Acronym: ΒΙ&ΟΧ

Project Title: Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence for Dynamic Decision-Making and Adaptation to New Production and Trading Conditions for the Clothing Company OXFORD S.A. and the Clothing and Textile Industry in General

Duration: 41 months (10/2021 - 02/2025)

Total project budget: €350,000.00

CERTH Budget: €122,500.00

Description:

The Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) participates in the Program "Enhancement of Research, Technological Development, and Innovation," part of the NSRF 2021-2027 through the Action "Innovation Investment Plans," co-funded by the European Union and National Resources.

The project titled "Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence for Dynamic Decision-Making and Adaptation to New Production and Trading Conditions for the Clothing Company OXFORD S.A. and the Clothing and Textile Industry in General (Acronym: BI&OX)" aims primarily to leverage new intelligent specialized knowledge in the clothing sector to enhance the added value of the company’s products and facilitate their integration into international value chains. A secondary goal is to increase the company's responsiveness to consumer needs, thus creating a significant competitive advantage and contributing to the company's vision of becoming a leading Greek menswear brand both nationally and internationally.

Indicative expected benefits of this project include: i) Harmonization of the company's inventories and at least a 60% increase in inventory turnover rate. ii) Optimization of the company's inventory management, progressively reducing inventory levels by 20% in the first year, 30% in the second year, and 40% in the fourth year, with a 30% reduction in inventory working capital over the next three years. iii) Strengthening of the company’s electronic distribution channel as a significant competitive advantage through increased responsiveness to consumer and online shop demands. iv) Enhancement of productivity and innovation skills of the human resources, achieving a 50% increase in inventory management speed. v) Strengthening the company's export activity and market entry into two new regions—Cyprus and Italy—within the next three years.

Project Objectives:

The investment project aims to produce results that will significantly impact the current operational practices of OXFORD Company S.A., maximizing flexibility in supply chain coordination and laying the groundwork for international expansion. The project focuses on developing innovative business intelligence and artificial intelligence techniques for dynamic decision-making and disseminating specialized knowledge to increase the high added value of its products, optimize business processes, improve market responsiveness, and enhance employee productivity and innovation skills.

This will be achieved by developing a suite of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms integrated into the company's existing information system. Upon completion, the company will have a clear view of historical demand per product type and distribution channel, enabling accurate demand forecasting, faster order fulfillment, and optimized inventory management. Through dynamic multi-criteria optimization algorithms for inventory decisions and investment in specialized intelligent RFID equipment, the company will substantially reduce inventory levels, increase inventory turnover, and optimize distribution across channels.

The project also includes modelling strategic decision-making processes, currently based on empirical managerial practices, and developing a digital decision-support handbook for managing uncertainty. This intervention will allow the company to easily and rapidly evaluate the effectiveness of critical decision-making criteria and track past decision outcomes, thus supporting strategic business planning.

Lastly, by capitalizing on these results and with support from the SEPEE Association, the project aims to serve as a best practice and catalyst for efficiency enhancement and healthy competitiveness improvement in the broader clothing and textile industry.

Contact persons:

Georgia Ayfantopoulou
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+30 2310 498451

Vasileios Giannoudis
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+30 2310 498463