The furniture manufacturer Isku will concentrate all of its production to their Lahti factory in the future. LeanwareMES is pivotal for enabling the change.
The amount of product variations grows constantly and operations need to be increasingly customer-oriented. This means that in the future, production has to be more easily tailorable without forgetting efficiency and productivity. Production is going to be customer-guided and the optimum batch size will go down from 300 to one piece.
“Our biggest secret is that Isku manufactures its furniture in Finland. We have intentionally focused homeward and sold all of our production units abroad. We want to be on Finland’s side and now is a good time to invest. By the end of this year, we will have the most modern factory in Northern Europe in Lahti, with some parts of it being the most modern in the entire world. We are investing in the modernization, logistics, quality, energy efficiency and work ergonomics of production,” Isku group’s CEO Arto Tiitinen says.
The world’s most modern production technology that is going to be used for production places demands also on the system environment: the production devices are highly automated, so systems must provide the information guiding the production devices exactly and correctly. The desire is to use the new system environment to develop the transparency of the order-delivery process as well as efficiency, and through that improve the quality of customer service. The chance of human error is also decreased significantly when information is transferred automatically through integrations and not manually through several separate systems.
Leanware’s system is constructed in a very user-oriented way and the functions and views have been constructed to benefit production staff in particular. Usability will also be a focus point. For example, the amount of presses needed and switching between views will be minimized.
It is worth remembering that in system projects only software or hardware will not change anything. The most important enablers of change are always the people and the implementation of new ways of operating.
Thanks to the new system, Isku’s operations will continue to evolve in the future. The LeanwareMES improves balance accuracy and thus enables more accurate purchasing. One Piece Flow production significantly decreases capital tied up in stock and shortens lead times. Production becomes more flexible and reacting to the needs of a single customer will be easier in the future.
“Components move through the factory on conveyors. This way they won’t break or be forgotten in the wrong places. The savings are evident, as we currently have 100 forklifts moving goods from one location to another. By the end of the year, there will only be five,” Isku’s Production Manager Mika Tyrväinen says.
“I believe that Isku will be a great example of what production will be like in Finland in the future: The batch size is one, there is a huge amount of variations and automation is used seamlessly in production. These requirements set completely new standards for the information systems of businesses. Isku will move Finnish production forward wonderfully. I am proud that we can be a part of building the factory of the future!” Leanware’s CEO Janne Viinikkala says
Further information:
Arto Tiitinen, CEO, Isku-Yhtymä Oy +358 44 566 875
Mika Tyrväinen, Production Manager, Isku Teollisuus Oy, +358 44 792 3177
Isku is a Finnish family business founded in Lahti in 1928. Isku designs, manufactures and markets furniture and comprehensive interior solutions for homes, schools, offices and all public spaces. In addition to the chain of Isku stores found everywhere in Finland, Isku also operates in the Nordics, the Baltics, Poland, Russia and the Middle-East. Isku’s own furniture factories are located in Lahti, Finland. Isku follows the ISO 9001 quality system and is an active developer of ecological production: Isku was the first in the business to obtain the ISO 14001 certificate, and today the entire production is PEFC certified, meaning that all the wood Isku uses comes from known and sustainably managed sources. https://www.isku.com/global/en/
Leanware is a strong team of software experts. It is important to us to be familiar with the processes of our customers and to develop them together with the customers. We develop information systems that enhance the operative work of our customers. In other words, we enable bigger profits for your company. Cost efficiency, better quality and productivity are important to our customers. Over the years, we have gained the trust of the leading INDUSTRIAL and LOGISTICS companies. Our growth story is based on strong professional skills to serve the customer and our ability to see things in a new way. We employ about 80 people and the turnover for 2015 was 6.4 MEUR. We were the logistics company of the year in 2015. www.leanware.fi
