'Everyone must be able to do everything': Eribel Solid goes full efficiency with knowledge assurance

Knowledge assurance

Before the implementation of the configurator, Eribel Solid worked with Excel files, but this had been working far from ideally for some time. The classic problem, in other words. Jan: “Working with Excel files is very error-prone. The story just stops very quickly then. We contacted Ronald Hensen because we were ready for a professionalisation drive. Digitisation is part of that. For years, all the knowledge had been in my head, but in the context of professionalisation, the new owner wanted to see it digitised. After all, my head is finite, but digitisation is not: a matter of securing knowledge. When corona broke out, this was the moment to follow through. When things are bad, you have to dare to jump. And so we jumped into the deep end.”

Jan explains that the configurator is the lynchpin of the collaboration between Eribel and Eribel Solid. Thanks to the configurator, Eribel sends an Excel file to Eribel Solid containing the door specifications. The configurator then reads this and, based on this Excel import, the configurator then automatically configures all the frames. Finally, the configurator generates a material and routing list. The routing list is used to provide a saw optimisation package with data so that production can actually take place. Thanks to the configurator, everyone can always prepare quotations themselves. This saves an awful lot of manpower. He explains that one of the additional advantages for them is that the quotations are always correct: “the users at Eribel can’t make mistakes.” Also, the quotations are so detailed that, according to Jan, few if any questions are returned.”

“If I didn’t have the configurator, I would have had to employ two extra people anyway.”

De implementatie

Over de implementatie was Jan heel duidelijk. Hij vertelt dat de configurator het bedrijf een flinke boost heeft gegeven, financieel gezien. “Je steekt er tijd en energie in, maar die haal je er ook mákkelijk weer uit. Het vullen van de configurator is daardoor de beste investering die we hebben gedaan. Ik vind het onvoorstelbaar dat het voor ons, als niet zo’n groot bedrijf met zes mensen, rendabel is. En dat is niet overdreven. Als ik de configurator niet had, had ik sowieso twee extra mensen in dienst moeten nemen.”

Eribel Solid also chose CPQing because the software is also used as a calculation tool. This ensures that Eribel can calculate in advance what the costs will be for the production of the frames. This then leads to a price overview.

“An additional advantage is that we can operate the configurator ourselves. We rarely need to enlist the help of CPQing Solutions or an IT person. We can operate the basics ourselves and if we have an additional idea, we call Ronald and it will be taken care of. But always in such a way that we can operate it ourselves afterwards,” Jan tells us enthusiastically. He additionally explains that with the templates everything can be built. Smiling, he takes us to a lockdown during corona period, where they spent a whole day building a template for cabinets “just for fun”. “We could even have our team submit lunch orders with a sandwich configurator!”

Future plans

According to Jan, Eribel Solid wants to work with the configurator on further knowledge assurance in the coming period, to ensure that everyone everything can. “The configurator is the heart of this. If you don’t have one, you keep working with drawings and with knowledge that is actually not transferable. Because knowledge that you have acquired for 30 years cannot be transferred just like that. And with a configurator you can.”

Jan concludes with a complimentary collection of nice words: “No matter how small your company is, a configurator is the best investment you can make. Business is an evolution, so why not keep up with tools like this that simply make your daily work easier. Standing still is going backwards.”