Case Study

At Great Lengths, growth starts with Supply Chain Digitisation

The digitisation and automation of the supply chain has enabled Great Lengths to expand and evolve its global reach.

Digitising the Supply Chain as a Growth Driver

Great Lengths, a Made in Italy excellence, is a global benchmark in the hair extension market, with a market presence in over fifty countries. To support its consolidation and expansion into foreign markets, Great Lengths has launched a digital transformation project capable of involving the entire supply chain, from initial production phases to the distribution of the finished product and the application of the hair extensions to end customers.

As part of this digitisation journey, Great Lengths faced a number of challenges:

Centralising processes in a single system

Centralising and standardising its processes in a single integrated digital system, so that it could simplify, optimise and engineer its value chain processes.

Managing production with a MES

Controlling and managing production with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) that would allow it to monitor the time and cost of each production step on individual parts and batches, machine and operator data, production planning, quality and traceability.

Tracing the
product

Tracing the product along the entire chain, from the production stages to the final sale and the specific beauty salon that applies the product to the end customer.

Managing processes centrally

Managing commercial and administrative processes centrally while taking into consideration the different aspects of the countries the product is sold in.

Effective Process Management with Oracle Netsuite and Air Reply

In order to successfully implement its development strategy, Great Lengths decided to rely on Air Reply's expertise in Oracle technologies and management processes in the manufacturing world to create a system that would allow the complete management of production processes and product traceability, from the initial phases of material supply to their transformation for the completion of the finished product. To create this system, Air Reply chose the Oracle Netsuite solution – integrating it with the SuiteApp NExIL (NetSuite Extended Italian Localization) developed by Air Reply to facilitate the management of the peculiarities of the Italian Administrative and Financial procedures – and the proprietary 'Manufacturing Shop Floor' MES system for manufacturing companies using Oracle Netsuite.

The system was not only made accessible to Great Lengths' employees, but also to the brand's various distribution companies, making it possible to trace the processes and products involved throughout the global supply chain.

The ERP system

The NetSuite full cloud solution, integrated with Air Reply's NexIL SuiteApp, enabled complete financial management, including complex invoicing and revenue accounting management. The system has accelerated financial processes through real-time multi-currency consolidation of orders, accounts receivable and payable, customers and suppliers, payroll, inventory, invoicing and deliveries. The adoption of NetSuite, enriched with NExIL, has also enabled capillary order management and order fulfilment processes that closely track an order's progress from quotation to final delivery.

The MES system

Air Reply's proprietary MES solution, 'Manufacturing Shop Floor', was used to facilitate and monitor the product manufacturing process. The 'Manufacturing Shop Floor' enabled simple and intuitive production monitoring via Tablet or Totem. This solution, when integrated with Netsuite, makes it possible to manage the 'production moment' and guides production operators in carrying out their work through production planning, real-time inventory control, production tracking and product genealogy. In fact, Air Reply's solution allows users to immediately visualise the sequence and status of orders. It also manages batches and serial numbers, through a simple and user-friendly control panel, as well as reporting tools for production analysis.

Great Lengths

Great Lengths was founded in Rome, Italy, in 1992, and has grown to become the world’s top hair extensions brand in over fifty countries. The Great Lengths brand is an unquestionable guarantee of quality, as it boasts the main scientific inventions in this field, such as the first ultrasound application machine and many other revolutionary innovations.

Air Reply

Air Reply is the Reply Group company specialising in the design and implementation of the Netsuite ERP cloud solution. As a NetSuite Alliance Partner and Select Member of the Suite Cloud Developer Network (SDN), Air Reply has developed the Extended Italian Localization for NetSuite (NExIL), the SuiteApp that allows Italian companies to meet all their tax requirements using NetSuite. Thanks to its team's familiarity with business and regulatory processes, Air Reply assists customers with the analysis and review of business processes that need to be dropped into the Cloud model and, with the design and implementation of customised applications (desktop and mobile) with end-to-end support.