largest revenue in the spring in Latin America.  You would use this information wisely, wouldn’t you?

This is the power of business intelligence.  You have all of the hard data you need about your business and performance in order to substantiate important business decisions you are about to make.  You will run your business based on intelligence, rather than simple intuition.  This is how companies across all industry sectors operate today, and this same technology is now available to the fashion industry.  Now is the time to consider employing it in your organization.

Business intelligence is about more than just having access to good data.  It’s also about having that data displayed in meaningful, visually representative ways that offer you real business insight.  Today’s business intelligence tools offer reporting features that bring your data to life so you can identify key sales trends in your business, identify hot sales areas, anticipate product shortages, or understand whether your sweet spot is with specialty stores, boutiques or department stores.

Different business intelligence reports can help different areas of your business.  For example, some reports detail important sales data to help focus your sales efforts on the most profitable regions or types of customers.  Other reports offer insight into order fulfillment so your warehouse can stock up on goods according to actual demand.  Reports on your different product lines help your design team create garments that are sure to sell, rather than focusing on products they only believe to be popular.

In the market today there are many business intelligence tools designed to offer this type of information, such as AIMS 360 apparel software, and others.  These types of all-in-one business management solutions include substantial business intelligence functionality so you can better understand your customers’ needs and how to operate most effectively. Once you employ this software, you typically have access to a number of pre-defined reports, which you can further customize to garner the specific information you are most interested in.

At the touch of a button you will have real intelligence at your disposal that you can use to immediately improve your business and increase customer satisfaction.

What follows is a look at some of the types of reports you can use with your new business intelligence software to uncover real business insight.  These reports tend to have a multitude of built in options that allow you to uncover trends by time period, by product line, by region, by customer segment, by fabric or even style, by revenue, by source of business (which tradeshows yielded the most orders) and much more.

Order Summary Report:

You will know which advertisement you ran last month, for example, led to the most garment sales, or which of your product lines is doing the best and in what regions of the world.  You will also understand which tradeshows to skip out on next year based on how little revenue you garnered from them this year.

Delivery Schedule Report:

You will know far in advance if you have enough goods on hand to fulfill the orders you have on your books. This enables you to preemptively pull out-of-stock items from your shelves or website, for example, until you have ample inventory. This will go a long way toward avoiding unhappy customers, return orders and so on.

Order Line Item Detail Report:

You can easily determine which colors are selling the best, which fabrics account for the most returns and which garment styles sell well during which times of the year.  Your creative team will have the insight needed to design products using the colors, fabrics and styles that are most in demand.

Journal Sales Report:

You will know which product lines are doing the best and the worst in which regions of the world and with which type of customer.  You might learn that department stores run out of your designer scarves in winter months and you need to stock-up sufficiently to meet their demand.  This single piece of information can mean the difference between a successful relationship and a strained one, and high sales revenue versus low sales revenue.

These are just four out of the hundreds of reports that can run using the AIMS apparel ERP software.  The possibilities are truly endless.

Take the time to learn even more about how business intelligence tools like AIMS360 can help your business operate more intelligently and perform more successfully.

For more information about the AIMS apparel software, please contact info@aims360.com  or call 310-361-5710 ext. 722.  You may also visit them on the Web at www.aims360.com.

Are you thinking of implementing an online e-commerce website with a shopping cart or do you currently have one in place? If so, does it or will it use Flash and/or has it not been tested on multiple browsers? If you answered yes or you don’t know, then here are some stats that may make you want to strategize your e-commerce site. According to FORTUNE, “10% of purchases and 88% of tablet purchases were made on an iPad.” Overall, online spending on Black Friday increased nearly 21% over 2011. Department stores saw an increase of about 17%, Apparel saw an increase of about 17.5% and home goods were up about 28% all form 2011. Mobile device sales accounted for about 16% of all online sales with 59% using mobile phones vs. 41% on tablets. Of the tablet sales, 88% of Black Friday online orders came from an iPad.

With these kinds of stats, it is apparent that when building an e-commerce site that it is fully functional on the most widely used devices. AIMS EasyShop offers one of the most advanced e-commerce sites which loads and reaches audiences flawlessly through any device and any platform. Each shopping cart also offers the most helpful tools to market your business on the web such as Google Analytics, social media and SEO.

Learn more about the robust AIMS EasyShop and see why more and more businesses choose our application as their E-Commerce solution. Click here for details!

Contact us: 310-361-5710 | info@aims360.com

FULL ARTICLE

10% of online purchases — and 88% of tablet purchases — were made on an iPad

FORTUNE — Apple (AAPL) devices loomed larger than expected in IBM’s (IBM) final report on this year’s surge of online buying Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

Online sales were up both days — 17.4% and 20.7%, respectively — from 2011.  But the biggest surge came from mobile devices — and in particular from purchases made on an iPad or iPhone.

The highlights of IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark‘s Apple-related findings:

• The Mobile Factor: Mobile buying soared, with 24% of U.S. consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3% in 2011.  Actual sales from mobile devices hit 16.3%, up from 9.8% in 2011.   
• The Apple Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, accounting for nearly 10% of online shopping. This was followed by the iPhone at 8.7% and all Google (GOOG) Android devices combined at only 5.5%.
• The iPad Factor: The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3% followed by the Barnes and Noble (BKS) Nook at 3.1%, Amazon (AMZN) Kindle at 2.4% and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8%.

That only 5.5% of sales were made on Android devices was a bit of a shock given their rapid gains in market share in 2012.  According to IDC, Android claimed 75% of the smartphones sold in the third quarter to Apple’s 15%.

Below: An IBM graphic summarizing its full findings.

FULL ARTICLE: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/25/apple-ipad-black-friday/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2012, AT 10:00 A.M. EST

William Davie (Survey Methodology): (301) 763-7182

Deanna Weidenhamer (Seasonal Adjustment): (301) 763-7186

QUARTERLY RETAIL E-COMMERCE SALES

3rd QUARTER 2012

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2012, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $57.0 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent (±1.1 %) from the second quarter of 2012.  Total retail sales for the third quarter of 2012 were estimated at $1,092.2 billion, an increase of 1.4 percent (±0.4 %) from the second quarter of 2012. The third quarter 2012 e-commerce estimate increased 17.3 percent (±1.9 %) from the third quarter of 2011 while total retail sales increased 4.6 percent (±0.7 %) in the same period. E- commerce sales in the third quarter of 2012 accounted for 5.2 percent of total sales.

On a not adjusted basis, the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2012 totaled $52.5 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent (±1.1 %) from the second quarter of 2012. The third quarter 2012 e-commerce estimate increased 17.0 percent (±1.9 %) from the third quarter of 2011 while total retail sales increased 3.9 percent (±0.7 %) in the same period.

percent (±1.9 %) from the third quarter of 2011 while total retail sales increased 3.9 per

E-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2012 accounted for 4.9 percent of total sales.

Estimated Quarterly U.S. Retail E-commerce Sales as a Percent of Total Quarterly Retail Sales:1st Quarter 2003 – 3rd Quarter 2012

The Quarterly Retail E-Commerce sales estimate for the fourth quarter of 2012 is scheduled for release on February 15, 2013 at 10:00 A.M. EST.

For information, including estimates from 4th quarter 1999 forward, visit the Census Bureau’s Web site at

<http://www.census.gov/retail>. For additional information about Census Bureau e-business measurement programs and plans

visit http://www.census.gov/estats>.

*The 90% confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.

Table 1.       Estimated Quarterly U.S. Retail Sales: Total and E-commerce1

(Estimates are based on data from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey and administrative records.)

(p) Preliminary estimate.   (r) Revised estimate.

1E-commerce sales are sales of goods and services where an order is placed by the buyer or price and terms of sale are negotiated over an Internet, extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, electronic mail, or other online system. Payment may or may not be made online.

2Estimates are adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes.  Total sales estimates are also adjusted for trading-day differences and moving holidays.

Note: Table 2 provides estimated measures of sampling variability. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, sample design, and definitions, see http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/how_surveys_are_collected.html.

Table 2.       Estimated Measures of Sampling Variability for Quarterly U.S. Retail Sales Estimates: Total and E-commerce

(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey.)

(p) Preliminary estimate. (r) Revised estimate. (Z) Estimate is less than 0.05%.

Note: Estimated measures of sampling variability are based on data not adjusted for seasonal variation, trading-day differences, or moving holidays, and are used to make confidence statements about both adjusted and not adjusted estimates.  For information on confidentiality protection,and are used to make confidence statements about both adjusted and not adjusted estimates.  For information on confidentiality pro sampling error, nonsampling error, sample design, and definitions, see http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/how_surveys_are_collected.html.

Survey Description

Retail e-commerce sales are estimated from the same sample used for the Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) to estimate preliminary and final U.S. retail sales. Advance U.S. retail sales are estimated from a subsample of the MRTS sample that is not of adequate size to measure changes in retail e-commerce sales.

A stratified simple random sampling method is used to select approximately 12,500 retail firms whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe of over two million retail firms. The MRTS sample is probability based and represents all employer firms engaged in retail activities as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Coverage includes all retailers whether or not they are engaged in e-commerce. Online travel services, financial brokers and dealers, and ticket sales agencies are not classified as retail and are not included in either the total retail or retail e-commerce sales estimates. Nonemployers are represented in the estimates through benchmarking to prior annual survey estimates that include nonemployer sales based on administrative records. E-commerce sales are included in the total monthly sales estimates.

The MRTS sample is updated on an ongoing basis to account for new retail employer businesses (including those selling via the Internet), business deaths, and other changes to the retail business universe. Firms are asked each month to report e-commerce sales separately. For each month of the quarter, data for nonresponding sampling units are imputed from responding sampling units falling within the same kind of business and sales size category. Responding firms account for approximately 78 percent of the e-commerce sales estimate and about 72 percent of the estimate of U.S. retail sales for any quarter.

For each month of the quarter, estimates are obtained by summing weighted sales (either reported or imputed). The monthly estimates are benchmarked to prior annual survey estimates. Estimates for the quarter are obtained by summing the monthly benchmarked estimates. The estimate for the most recent quarter is a preliminary estimate. Therefore, the estimate is subject to revision. Data users who create their own estimates using data from this report should cite the Census Bureau as the source of the input data only.

Adjusted Estimates

This report publishes estimates that have been adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes. We used quarterly e-commerce sales estimates for 4th quarter 1999 to the current quarter as input to the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program to derive the adjusted estimates. For sales, we derived quarterly adjusted estimates by summing adjusted monthly sales estimates for each respective quarter. Seasonal adjustment of estimates is an approximation based on current and past experiences.

The X-13ARIMA-SEATS software improves upon the X-12 ARIMA seasonal adjustment software by providing enhanced diagnostics as well as incorporating an enhanced version of the Bank of Spain’s SEATS (Signal Extraction in ARIMA Time Series) software, which uses an ARIMA model-based procedure instead of the X-11 filter-based approach to estimate seasonal factors. The X-13ARIMA-SEATS and X-12 ARIMA software produce identical results when using X-13ARIMA- SEATS with the X-11 filter-based adjustments. The X-13ARIMA-SEATS software will be available from the Census Bureau’s Internet site in the coming months. Additional information on the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program may be found at http://www.census.gov/srd/www/x12a/.

Note that the retail estimates continue to be adjusted using the X-11 filter-based adjustment procedure.

Reliability of Estimates

Because the estimates in this report are based on a sample survey, they contain sampling error and nonsampling error.

Sampling error is the difference between the estimate and the result that would be obtained from a complete enumeration of the population conducted under the same survey conditions. This error occurs because only a subset of the entire population is measured in a sample survey.  Standard errors and coefficients of variation, as given in Table 2 of this report, are estimated measures of sampling variation.

The margin of error, as used on page 1, gives a range about the estimate which is a 90 percent confidence interval. If, for example, the estimated percent change is -11.4% and its estimated standard error is 1.2%, then the margin of error is ±1.753 x 1.2% or 2.1%, and the 90 percent confidence interval is -13.5% to -9.3%. Confidence intervals are computed based on the particular sample selected and canvassed. If one repeats the process of drawing all possible samples and forming all corresponding confidence intervals, approximately 90 percent of these individual confidence intervals would contain the estimate computed from a complete enumeration of all units on the sampling frame. If the confidence interval contains 0%, then one does not have sufficient evidence to conclude at the 90 percent confidence level that the change is different from zero.

Nonsampling error encompasses all other factors that contribute to the total error of a sample survey estimate. This type of error can occur because of nonresponse, insufficient coverage of the universe of retail businesses with e-commerce sales, mistakes in the recording and coding of data, and other errors of collection, response, coverage, or processing.sales, mistakes in the recording and coding of data, and other errors of collection, response, coverage, or processing. Although not directly measured, precautionary steps are taken to minimize the effects of nonsampling error.

CLICK HERE FOR ACTUAL POSTING

AIMS was first introduced to students at LA Trade Tech College in 1997. Knowing the ins and outs of the fashion industry and what fashion students were being taught at various trade schools and colleges, Henry Cherner saw that there was a gap that still needed to be filled between designing, merchandising, etc. and business concepts. Henry and his founding partner of AIMS, Scott Chaban, had built a successful automated tool for inventory management, order taking, shipping, accounting, EDI , etc. and saw that there was a strong tie between classroom education, technology and an evolving clothing manufacturing business world and that students within this industry needed more than just a fashion sense to be successful. So, Henry was brought in from industry to create a curriculum for Fashion Merchandising Math/Costing program and instituted it into various fashion programs. As time went on and the AIMS software itself started to evolve, and there was a need of more people to better understand how manage and apparel ERP Software, so Henry created an AIMS Certification program. The program itself teaches how to use an inventory management software (on the AIMS platform) and how to automate the many facets of the apparel industry using the system.

Many schools and fashion institutions throughout the west coast are teaching and certifying students to understand ERP fashion software by using an Apparel Information Management System (AIMS). And more and more companies are hiring them because of their AIMS knowledge. AIMS offers a complete training program for its clients as well as educational courses in many colleges and trade-schools for students interested in fashion apparel.

AIMS 360 is dedicated to educating and training of future stars in the apparel industry. AIMS is currently being taught at colleges and trade schools such as Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Art Institute of CA San Diego, Cal Poly Pomona AMM, UCLA Extension, Saddleback College Irvine, CA and in the Fall of 2012 it will be taught at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising).

ABOUT AIMS 360

AIMS 360 offers a fully integrated apparel inventory software solution for importers, distributors and manufactures of apparel, footwear, handbags, accessories, jewelry, home furnishings and other fashion goods. With over 25 years of experience, AIMS ties cutting-edge technology with all facets of your business. AIMS 360’ product suite is comprehensive, feature-rich, user-friendly, easy to implement and is compatible on a laptop, PC, Mac and iPad. Solutions are available for on-site applications and in the cloud.

A Gold Level Microsoft ISV Partner and Gold Level QuickBooks developer, AIMS 360 provides the most professional, up-to-date program possible, including AIMS GL Integration™ with QuickBooks, AIMS EasyShop™ online e-commerce retail shopping cart, AIMS WebLink™ online wholesale shopping cart, UPS , FedEx and USPS shipping integration, AIMS RemoteLink™ for iPad™ and Windows for order taking on the go, Business Analytics for iPad and the easiest-to-use EDI Integration.

AIMS 360 delivers all of this at affordable prices. From materials to finished goods, our application is easy-to-use, customizable and low-cost. No matter if you are a new business or are an existing small, medium or large organization, AIMS 360 is your ERP solution and is here to help you grow!

Find out why so many apparel businesses continue to rely on AIMS360 since 1984!

Call (310) 361-5710 or (646) 873-7675 | info@aims360.com | http://www.aims360.com

AIMS Apparel ERP Software - Go Green, Be Profitable!

“Going Green” is one topic that has become of much importance in almost any industry you can think of.  With making low cost fixes to be a part of the green movement, many clothing manufacturing companies have seen profits rise.  But this change to “green” has not been easy for the fashion industry.  Sure, many garments are being produced with 100% organic cotton and other environmentally friendly materials, but this is just one part of what can be done.

Manufacturing of textiles is one of the biggest pollutant industries globally due to antiquated manufacturing systems for processes such as dyes and finishes as well as growing cotton and producing synthetic fibers.  Each year, tons of wasted materials get rejected from mills because of incorrect dye colors which then need to be destroyed by incineration and eventually leads to toxins in the air.  Many water sources near manufacturing mills are polluted and turn into various colors depending on which season that mill is producing due to toxic dyes that are washed off during the cleaning process.

All of this sounds morbid but, apparel businesses can conduct research and really understand the entire processes of making the fabric to the end product. Companies should put into place a criteria list which evaluates environmental performance of suppliers.  After appraising all suppliers, the one that is most eco-friendly will be the one that receives the contract.  What dictates profitability for mills is the number of production orders they receive, so if you, the brand, assesses the mills environmental practices and standards and see that they are not up to par, then that particular mill will probably see less business and hence will be less profitable.

As we try to clean up the manufacturing process, the apparel industry also experiences issues such as over production of goods and garments being worn for shorter periods of time and being disposed of in order to move on to the next season.   Apparel businesses demand more from their manufactures and expect a quicker turnaround time and all completed within short notice, which in turn leads to higher chances of making mistakes in production.   When all is said and done and there is an excess inventory left because the garments did not sell or were manufactured incorrectly.  You now have tons of perfectly good pieces that end up getting pushed to jobbers and/or eventually end up in landfills.  Thus, the waste created cuts into the companies’ profits due to lack of sale.

Many mistakes that are made during production or in the ordering process which lead to non-usable goods and have to be thrown away, are due to lack of software that can assist in planning of a production.  Many apparel companies feel that paper orders and manual processing is OK and do not realize the impacts that can affect both profitability and the environment.  AIMS 360 has been the leading apparel ERP software company in the industry for 28 years and continues to address issues to help drive efficiency and create eco-friendly solutions. Not only does the software address the issues of manual planning of purchasing, the software itself is eco-friendly. Current software industry itself demands many hard components such as servers, CPU’s, monitors, etc. and just like the apparel industry, thousands of old and unusable equipment is tossed into landfills each year.  In order to reduce computer component wastage, AIMS360 offers its servers in the cloud, meaning the user does not need to have a server on-site. AIMS will host and store all of the client on AIMS servers.  The more clients a software company can get to run in the cloud, the less equipment waste in landfills and power consumption.

Along with hosting, AIMS 360 offers iPad apps such as AIMS RemoteLink for salespeople that take orders on the go.  This native app allows you to take orders using an iPad and eliminates the necessities of paper.   All orders are logged into the app and uploaded into the AIMS software with a simple click of a button.

In the case of production errors, the AIMS 360 software helps streamline the process allowing the user to manage and assess quantities, sizes, colors etc. and place an order correctly and quickly with a few clicks.

When it comes to fashion garments, more-and-more customers are becoming environmentally  conscious and are looking at where a product is made, how it was made, what it was made of, who made it, etc. which, at the end of the day can increase profitability and the brand or severely hurt it.

For more information about the AIMS apparel software, please contact info@aims360.com  or call 310-361-5710 ext. 736.  You may also visit them on the Web at www.aims360.com