150 years of Hermann Pichler
Since 1866, the name Hermann Pichler has stood for quality, reliability and expertise in the field of fine table linen. At this year's Heimtextil trade fair in Frankfurt am Main, this was celebrated extensively with customers, business partners, associations and also with us as a software supplier.
"Excellent quality never goes out of fashion." With this statement, the current owner and managing director Dr. Thomas Wagner, great-great-grandson of Hermann Pichler, who opened the "Handelshaus Hermann Pichler" on Urach's market square 150 years ago, looks back on the history of the traditional company.
In 1876, the Pichler company opened its first mechanical jacquard weaving mill in Laichingen. The company prospered magnificently. Countless awards and prizes, such as first place at the World Exhibition in Sydney in 1880, crowned the company's success. Between 1895 and 1925 in particular, the company made a name for itself by realizing designs by well-known Art Nouveau artists such as Peter Behrens, Paul Lang and Hans Christiansen. At its peak, the company's own weaving mill comprised 88 looms.
Today, the family business, which is now in its 5th generation, employs around 65 people at its site in Laichingen and generates a total turnover of EUR 6.5 million. However, the weaving mill in Laichingen was closed in 2014 due to globalization pressure, low-cost competition from abroad and the EEG levy. Pichler now works together with a Czech and a Portuguese clothing manufacturer and even has its own clothing factory in Turkey together with a Turkish partner.
Launch with self-developed software solution
Around 500 designs, colors and qualities, a stock range with more than 2,000 article items, our own ready-to-wear production facility in Turkey - all of this needs to be perfectly mapped via IT in order to ensure smooth business operations.
To this end, an attempt was initially made to map the company and production processes using a self-developed IT application, but its further development was discontinued over time. Technical program dependencies resulting from the existing solution increasingly restricted the flexibility and further development of the entire company. After an external production site was also to be connected, it was clear to Pichler that they had to start looking for a new, future-oriented software solution.
Search for a new, future-oriented ERP solution
In 2010, the consulting company MQ result consulting AG was called in to look for a suitable ERP solution for Hermann Pichler GmbH und Co. As the textile company also operated its own weaving mill in addition to trading and (made-to-measure) clothing production, we at update texware were the only ones who could do this off the cuff with our ERP solution. texware/CS could be reproduced. So the choice was made.
The project started at the end of 2010 and was implemented by the youngest employee in the Pichler IT department, Mr. Frank Goller, who showed great commitment to the many tasks involved in implementing such an extensive project. In around 8 months - the real start of the system took place in July 2011 - all company processes from purchasing to production (ready-made/customized clothing), the warehouse, sales and dispatch at the Laichingen site were integrated into the Pichler IT system. texware/CS and the plant in Adana (Turkey). "We were surprised at how quickly the transition from our in-house solution to a complete end-to-end solution was completed. We felt well looked after at every stage of the changeover and have achieved a lot together."says Frank Goller.
As much standard as possible, as few adjustments as necessary
One major advantage of this was that texware/CS was already able to map a very large proportion of the existing processes, to which the previous customer-specific application was adapted, very well in the standard system. In this way, the customizing effort for the introduction remained low.
Nevertheless, some modifications were made for the purpose of process optimization. For example, a new customer-specific sales planning system was developed, which was very challenging to implement due to its complexity. Extensive new functions were implemented in the made-to-measure clothing department, for example to determine the correct material availability for production despite highly individual customer requirements. In addition, a special picking system is used that bundles various picking documents and thus reduces the distances for stock removal (via scanner).
"We have received a genuine textile industry solution that masters all current and future requirements excellently."Managing Director Dr. Thomas Wagner assesses the decision for the ERP solution texware/CS.
Further optimization
In order to further optimize the processes at Pichler, the update-texware software specialists are currently working on improving the intercompany shipping system in Adana and on further automating the intercompany processes in general.
We are pleased to be able to offer our ERP solution texware/CS to continue to contribute positively to the smooth running of the business operations of Hermann Pichler GmbH & Co. KG and wish you many more successful years!
