The operator behind Praxis.
I'm Gerard Sweeney. I run Praxis Lab. I spent fourteen years inside a UK design-led manufacturer with more than 100 employees, working across the company as it grew.
The delivery date doesn't belong to one department.
Customer service needs a date it can give the customer. Production needs a plan it can make. Purchasing needs to know whether the material will arrive in time.
I was also involved in logistics, product data, bills of materials, ERP and finance systems. The spreadsheets between them mattered too.
New products. Familiar questions.
I later held technology leadership roles in manufacturing and engineering, then moved into fashion technology.
In fashion, the questions involved retail and merchandising, WSSI, product development, product information and PLM-style processes. The names of the files and systems changed. The need to understand where a number came from and who would act on it was familiar.
A revised production date and a revised seasonal plan both leave someone checking what else has to change.
Praxis today
I help fashion and other design-led product businesses investigate problems, make technology decisions and put useful changes into practice.
That might mean questioning a platform purchase, helping a growing team change how it plans production or building a first version to try.
I'm currently developing Paisley for fashion brands, sales agencies and showrooms, and exploring creative product development through Milan.