Centric - Detailed Review
Fashion Tools
Centric - Product Overview
Centric Software Overview
Centric Software, particularly through its Centric Pricing & Inventory solution, is a significant player in the AI-driven product category for the fashion and retail industries.
Primary Function
Centric Pricing & Inventory is an AI-powered platform that focuses on optimizing pricing, inventory allocation, replenishment, and stock rebalancing. It helps retailers and brands make accurate data-driven decisions to maximize margins, reduce discounting, and align customer demand with supply. This solution is integral to Centric Software’s end-to-end product management platform, which covers the entire product lifecycle from concept to replenishment.
Target Audience
The primary target audience for Centric Software includes companies in the fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, and consumer goods industries. This encompasses fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers, and luxury brands that need to streamline their product development, merchandising, and inventory management processes. The solution is beneficial for both large enterprises and mid-sized companies, as well as emerging brands looking to improve their operational efficiency.
Key Features
AI-Powered Demand Forecasting
This feature allows for more accurate demand forecasting, enabling retailers to balance markdowns and stock movements effectively. It helps in optimizing assortments, reducing discounting, and aligning customer demand with supply.
Advanced Analytics and Market Insights
The platform provides advanced analytics and market insights for optimal markdown management. It integrates external data, such as competitor assortment, pricing, and promotions, with internal information to inform strategy.
What-If Analysis
This feature enables simulations to test different pricing and inventory optimization strategies, such as maximizing profit or reducing end-of-season inventory. This leads to better and more impactful decision-making.
Stock Rebalancing
The stock rebalancing module enhances stock management, ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time, which boosts profitability and improves the consumer shopping experience.
User Interface and Performance
The platform has a revamped user interface designed for superior data collection and improved business rules, resulting in up to 25% faster performance for users.
Integration with Other Centric Solutions
Centric Pricing & Inventory integrates seamlessly with other Centric products like Centric PLM, Centric Planning, and Centric Market Intelligence, providing a holistic approach to product lifecycle management.
By leveraging these features, Centric Pricing & Inventory helps businesses in the fashion and retail sectors to optimize their operations, enhance profitability, and maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Centric - User Interface and Experience
User Interface
The interface of Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is integrated seamlessly with Centric PLM™, which ensures a cohesive and streamlined workflow. Here are some key aspects of the user interface:
- Modern and Intuitive Design: The UI is fresh, modern, and easy to use, reflecting the best practices from Silicon Valley.
- Visual Aids: The system includes dashboards with widgets and charts that allow users to digest information quickly. Visual cues and color palettes are used to support navigation and interactions.
- Streamlined Features: The interface minimizes the number of clicks needed, with features like mass create and editing options. This makes the workflow more efficient and reduces the learning curve.
Ease of Use
Centric Software has made significant efforts to ensure that their tools are user-friendly:
- Reduced Training Times: The intuitive interface reduces training times and speeds up user adoption. This means that users can start using the system effectively much faster.
- Ease of Communication: Non-designers, such as buyers and merchandisers, can generate ideas based on captured trends with high-quality results. This facilitates easier communication of their ideas with both internal and external stakeholders.
Overall User Experience
The overall user experience is enhanced by several factors:
- Collaboration: The tool is designed to enhance collaboration across teams. It allows designers to rapidly iterate designs and create variations on bestsellers while maintaining control over generated images and attributes.
- Efficiency: Users have reported significant benefits such as 90% faster assortment creation and update times, and 75% faster buy session setups. This indicates a substantial improvement in operational efficiency.
- User Satisfaction: Customers have expressed satisfaction with the streamlined features and modern intuitive user interface, which allows their teams to focus on moving process innovation forward and bringing great products to market faster.
In summary, Centric Software’s AI-driven fashion tools, such as Centric AI Fashion Inspiration, offer a user interface that is both intuitive and efficient, making it easier for users to explore creative inspirations, communicate ideas, and accelerate the design process.
Centric - Key Features and Functionality
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration Tool
The Centric AI Fashion Inspiration tool, part of Centric Software’s offerings, is a significant innovation in the fashion industry, particularly for design ideation and product development. Here are the key features and functionalities of this AI-driven product:
Integration with Centric PLM
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is seamlessly integrated with the Centric Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system. This integration ensures faster alignment across teams and enhances collaboration by streamlining the design workflow.
AI-Generated Style Options
The tool generates AI-powered style options for various segments of the apparel industry, including garments, footwear, jewelry, and bags. This allows fashion teams to explore a wide range of creative design ideas with high-quality results.
Extensive Training Data
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is trained on a large and clean dataset of over 1 billion fashion product images across 800 categories, featuring more than 1,000 design attributes. This extensive training data enables the AI to generate unique and creative design variations without replicating intellectual property.
Accelerated Design Ideation
The tool accelerates the design ideation process by enabling creative teams to quickly explore inspirations, expand design options, and make better use of their time. This helps in filling gaps in-season, avoiding missed opportunities, and reacting to consumer demand more effectively.
Non-Designer Accessibility
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration can be used by non-designers, such as buyers and merchandisers, to generate ideas based on captured trends. This facilitates easier communication of their ideas with both internal and external stakeholders.
Iteration and Variation
Designers can rapidly iterate designs and create variations on bestsellers while maintaining control over the generated images and attributes. This feature helps in maintaining consistency and quality in the design process.
Time and Resource Efficiency
The tool saves time and resources by enabling teams to focus on unique details and creative aspects of design rather than getting bogged down in the traditional ideation process. This efficiency helps in speeding up the time to market and making the design process more competitive.
High-Quality Results
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration generates high-quality results with clean images, ensuring that the designs produced are of a high standard and ready for further development and production.
Conclusion
In summary, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is a powerful tool that leverages AI to streamline and enhance the fashion design process, making it more efficient, creative, and aligned with market trends.
Centric - Performance and Accuracy
Performance Enhancements
Centric Pricing & Inventory has made significant strides in performance. By leveraging AI-powered demand forecasting, the platform can balance markdowns and stock movements, enabling retailers to make accurate data-driven decisions. This results in optimized assortments, reduced discounting, and better alignment of customer demand with supply, ultimately boosting profitability and minimizing excess inventory. The platform has achieved performance enhancements of up to 25% for users, thanks to a revamped user interface and improved business rules.
Accuracy in Demand Forecasting
The accuracy of demand forecasting is a critical aspect of Centric Pricing & Inventory. The platform features a new stand-alone demand forecasting service that integrates seamlessly with other Centric products like Centric Market Intelligence and Centric Planning. This integration leads to sharper demand forecast accuracy and SKU-level inventory optimization, resulting in improved initial allocation strategies and overall forecast performance.
Advanced Analytics and Market Insights
Centric Pricing & Inventory provides advanced analytics and market insights, combining external data (such as competitor assortment, pricing, and promotion specifics) with internal information. This integration allows for a common taxonomy, making data organization seamless and intuitive. The platform’s “what-if” analysis feature enables simulations to test different pricing and inventory optimization strategies, leading to more impactful decisions.
Integration and User Experience
The platform is part of Centric Software’s wider end-to-end product management platform, integrating with Centric PLM, Centric Planning, and Centric Market Intelligence. This comprehensive integration ensures a unified approach to product lifecycle management, from pre-season to end-season. The user interface has been enhanced for superior data collection, and the business rules have been streamlined to further improve operations.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Centric Software’s solutions are highly regarded, there are a few areas where continuous improvement could be beneficial:
User Adoption
While the platform is user-friendly, especially with its Adobe connector and regular updates, there might still be a learning curve for some users. Ensuring that the onboarding process is as smooth as possible could help in wider adoption.
Data Quality
The accuracy of the forecasts and analytics depends heavily on the quality of the data input. Ensuring that the data collection processes are rigorous and that the data is clean and accurate is crucial for the platform’s effectiveness.
Sustainability and Compliance
While Centric PLM helps in tracking compliance, sustainability, and social impact, continuous updates to address evolving sustainability standards and regulations would be beneficial. This ensures that the platform remains aligned with industry requirements and customer expectations.
In summary, Centric Pricing & Inventory demonstrates strong performance and accuracy through its AI-powered demand forecasting, advanced analytics, and seamless integration with other Centric products. However, ongoing focus on user adoption, data quality, and compliance with sustainability standards will be essential for continued improvement.
Centric - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure of Centric Software’s AI-Driven Products
When it comes to the pricing structure of Centric Software’s AI-driven products, particularly in the fashion tools category, here are some key points to consider:Custom Pricing
Centric Software does not offer a one-size-fits-all pricing plan. Instead, they provide custom pricing for their solutions. This means that the cost is determined based on the specific needs and requirements of the customer.No Free Plan
There is no free plan or freemium model available for Centric PLM or other Centric Software products. Users must contact the company to get a quote for their specific needs.Licensing Options
Centric Software offers different licensing options, including:Permanent License
A one-time purchase option.Subscription License
A recurring subscription model.SaaS (Software as a Service)
Hosted by Centric in either Standard Service or Premium and Premium HA Service.Features and Capabilities
While the pricing is custom, here are some of the key features and capabilities that are typically included in Centric Software’s products:Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Includes defining seasonal product plans, creating/editing/managing products, materials, agents, suppliers, and vendors. It also involves managing bills of materials and performing what-if analysis for sample products and their associated costs.Centric Pricing & Inventory
This AI-powered solution manages pricing, inventory allocation, replenishment, and stock rebalancing. It includes features like dynamic pricing, competitive pricing, initial allocation, replenishment, and stock rebalancing to optimize inventory and maximize profits.Integration and Additional Services
Centric Software’s solutions integrate with other products such as Centric Market Intelligence and Centric Planning. These integrations provide advanced analytics and market insights, enabling users to make data-driven decisions to optimize their operations. Given the custom nature of the pricing, it is essential to contact Centric Software directly to get a detailed quote and to discuss the specific features and services that will be included in your plan. Centric - Integration and Compatibility
Integration and Compatibility
Centric Software’s integration and compatibility are key strengths, particularly in the context of their AI-driven product category, including tools like Centric PLM and Centric Pricing & Inventory.Integration with Other Tools
Centric PLM and its associated tools are highly integrative, allowing seamless interaction with a wide range of third-party systems. Here are some notable integrations:- ERP Systems: Centric PLM integrates with over 80 different ERP solutions, ensuring smooth data exchange and workflow management.
- CAD/3D Solutions: The platform connects with numerous CAD/3D solutions, enabling the use of 3D CAD software to reduce prototype development time and enhance the 3D workflow.
- E-commerce and PIM: It integrates with e-commerce platforms and Product Information Management (PIM) systems, facilitating comprehensive product data management.
- Communication Tools: The latest version of Centric PLM includes integration with Microsoft Teams, enhancing team collaboration and communication.
- Other Centric Solutions: Centric Pricing & Inventory integrates with other Centric products such as Centric PLM, Centric Planning, and Centric Market Intelligence, providing a cohesive end-to-end product management platform.
Compatibility Across Platforms and Devices
Centric Software ensures broad compatibility to cater to diverse user needs:- Operating Systems: The platform supports Microsoft Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10, as well as Apple Macintosh 10.9.5 through 10.11.
- Browsers: Core functionality is compatible with Internet Explorer, and with updates, it also supports Apple Safari Browser, making it accessible from Windows PCs, Macintosh computers, and iPad tablets.
- Mobile Accessibility: Centric Software pioneered mobility by introducing the first mobile apps for PLM, ensuring that users can access and manage data on various mobile devices.
Security and Remote Work
Given the increasing need for remote work, Centric PLM has introduced multi-factor authentication to enhance security, ensuring that users can securely log in from different devices.Conclusion
In summary, Centric Software’s products are engineered to be highly flexible and integrative, supporting a wide array of third-party systems and ensuring compatibility across various platforms and devices. This comprehensive approach facilitates efficient collaboration, streamlined workflows, and enhanced security. Centric - Customer Support and Resources
Customer Support
Centric Software generally offers comprehensive support to its customers. Although specific details on support options for the Centric AI Fashion Inspiration tool are not provided, it is likely that customers can access various forms of support. Here are some common support avenues that might be available:
Technical Support
Customers can usually contact Centric Software’s technical support team for assistance with any technical issues or questions about the software.
Training and Onboarding
Given the innovative nature of the AI Fashion Inspiration tool, Centric Software may offer training sessions or onboarding programs to help customers get familiar with the new technology.
Documentation and Guides
Detailed documentation, user manuals, and guides are often available to help users understand and utilize the software effectively.
Additional Resources
Centric PLM Integration
The Centric AI Fashion Inspiration tool is seamlessly integrated with Centric PLM™, which suggests that customers can leverage the broader suite of Centric Software solutions. This integration can enhance collaboration and streamline the design process.
Market Intelligence and Planning Tools
Centric Software provides additional tools such as Centric Market Intelligence and Centric Planning, which can help customers gain insights into competitor strategies, consumer trends, and market opportunities. These tools can be used in conjunction with the AI Fashion Inspiration tool to make more informed design and merchandising decisions.
Community and Forums
While not explicitly mentioned, many software companies offer community forums or user groups where customers can share experiences, ask questions, and get feedback from other users.
Customer Success Team
Centric Software likely has a customer success team that works closely with customers to ensure they are getting the most out of their software solutions.
For the most accurate and up-to-date information on customer support and additional resources, it would be best to contact Centric Software directly or visit their official website and look for support sections or contact information.
Centric - Pros and Cons
Advantages
Accelerated Design Process
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration significantly speeds up the design process by generating AI-powered style options, allowing fashion teams to explore creative inspirations and expand design choices quickly.
Enhanced Collaboration
The tool is seamlessly integrated with Centric PLM, facilitating better alignment and collaboration across different teams, including designers, buyers, and merchandisers.
High-Quality Results
Trained on a vast dataset of over 1 billion clean fashion product images, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration produces high-quality, unique design ideas that respect intellectual property.
Optimized Pricing and Inventory
Centric Pricing & Inventory uses AI to optimize pricing, inventory allocation, and replenishment, leading to increased margins, revenue, and sell-through. It also improves demand forecasting accuracy and stock management.
Improved Forecasting and Planning
Centric Planning and Centric Market Intelligence provide insights into consumer trends, competitor strategies, and market opportunities, enabling better merchandise planning and assortment development.
Efficient Product Lifecycle Management
Centric PLM reduces costs and time to market by improving collaboration and streamlining product development processes. It also enhances sustainability efforts and ensures regulatory compliance.
User-Friendly Interface
The latest updates to Centric Pricing & Inventory include a revamped user interface, smarter data collection, and advanced ‘what-if’ analysis, making it easier for users to make informed decisions.
Integration with Other Tools
Centric Software’s solutions are integrated across various stages of the product lifecycle, from design to replenishment, ensuring a cohesive and efficient workflow.
Disadvantages
Dependence on Data Quality
The effectiveness of Centric AI Fashion Inspiration and other AI-driven tools depends heavily on the quality and volume of the training data. Any inaccuracies or biases in the data could affect the quality of the generated designs and forecasts.
Initial Implementation Costs
Implementing comprehensive software solutions like those offered by Centric Software can be costly, especially for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets.
Learning Curve
While the interface is user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve for teams to fully utilize the advanced features and analytics provided by Centric Software’s tools.
Potential for Overreliance on AI
There is a risk that teams might overrely on AI-generated designs and forecasts, potentially stifling human creativity and critical thinking in the design and planning processes.
Summary
Centric Software’s AI-driven tools offer significant advantages in terms of speed, efficiency, and accuracy across the fashion product lifecycle. However, they also come with potential drawbacks such as data quality dependencies, initial implementation costs, and the need for user training.
Centric - Comparison with Competitors
Centric Pricing & Inventory
Centric Pricing & Inventory stands out for its comprehensive and integrated approach to pricing, inventory allocation, replenishment, and stock rebalancing. Here are some of its unique features:AI-Powered Demand Forecasting
Centric uses AI to balance markdowns and stock movements, enabling retailers to make accurate data-driven decisions that optimize assortments, reduce discounting, and align customer demand with supply.Advanced Analytics and Market Insights
The platform provides advanced analytics and market insights for optimal markdown management. It integrates with Centric PLM, Centric Planning, and Centric Market Intelligence to offer a holistic view of the product lifecycle.What-If Analysis
Centric Pricing & Inventory allows users to simulate different pricing and inventory optimization strategies, such as maximizing profit or reducing end-of-season inventory, to make better decisions.Pre-Season Capabilities
The platform includes a stand-alone demand forecasting service that integrates with other Centric products, enhancing demand forecast accuracy and initial allocation strategies.Real-Time Pricing Adjustments
It enables real-time pricing adjustments in response to competitor actions and consumer trends, optimizing inventory control to reduce carryover and stockouts.Competitors and Alternatives
Stylumia
Stylumia is another AI platform that provides predictive analytics and trend forecasting for the fashion industry. While it shares some similarities with Centric in terms of predictive analytics, Stylumia focuses more on analyzing consumer behavior and market trends to help fashion brands make informed decisions. However, it does not offer the same level of integration with end-to-end product lifecycle management as Centric.Vue.ai
Vue.ai offers a comprehensive AI solution for fashion retailers, including visual search, personalized recommendations, and virtual styling. Unlike Centric, Vue.ai is more focused on enhancing the customer shopping experience rather than optimizing pricing and inventory. Vue.ai’s tools help retailers drive sales through personalized recommendations but do not provide the same depth in inventory management and demand forecasting.StyleSage
StyleSage is an AI-powered platform that provides market intelligence, analyzing data from thousands of online stores to track pricing, discounts, and consumer trends. While it offers competitive pricing analysis, it is more specialized in market intelligence and does not cover the broad spectrum of pricing, inventory, and replenishment management that Centric Pricing & Inventory does.IBM Watson
IBM Watson is used in the fashion industry for trend forecasting, supply chain optimization, and personalized marketing. Like Centric, it leverages AI for various aspects of the fashion business, but it is a more general AI platform and not as specifically tailored to the needs of fashion retailers in terms of pricing and inventory optimization as Centric Pricing & Inventory.Conclusion
Centric Pricing & Inventory stands out due to its integrated approach, advanced analytics, and the ability to optimize pricing and inventory across the entire product lifecycle. While competitors like Stylumia, Vue.ai, StyleSage, and IBM Watson offer valuable AI-driven solutions, they each have more specialized focuses that do not match the comprehensive capabilities of Centric Pricing & Inventory. If a fashion retailer or brand is looking for a holistic solution that combines demand forecasting, inventory management, and real-time pricing adjustments, Centric Pricing & Inventory is a strong choice. Centric - Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Centric AI Fashion Inspiration
What is Centric AI Fashion Inspiration?
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is a generative AI tool specifically designed for the fashion industry. It helps fashion brands, retailers, and manufacturers accelerate the design ideation process by generating AI-powered style options for apparel, footwear, jewelry, bags, and more. This tool is integrated with Centric PLM to enhance collaboration and speed up the design workflow.
How does Centric AI Fashion Inspiration work?
This tool uses a vast proprietary dataset of over 1 billion clean fashion product images across 800 categories with 1,000 design attributes. It leverages algorithms trained on this extensive data to generate unique and high-quality design ideas. The AI can create variations on bestsellers, fill in-season gaps, and help both designers and non-designers communicate their ideas effectively.
What are the key benefits of using Centric AI Fashion Inspiration?
The key benefits include accelerating the design process, enabling creative teams to explore more inspirations and expand design options, and reducing time-to-market. It also helps in maintaining control over generated images and attributes, allowing for quick iteration of designs and the creation of variations on best-selling products. Additionally, it enhances collaboration across teams and helps brands react quickly to consumer demand and trends.
Is Centric AI Fashion Inspiration suitable for small and medium-sized brands?
Yes, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is suitable for small and medium-sized brands. It is embedded in the cloud-based Centric SMB, the market-leading PLM platform for emerging brands, making it accessible and beneficial for smaller fashion companies to gain a creative edge and outpace the competition.
How does Centric AI Fashion Inspiration ensure originality and avoid intellectual property issues?
Each product variation generated by Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is algorithmically created to ensure originality. The AI is trained on a vast dataset and uses algorithms that prevent the replication of intellectual property, ensuring that all generated designs are unique.
Can non-designers use Centric AI Fashion Inspiration?
Yes, non-designers can use Centric AI Fashion Inspiration. The tool allows buyers and merchandisers to generate ideas based on captured trends with high-quality results and clean images. This makes it easier for them to communicate their ideas with internal and external stakeholders.
How is Centric AI Fashion Inspiration integrated with existing workflows?
Centric AI Fashion Inspiration is seamlessly integrated with the design workflow in Centric PLM. This integration ensures faster alignment across teams and enhances collaboration, making the entire design and development process more efficient.
What kind of data does Centric AI Fashion Inspiration use for training?
The AI is trained on a vast, proprietary dataset that includes over 1 billion clean fashion product images across 800 categories with 1,000 design attributes. This dataset is built from over a decade of historic fashion image data from 1,000 retailers.
Can Centric AI Fashion Inspiration help with in-season design adjustments?
Yes, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration can help fill in-season gaps quickly and allow brands to react to trending opportunities with just a few clicks. It enables fashion teams to explore creative inspirations and expand design options to keep up with consumer demand.
How does Centric AI Fashion Inspiration impact the overall product lifecycle?
By leveraging AI across the entire product lifecycle, from concept to replenishment, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration enables brands to make data-driven decisions at unprecedented speed and scale. This holistic approach helps in optimizing product assortment, reducing discounting, and boosting revenues.
Centric - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Centric Software in the Fashion Tools AI-Driven Product Category
Centric Software stands out as a comprehensive and innovative solution for fashion brands and retailers looking to optimize their product lifecycle management, pricing, and inventory processes. Here’s a detailed look at who would benefit most from using Centric Software and an overall recommendation.Key Benefits and Features
AI-Powered Pricing & Inventory Optimization
Centric Pricing & Inventory leverages AI to optimize pricing, inventory allocation, replenishment, and stock rebalancing. This results in improved forecasting accuracy, reduced discounting, and better alignment of supply with customer demand, ultimately boosting profitability and minimizing excess inventory.
Enhanced User Experience
The platform has a revamped user interface focused on superior data collection and streamlined business rules, leading to performance enhancements of up to 25% for users. It also includes advanced ‘what-if’ analysis for testing different pricing and inventory strategies.
Pre-Season Capabilities
The platform offers a new stand-alone demand forecasting service that integrates with other Centric products, such as Centric Market Intelligence and Centric Planning. This enhances demand forecast accuracy and initial allocation strategies.
Integration with Other Tools
Centric Pricing & Inventory seamlessly integrates with Centric PLM, Centric Planning, and Centric Market Intelligence, providing a holistic approach to product management from concept to replenishment.
Generative AI for Design
For emerging brands, Centric AI Fashion Inspiration uses generative AI to speed up the design process, generate on-trend styles, and reduce time-to-market. This tool is particularly useful for small to mid-sized brands with limited resources.
Who Would Benefit Most
Fashion Brands and Retailers
Companies in the fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, and cosmetics sectors can significantly benefit from Centric Software. It helps them manage product data more efficiently, reduce time-to-market, and optimize pricing and inventory processes.
Emerging Brands
Smaller fashion brands can leverage Centric AI Fashion Inspiration to generate fresh design ideas quickly and stay ahead of trends, despite limited resources.
Companies Seeking Digital Transformation
Businesses aiming to transform their product development, sourcing, and sales processes can benefit from Centric Software’s end-to-end solutions. This includes improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing sustainability efforts.
Overall Recommendation
Centric Software is highly recommended for fashion brands and retailers looking to enhance their operational efficiency, improve profitability, and stay competitive in a dynamic market. The AI-driven solutions offered by Centric Software address key challenges such as margin maximization, inventory optimization, and rapid product development.
For companies struggling with scattered product data, lengthy sampling processes, or the need for faster design and market entry, Centric Software provides a comprehensive platform that integrates various aspects of the product lifecycle. Its ability to combine internal and external market data, perform advanced analytics, and offer generative AI tools makes it a valuable asset for both established and emerging brands in the fashion industry.