Cabinet and upholstery furniture manufacturing in the UK is evolving constantly and growing demand from designers, planners and consumers means that manufacturers must be in a position to react fast. Firstly, this may be easier said than done and, secondly, being pro-active is a far better strategy and is where a new and unique software solution from experts 2020 Technologies comes in.
We think our way of manufacturing our products works well – how can 2020 improve on it?
2020 has been developed as a complete end-to-end solution that incorporates all aspects of creating and selling furniture as we help manufacturers in ‘making spaces for life’. That is Plan, Engineer and Produce.
Connecting these functions transforms a manufacturer’s processes by eliminating administrative tasks, reducing the risk of error and enabling greater flexibility. We talk about transforming from a ‘silo base’ to a ‘connected one’.
So, a connected system ensures you sell what you can make and make it in the most efficient way.
What makes this system of creating a BOM better?
We create a valid production BOM “on the fly’ and so eliminate the need to create every conceivable permutation manually. This makes the task of creating specials less special, as configurable units are created within the rules base that is a core feature of our solution.
In addition to generating the required ‘construction’ information, our solution generates associated ‘process’ information in order to communicate what needs to be consumed (or bought) and how it should be processed in order to meet the demand in a timely way.
How will this affect the final outcome of getting an order through the factory door?
2020’s solution combines both production management and control so it understands both what should happen and what is actually happening. These two aspects are essential to achieving real efficiency and continuous improvement.
Our solution is built for the furniture industry and so comes with industry-specific best practice workflows built in. These manage key process across the operation and automate tasks so valuable recourses can focus on exception items and improvement initiatives. These workflows are easily tailored by users and so evolve to meet the changing business need.
The result is a more efficient, flexible and dynamic factory in which staff are supported with accurate, complete and timely information and are able to focus on high value pro-active improvement tasks.
What are the real term benefits?
Real term benefits start with establishing an accurate and intelligent engineering model which provides the foundation to support a single data definition across the connected enquiry and installation process.
This enables greater flexibility in both product offering and manufacturing capability at the same time as minimising the risk of error. Administration, engineering and production costs will be slashed as this model is exploited in both sales, order processing and production functions. As a result of more complete and accurate information, customer service and staff motivation levels will be increased.
Steve Edge emphasises that he’s only scratched the surface of the advantages offered by 2020 in this article and there are details, further features of the software ways in which established manufacturing processes can be improved to the undeniable benefit of the overall business.
