Lectra Donation Puts UA on par
by April 15, 2002 12:00 am 79 views
More than a dozen universities across the nation have received software and support gifts from Lectra — the North American division of Parisian apparel industry software producer Lectra Systems — that were similar to the $4 million package the University of Arkansas got in March.
But the UA’s proximity to retail wonders Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville and Dillard’s Inc. in Little Rock makes the Fayetteville donation especially interesting. The Lectra software, training and support will provide state-of-the-art product development technology for apparel studies students in the School of Human Environmental Sciences, a part of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.
Dennis Harrington, Lectra’s director of strategic business development for apparel, said the company simply views the gift as an investment in the future of the apparel industry.
Lectra’s U4ia software is to the apparel industry what many hard card products are to the automotive sector.
“A number of universities around the nation are teaching U4ia,” Harrington said. “It’s a computer-aided design tool that allows designers to communicate their ideas electronically and accurately. What we’re doing is taking the creative ideas that are done with pencils and ink and turning them into an electronic medium that can be changed.”
UA professors will visit Lectra’s Atlanta facilities for training. The professors will then develop a curriculum around the software for the 150 students in apparel studies.
About 50 student computer lab workstations will have U4ia installed on them.
A proposal by apparel studies instructor Kathleen Smith prompted the donation.
U4ia is used by nine of the top 10 apparel retailers in the U.S., according to the UA’s release. Students will eventually use Lectra’s 3D Visual Merchant software to draw three-dimensional retail floor plans with photo-quality images of products placed on fixtures.