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Innovation

Anticipation, vision and collaboration: the vital sparks that drive our innovation philosophy

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The innovation imperative

In today’s increasingly global, complex and fast-moving world, fashion, furniture and automotive companies looking for profitable, sustainable growth need to constantly invent new competitive advantages. Innovation brings differentiation and differentiation is essential to lasting success.

Watch the interview: Philippe Ribera, VP Innovation at Lectra - His vision of innovation at Lectra

Lectra’s vision of innovation

Connecting the dots between emerging trends, market evolutions and future-focused business solutions for our customers is the core of Lectra’s innovation strategy. Experience and experimentation, successes and failures, and passionate, pragmatic people allow us to bring pioneering ideas to life. 

The strategic acquisitions of Gerber Technology, Neteven, Retviews and Gemini CAD Systems have enabled us to integrate businesses with proven innovation abilities into the larger Lectra group and build up a portfolio of solutions that expand our footprint along the value chain so that we can cover even more of our customers’ needs.

Download 50 years of innovation

Leveraging new technologies to shape the future of industry

Practical innovation has been a part of our identity from the beginning

We continue to harness the driving forces of progress with projects that respond to companies’ needs for in-depth customer knowledge, retail expansion and transparency and traceability in the supply chain. Projects on the application of virtual reality for collaborative fit reviews, machine learning for automated fabric defect identification and artificial intelligence for predictive collection planning are just some of the avenues we are exploring.

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Artificial Intelligence is unlocking unparalleled value for fashion brands

Innovation, collaboration and agility are the hallmarks of an enduring competitive advantage. Fashion companies that invest in digital solutions and automation position themselves to achieve these key operational goals by leveraging big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase their productivity, profitability and overall performance.

Lectra R&D teams develop an AI assisted image-lableing model to process higher volumes of fashion market data, faster with less risk of error.

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Collective intelligence

Innovation is also about people and how they work together

Openness to other mindsets, other ways of working and other industries is how we continue to power our innovation engine. We have cultivated an open innovation community--partners in research centers, universities, consulting firms, technology incubators/accelerators, internal teams and customers--to collaboratively identify future opportunities and potential for synergies.

Lectra’s Innovation Lab engages with startups, organizes “think tanks” and convenes advisory boards to continue exploring the boundaries of what is possible and finding ways to push past them. The Innovation Lab also joined the Brand and Retail program of the Plug & Play network, the world's leading innovation platform connecting startups, investors, and pioneering companies.

A long tradition of industry firsts

Lectra is the first and only company to adapt its solutions to the specific business needs of the fashion, automotive and furniture industries. Our technologically advanced equipment is impervious to threats or data loss and features ergonomic design delivered ready-to-implement, in a single crate. The following are just a few of our groundbreaking advances.

Vector iP

First cutting solution on the market to enable zero-buffer cutting on a wide variety of materials

Fashion On Demand by Lectra

First dedicated solution to automate on-demand garment production, from product development to fabric cutting

FocusQuantum

First-ever integrated airbag solution, comprising state-of-the-art laser-cutting equipment, software and services

Versalis

First Industry 4.0-ready leather-cutting solution, equipped with IoT technology

 

Gerber AccuMark

First PC-based patternmaking, grading and marker system for the apparel market

Vector

First connected cutting solution on the market with a built-in system of predictive maintenance

GerberCutter System 70

The first-ever numerically controlled fabric-cutting machine for apparel manufacturing

Innovation visitors can see up close

Our innovation centers showcase disruptive new technologies and their future applications through partnerships, pioneering projects, events, specialized training and peer networking:

  • Innovation Lab, Bordeaux-Cestas, France
  • Innovation Center, New York, USA

Our customer welcome centers allow customers to see our software and equipment up close, as well as benchmark their performance through testing and demonstrations. Each location provides a singular environment to experience our world-class services and confer with our technical experts: Atlanta, Georgia, United States ; Bordeaux-Cestas, France ; Milan, Italy ; Shanghai, China (2 locations)

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