Using Google Drive, OVS streamlines its global supply chain

A complex process of research, design and production is required in merging Italian style with international trends. A multi-national supply team, OVS, with 700-person, produces 180 million pieces of apparel each year, 40,000 different styles, which are then sold online and in 700 brick-and-mortar stores in Italy and abroad. Using Google Drive, they are able to link together the otherwise disparate parts of their retail business and share information better across the company.

Before deciding to use Google Drive, their IT solution was old-fashioned and difficult to globally coordinate. Half of the team used one outdated IT tool, and the other half sent faxes (seriously) or exchanged e-mails: last year, their supply chain team sent five million emails. Two weeks after starting to use Drive, their email volume dropped by 40%. Since so many people were already familiar with Google and were excited to use it at work, the transition was smooth and the benefits emerged quickly.

OVS uses Google Drive

Everything product-related both inside the company and externally with OVS’ suppliers uses Drive to store and share. From information about models, fabrics and sizing, to prototype images and the results of product tests, everything lives in Drive. They share and sync these files across desktops, tablets and smartphones so people have the information they need, no matter where they are or what device they’re using. Information is always updated, avoiding potential mistakes that could cause delays in our supply chain processes.

Drive is important for expediting OVS’ prototyping and testing process, which involves teams across the world. The prototyping team in China uses Drive to share sample image JPGs and testing kit PDFs with OVS team in Italy. The team in China can quickly share results and the team in Italy can request new tests if necessary — and they can all share their updates in a shared Google Sheet that’s stored and shared in the same shared folder with the rest of the assets they need, so everything — PDFs, JPGs, Sheets — can easily be found in a single place.

OVS has found that Drive is really how we can work better together and improve communication overall throughout the business, while also breaking down barriers between teams otherwise separated by tens of thousands of miles. Now, we’re rolling Drive out to our retail stores and sales associates, some of whom already started using Drive to upload and share images from their mobile phones and tablets — anything from inspirational window designs to new fashions and innovative store layouts — all without official training. We see major potential to use Drive across our business and make life easier for our employees while continuing to innovate for our customers.