No two businesses are the same. Shapeshifter is a powerful, cloud-based hyper-automation solution to the problem of fabric and operational waste, customised to your particular needs through a people-focused partnership.
You have top and bottom lines to achieve, brand initiatives to support, compliances to follow and sustainability goals to champion. Using our 4-step diagnostic-focused process, we work closely with you to solve your problems, reduce waste and help you do better business.
Each business has its own pain points, from poor data clarity, process bottlenecks and the customers’ need for speed, problems compounded by increasing costs and flatlining FOB expectations. Here are some of the most common challenges and how Shapeshifter resolves them:
Calculating fabric yield quickly and accurately helps win more business and boosts your top line.
Shapeshifter is both fast and accurate.
With fabric costs normally more than half the FOB, the need to accurately establish fabric yields is paramount. Costing too high may lose you the business, cost too low you may not profit from the deal.
The typical scenario is that the quote is needed urgently, but you don’t have the time and resources to properly investigate costs with a high degree of confidence. Forced to guess, you also add on a buffer because losing business is one thing but doing bad business is worse.
Shapeshifter’s customised cloud service connects the costing team to the rest of the business, even in multi-country enterprises. It eliminates the need to queue for resources or for specialist skills.
Our Infinity Engine delivers both speed and accuracy whilst removing risk, allowing business to be won quickly and profitably.
Saving fabric in the cutting room is important but buying the right amount in the first place is critical.
Shapeshifter eliminates guesswork.
Buying either too little or too much fabric is problematic. On one hand you face letting down customers because orders are unfulfilled or delayed. On the other hand, buying too much fabric means your profitability takes a hit. Excess fabric can’t always be re-used and can easily end up increasing the inventory or deadstock costs to an unacceptable level.
Guesstimating occurs because of tight timeframes, with customers typically wanting orders in 60 days or less. This leaves you without the time or resources to explore all the options for all the orders so you can buy only what’s needed. Over-ordering is as much of a burden on the environment and your sustainability goals as it is on your profits.
Working as an integrated part of your ERP, Shapeshifter supports frenzied buying cycles with massive parallel processing in the cloud, calculating all the options for every style in a matter of hours, not weeks.
When it comes to the cutting room it’s important to create the best cut-plans using efficient markers, but does the “best” cut-plan even exist? What might be best for one may be unusable for another.
Shapeshifter customises solutions for different problems.
There are literally thousands of options and combinations to choose from and only a limited time to get the job done in time for the production line switch-over.
There are also preferences and constraints to consider, constraints which may come from the customer, the tech pack, the fabric properties and inconsistencies, machinery being used, and from the subsequent manufacturing processes.
Shapeshifter’s customised approach delivers the best result for any situation. Automatic settings kick in for the bulk of the work whilst users can prioritise and select for special case scenarios when the “best’ result needs to be different.
Traditional cut-planning technology and marker making solutions require time, user licenses, investment and significant effort to deliver their less than optimal results.
Shapeshifter does things differently.
Traditional on-premise or cloud-based technologies present basic inherent features which are a function of traditional, inefficient linear processes, ie 1) creating a cut-plan, and then 2) making some markers. Even when queues are invisible to the user they are still there, preventing the results from being optimised.
Shapeshifter calculates the best cut-plan and marker combination in a logical, non-linear process, computing all the thousands of possibilities before delivering the results.
There are no queues, visible or otherwise, and an unlimited user capability combined with data pushed from ERP enables technology users to support the Costing, Buying and Cutting processes simultaneously without prioritisation of any.
As new technologies are deployed, their ability to play well with others as part of your own unique technology ecosystem will be critical to success.
Shapeshifter makes managing technologies easier.
Shapeshifter is cloud-native, connecting easily to your digital ecosystem with the security of high level encryption technology.
ERP integration, using REST API, ensures software solutions hold automated two-way conversations. For web browsers, Shapeshifter's user interface is configured to provide maximum automation and simplicity.
Cloud architecture makes updating software easier and provides access to massive computing power.
There are no CAPEX or OPEX budgets to consider.
Boosting top lines and keeping bottom lines healthy while managing risk is an imperative for any business.
Shapeshifter removes risk.
Shapeshifter is a cloud-based SaaS solution delivered through a monthly subscription contract, which means no hefty capital expenditure and you're not locked in forever.
You avoid the costly CAPEX and OPEX of traditional tech solutions and licensing models.
Plus, by paying only a fraction of the subscription fees during the pilot phase, whilst making quantified dollar gains as Shapeshifter creates improvements, the traditional invest-first payback-later model reverses to pay for itself in advance.
Making best use of your human resources and finding new assets with the right skills, attitude and the ability to work under pressure has become an artform in a highly competitive recruitment environment.
Shapeshifter automates processes.
Traditional, costing, buying, cutting room and technology teams all need the right spread of skills, knowledge and detailed level abilities for selected disciplines. These skills may not always keep up with the changing landscape of the apparel industry, creating bottlenecks in supply and driving up costs.
While there will always be a need for specialists, many of the tasks can and should be automated to allow the skilled team to use their unique abilities to better impact the process goals.
Shapeshifter automates many of the difficult processes, mitigating the challenges and enabling better, faster ways of working.
Shapeshifter is easy to use. After just a couple of sessions with our 1-hour online training programme your entire team can be Shapeshifter-ready, regardless of their existing skillsets.
Fashion brands and apparel manufacturers are increasingly focusing on supporting environmental practices and reducing waste at source.
Shapeshifter reduces fabric waste.
Environmental initiatives are driven by customers’ desire to protect fragile ecosystems, especially in the developing countries that make the products.
Each year around 100 billion garments are made world-wide. The ability to use less fabric in every garment would be a truly global win for the end consumer, for the brand and the garment manufacturer, and for the fragile ecosystems in which they operate.
Shapeshifter reduces fabric in each garment by an average of 2% measured against the traditional tech landscape. This 2% equates to a potential of around 3 billion yards less fabric used at source and lower costs for apparel manufacturers, brands and consumers. It also represents a massive win for the ecosystems that support our modern lifestyles.
Shapeshifter turns the traditional approach to selecting a technology solution on its head. Instead of a one-way conversation that focuses on closing a sale, we work through a collaborative, evidence-driven 4-step diagnostic process to understand how, where and especially if we can add value to your unique case.
The objective is to get to the heart of your needs and drive the best outcomes, customising a cloud-based hyper-automation solution that goes beyond resolving problems and the challenge of reducing waste, to adding significant value.
This highly effective 4-step diagnostic process typically runs over a period of three months.
Understanding your business and how you work is vital.
We get to know you.
We build a thorough understanding of your business with focus on fabric costing, buying, cutting and CAD processes, drawing out key insights and discussing the issues that you and your teams face.
At the end of the Discover phase we deliver a solid value hypothesis which is based on the information we have found and mapped onto the results we expect from our many previous similar implementations. This gives us an educated guess as a good starting point.
A diagnostic testing phase that identifies the indicators of your key issues and uses machine learning to determine your best outcomes.
Here's how it happens.
Shapeshifter produces an objective benchmark comparison study by analysing 5-10 of your styles, those that represent the bulk of your business, with all their everyday complexities and variations.
By 'showing' Shapeshifter real examples of your work, your expectations, and the associated spectrum of variables and complexities, Shapeshifter learns what good looks like to you, how to behave under a range of different conditions and how to achieve the best results.
Shapeshifter then creates optimised cut-plan and marker combinations for those styles using our Infinity Engine, intelligent algorithms and massive processing power.
This step allows us to provide you with a quantified value proposition based on empirical evidence.
Designing a customised, automated solution that delivers the greatest value for the greatest number of style types, categories, and constraints.
We do this together.
Shapeshifter is not an off-the-shelf solution. Because no two businesses are the same, we work together to customise the solution that’s absolutely the best fit.
Equipped with a benchmark comparison study, and a clear picture of your unique needs, we design a fully customised automated solution that creates efficiencies, increases speed, cuts waste and significantly reduces effort.
A simple customised interface produces cut-plans and markers automatically with the minimum of user interaction, or indeed, no interaction when linked up to your favourite ERP or PLM.
We perfect the design, prioritising those Critical To Success (CTS) factors, making continued adjustments throughout Steps 3 and 4.
Implementing your Shapeshifter solution and making sure you get the best out of it.
There are two key phases.
Phase 1 – Pilot
You run the solution in a live environment, replicating the results from the diagnostic testing phase, gradually adding more of your production into the mix.
Any additional CTS factors unearthed during this period are incorporated by further customisation.
The Pilot, offered at a fraction of the subscription cost, allows your team to train, calibrate and validate your customised Shapeshifter solution.
Phase 2 – Full Subscription
The full subscription is implemented following a successful Pilot, when we are both satisfied that your solution is delivering the desired results and we have captured all the CTS factors.
Shapeshifter's subscription contract is flexible, with opt-outs at key stages and no long term commitment. This means you're not locked in indefinitely if you decide Shapeshifter isn't the right solution for you.
Find out more about Shapeshifter’s powerful features