During the latest edition of Lineapelle (23rd-25th September), Artificial Intelligence has been deeply analysed and described from various points of view. One of them, strictly linked to the broadest possible concept of corporate governance in the fashion supply chain, was made the protagonist of a speech pronounced by Gianluigi Zarantonello. In fact, he explained to us why AI, while being a “technological process”, represents “first of all a cultural and organizational aspect”
by Massimiliano Viti
“Power is nothing without control” was an advertising slogan from the Nineties. Actually, we can transfer into modernity, by applying it to the latest available technologies and to the incredibly rapid development of generative Artificial Intelligence in companies. Even the largest ones, which invest much more than what is actually perceived from the outside, but they often fail to take advantage of the full means and resources at their disposal, due to a shortage in management or to the absence of a common language, until they reach expensive and useless duplications of digital materials. This happens in every sector.
Even in the fashion industry, as explained by Gianluigi Zarantonello, expert in strategic innovation in fashion and luxury. Zarantonello spoke during the latest edition of Lineapelle (23rd-25th September), during the presentation of the project AIMateriality, which is part of Ingenium, an Italian platform that aims at creating a bond between the Made in Italy sector, with the one of the emerging technologies. In particular, Open Innovation and AI. These projects involve Lineapelle at the forefront, with the aim of allowing the companies of its community to make a cultural and organizational leap (not only in technological terms).
A cultural and organizational leap
Any examples? The photos of products taken multiple times for various uses, which are not easily accessible by all the people that could need them. O the 3d prototype: its existence is known only to the creative department or, anyway, only to those who realized it for a vertical use, and not to other company divisions that could equally benefit from it. These departments restart the work (or, simply, they abandon it) without even knowing the contents of the archives. “This happens because the approach to the project isn’t conceived with an ecosystem perspective and, for this reason, everything is too fragmented” adds Zarantonello.
One of the key words pronounced by the expert is “digital asset”, which the company needs to consider essentially equal to a material good. So, it must be described, classified, and memorized in a centralized archive, in order to make it immediately and easily accessible for competitors. “It is a technological process but, first of all, it is a cultural and organizational aspect. Everyone should be able to use the right asset at the right time, in order to avoid duplications and waste”.
The goods are physical, but also digital
The true cultural leap to be done is to shift from the management of the digital asset within the single company, to the sharing of the entire supply chain that, from a physical type, would transform, ultimately becoming digital. “Nowadays, we have advanced suppliers of leather and fabric that have an excellent degree of product digitalization, while some of them do not. And not always the various brands know about the resources and assets of their partners. The result is the existence of a digitalized supply chain, only in a fragmented way”, as observed by Zarantonello.
“How to facilitate this process of digitalization? By creating and introducing standards, from the moment in which the order is generated. The goods are physical, but also digital – adds Zarantonello – and, as such, it must be treated by all the protagonists. If everyone contributes their part and communicates with each other, the Italian supply chain will evolve”.
The Digital Product Passport challenge
The supply chain has this opportunity at hand. It is titled Digital Product Passport, which is a series of information about the product, supporting the circular economy and sustainability. For an impressive number of companies, it is just the nth-bureaucratic duty to fulfill. But, as we all know, challenges represent opportunities. “The companies should overcome the simple fulfillment of this regulation. For this reason, if significant financial and time investments are actually required to achieve this compliance, it needs to be found a way of enhancing the value of the work that the companies must accomplish, even with the aim of proposing a much more efficient narration of the Made in Italy supply chain”, as stated by Zarantonello. “On one hand, this challenge needs to be perceived as a business tool.
But, on the other hand, it is necessary to develop a standardization of the processes for the supply chain itself. This standardization, actually, could be stimulated and led by the largest and most impactful groups in fashion and luxury. The whole industry needs to act, even with the aim of advancing proposals that could become standard, without being passively subjected to the work of legislators”, as explained by Zarantonello.
The role of AI
In all of this, what is the role of AI? The aim is to facilitate the job and to give new skills and expertises to people. “In order to take advantage of Artificial Intelligence, formation and information are required, as the attention is focused on the quality of data, which represent the engine of these technologies. There are new expertises to be developed, with a proactive approach from the companies and the system”, as strongly underlined by Zarantonello. “If instead of manually performing repetitive tasks, AI is entrusted with the elaboration, surely it will be correct and replicable, while the employees will take advantage of the time saved in order to accomplish other tasks and, ultimately, perform more things, in brand new ways”, says Zarantonello.
The digital humanist
Here it is, then, the figure of the digital humanist. Who is it? What does he do? It is a professional figure who believes that technology becomes virtuous when it allows people to do things that were originally considered impossible. Or, when it redefines the way in which the aim of people could be reached. “Even in the case of Artificial Intelligence – as explained by Zarantonello – it is necessary a systematic approach in order to pool the efforts of the companies of the supply chain”.
And, even in this case, a question arises: is it possible to ease this process? “Made in Italy can’t be considered as a hub. It still isn’t a platform capable of gathering experiences, formation and technologies (hence, the Ingenium initiative). There is a lack of a true control booth, whose object would be to play the role of a facilitator, in order to create that peculiar synergy that is so necessary for the modernization of the supply chain”, concludes Zarantonello.
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