In a rapidly evolving consumer market where innovation speed directly determines competitiveness, manufacturers face unprecedented pressure to manage complex product lifecycles efficiently. According to a 2024 Gartner survey, more than 65% of manufacturing leaders identified disconnected product data and fragmented collaboration as the top inhibitors to innovation.
For SportPet, a U.S.-based leader in pet lifestyle products, these challenges were beginning to hinder growth. With expanding product lines, geographically dispersed teams, and growing supplier networks, managing design data, engineering changes, and compliance documentation across multiple systems have become increasingly difficult.
To stay ahead in a market defined by design precision and agility, SportPet turned to Oracle Cloud Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), the industry’s most comprehensive cloud-based platform for managing product data, change management and partnered with NexInfo, a globally recognized Oracle Cloud implementation specialist, to deploy and tailor the PLM solution for its specific operational needs.
Together, Oracle Cloud PLM and NexInfo’s transformation expertise empowered SportPet to unify product data, accelerate engineering change management, improve supplier collaboration, and deliver new products to market faster with greater control, visibility, and compliance.
About SportPet
SportPet, headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a fast-growing manufacturer specializing in pet travel crates, lifestyle accessories, and outdoor gear. Known for its commitment to comfort, durability, and design excellence, SportPet’s products are distributed across major retail and online platforms, catering to millions of pet owners worldwide.
Replaced System: BlueCherry
Oracle Cloud Module Implemented: Oracle Cloud PLM
Deployment Region: North America
Industry: Pet Products Manufacturing
The Challenge: Rapid Growth Meets Disconnected Systems
SportPet’s innovation-driven business model required close coordination between product design, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality teams. Yet its existing systems couldn’t support the pace or complexity of new product introductions. Product data was fragmented across spreadsheets, local drives, and third-party applications, leading to inefficiencies that constrained creativity and slowed time-to-market.
Key Challenges Identified
- Fragmented Product Data: Core design assets such as CAD drawings, BOMs, and material specifications were scattered across departments, causing duplication and versioning errors.
- Manual Change Control: Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and revisions lack standardized processes, leading to inconsistent documentation and production delays.
- Limited Supplier Collaboration: Supplier data on materials, costs, and compliance was exchanged via email, increasing the risk of outdated or incorrect information.
- Compliance Tracking Gaps: Meeting global safety and regulatory requirements was a manual, time-intensive effort lacking system-driven traceability.
- Restricted Visibility for Leadership: Decision-makers lacked real-time insights into design cycle time, cost variance, or supplier performance.
- Operational Silos: Engineering, quality, and sourcing teams worked on different platforms, leading to inefficiencies and longer design-to-production timelines.
SportPet needed a centralized, cloud-based platform capable of delivering data consistency, workflow automation, and cross-functional collaboration without compromising design flexibility or product quality.
The Oracle Advantage: A Connected Digital Thread for Product Innovation
Oracle Cloud PLM provided SportPet with an integrated digital foundation to manage the entire product lifecycle from initial concept to launch and continuous improvement. Built on Oracle’s secure, scalable infrastructure, the PLM suite offers real-time visibility, standardization, and collaboration across global manufacturing environments.
Oracle Cloud PLM enabled SportPet to
- Centralize all Product Data: Establish a unified digital repository for designs, drawings, BOMs, and quality records accessible across departments and locations.
- Standardize Change Processes: Implement controlled Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and revision workflows to ensure accuracy and audit readiness.
- Integrate Supplier Collaboration: Provide suppliers with role-based access for submitting materials, data, costs, and compliance information directly into the system.
- Embed Compliance Tracking: Attach safety certifications, testing documentation, and regulatory requirements to each product record, ensuring continuous compliance.
- Enable Lifecycle Intelligence: Deliver analytics dashboards for executives to monitor design cycle time, cost efficiency, and supplier performance.
- Accelerate Product Launches: Connect design and sourcing activities in real time to shorten lead times and improve speed-to-market.
This transformation established a “single source of truth” for all product information , enhancing accuracy, traceability, and collaboration across the enterprise.
Partnering with NexInfo: Translating Technology into Measurable Outcomes
While Oracle Cloud PLM provided the technology backbone, NexInfo served as the strategic transformation partner that made it work for SportPet’s unique business processes. With deep expertise in Oracle Cloud implementations and industry-proven methodologies, NexInfo helped SportPet bridge the gap between digital capability and operational impact.
NexInfo’s approach began with a comprehensive process discovery phase, engaging SportPet’s engineering, sourcing, and compliance teams to identify workflow inefficiencies and map future-state processes. The implementation was guided by three pillars of transformation:
- Configurability: Design flexible PLM structures to accommodate SportPet’s dynamic product lines and seasonal launches.
- Scalability: Ensure the platform can scale seamlessly across suppliers, regions, and product categories.
- Sustainability: Embed best practices for continuous improvement, audit readiness, and user adoption.
NexInfo leveraged Oracle Cloud PLM’s out-of-the-box functionality while designing custom workflows for ECO approvals, supplier qualification, and cost roll-ups. The deployment ensured minimal disruption to ongoing operations, with parallel validation to maintain data integrity during transition.
The Solution: Building a Unified Product Lifecycle Ecosystem
The deployment of Oracle Cloud PLM implemented by NexInfo transformed SportPet’s disconnected workflows into a cohesive digital ecosystem.
Core Solutions Delivered
- Centralized Product Data Management: A cloud-based repository now houses all CAD files, BOMs, and design specifications, allowing every stakeholder to access the latest version of any document instantly.
- Automated Change Control: NexInfo implemented configurable workflows for ECO and MCO (Manufacturing Change Order) processes. Automated approval, routing reduced cycle time, and eliminating manual bottlenecks.
- Collaborative Design Framework: Cross-functional collaboration was enabled through real-time, role-based access, allowing design, sourcing, and compliance teams to work simultaneously within a unified system.
- Supplier Portal Integration: Suppliers can now upload component data, cost sheets, and certificates directly into Oracle Cloud PLM. This integration improved sourcing accuracy and reduced rework caused by late-stage material changes.
- Compliance & Quality Tracking: By embedding regulatory documentation within product records, SportPet can demonstrate full traceability during audits, reducing manual documentation effort by over 50%.
- Analytics & Lifecycle Dashboards: Interactive dashboards now provide leadership visibility into key metrics; such as time-to-market, engineering change lead time, and cost savings, empowering data-driven product strategy.
The Business Impact: Innovation Powered by Intelligence
With Oracle Cloud PLM and NexInfo’s implementation expertise, SportPet achieved a measurable transformation in how it develops, manages, and delivers products.
Quantifiable Outcomes:
- 40% Faster Product Development Cycles through automated ECO approvals and real-time collaboration.
- 30% Reduction in Design Rework by standardizing data and processes across departments.
- 50% Improvement in Compliance Efficiency, ensuring faster audit response and documentation accuracy.
- Unified Supplier Collaboration enables earlier cost visibility and better design-for-manufacture decisions.
- Enhanced Data Integrity and Traceability across all product lines.
- Real-Time Decision Support with analytics and KPI dashboards accessible across global leadership teams.
The transformation redefined how SportPet manages its innovation pipeline — replacing reactive processes with proactive lifecycle management supported by accurate, accessible data.
The Outcome: A Future-Ready Manufacturing Enterprise
Today, SportPet operates as a connected, intelligent, and agile manufacturing enterprise powered by Oracle Cloud and guided by NexInfo’s expertise.
With Oracle Cloud PLM as its digital core, SportPet has achieved:
- A single, validated version of product truth
- Accelerated design-to-launch timelines
- Consistent, audit-ready change management
- Seamless supplier collaboration across continents
- Continuous compliance assurance
- Actionable intelligence for strategic leadership
Beyond operational efficiency, this transformation has empowered SportPet to innovate faster, meet regulatory demands confidently, and align every new design with its brand’s promise of safety, comfort, and reliability.
As SportPet continues to expand its footprint in global pet lifestyle markets, Oracle Cloud PLM ensures its innovation engine runs with speed, precision, and intelligence , while NexInfo continues to support its evolution toward even greater digital maturity.
Through the combined power of Oracle Cloud technology and NexInfo’s implementation excellence, SportPet has built a resilient, scalable product development ecosystem that embodies the future of agile manufacturing, where creativity and control coexist seamlessly.