Komfort Partitioning

Komfort Partitioning Ltd design and manufacture internal glazed
and solid partition systems with integrated doorsets.

Business Imperative

The company鈥檚 experience with Exel Computer Systems鈥� EFACS E/8 国产乱伦 system dates back to 2012, when the business first implemented EFACS E/8. A reimplementation in April 2017鈥攑rompted by a corporate restructuring that saw Komfort move forward as a standalone business, rather than part of a larger group鈥� allowed them to take advantage of extensive process-mapping, with the resulting EFACS E/8 system embracing Komfort鈥檚 company headquarters , manufacturing site, 聽two combined sales offices and warehouses in Leeds and Crawley, Sussex.

But, by late 2020 the 2012 instance of the system鈥攂y then eight years old鈥攈ad become somewhat dated, and business systems team leader Laura Anderson proposed to Komfort鈥檚 board that the company move to a newer iteration EFACS E/8 version 8.6.3. This was agreed in outline terms in February 2021, and work began to prepare the ground for the new system.

Challenge

There were several considerations involved. Komfort鈥檚 manufacturing and design database, for instance, was exceptionally large. How would it perform under the newer system? Newer versions of Microsoft Server and SQL Server also needed thinking about鈥攁s well as the new and potentially-useful functionality that they offered.

And of course, the EFACS E/8 system itself had evolved considerably since 2012. Again, there was the potential offered by new functionality to explore.

The biggest issue, though, was the question of hosting. Right from the start, Komfort鈥檚 EFACS E/8 system had been hosted. Komfort had become dissatisfied with the hosting provider.

鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 especially good at communicating,鈥� says Anderson. 鈥淭hey also weren鈥檛 as responsive to our requirements as we鈥檇 like.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 just EFACS E/8 that the company in question hosted, the same provider hosted all of Komfort鈥檚 hosted systems.

鈥淭he provider鈥檚 performance was no longer satisfactory,鈥� she sums up. 鈥淲e took the decision to move everything away from them鈥攁nd identified a hosting provider that we preferred.鈥�

But what to do about EFACS E/8, though? Exel Computer Systems offered its own hosting service, delivered through an experienced and trusted provider. And who better to host EFACS E/8, in short, than Exel Computer Systems鈥� own experts?

Accordingly, the decision was taken – everything would move away from the existing hosting provider and the hosting of EFACS E/8 would move to Exel Computer Systems鈥� own provider, Iomart.

And so, in August 2021, Komfort arranged for a test EFACS E/8 environment, in order to begin evaluating the operation of EFACS E/8 8.6.3.

Business Benefits

Calculating an ROI is problematic, notes Anderson.

鈥淲e needed to move to EFACS E/8 version 8.6.3, and a change of hosting providers鈥攊n and of itself鈥攄oesn鈥檛 yield an ROI. But we鈥檙e making use of new functionality, we鈥檝e eliminated all the communication and responsiveness issues and we鈥檙e more resilient鈥攕o it鈥檚 definitely been a very positive move.鈥�

And quite conceivably, she adds, Komfort may even make more use of 聽EFACS E/8 functionality, in due course.

鈥淩ight from the start, we鈥檝e been satisfied EFACS E/8 customers,鈥� she sums up. 鈥淏ut that doesn鈥檛 mean that we鈥檙e not open to becoming even more satisfied EFACS E/8 customers.鈥�

Implementation

The evaluation process proved uneventful. There were no issues with the size of the database, nor with the latest versions of Microsoft Server and SQL Server, explains Anderson.

Furthermore, in terms of EFACS E/8 functionality, it became clear that鈥攚ith a little customisation鈥擪omfort could now make use of the capacity planning functionality contained in EFACS E/8, as opposed to using a solution that had been developed in-house some years before.

Moreover, explains Anderson, the only customisation required to achieve this was to transform some of the EFACS E/8 capacity planning reports into document formats that more closely resembled the internally-developed documents with which Komfort鈥檚 production staff were already familiar. Exel Computer Systems鈥� advanced customisation toolkit, she adds, rendered this customisation very straightforward.

Similarly, she explains, Komfort鈥檚 existing shop floor data collection (SFDC) systems had also been developed in-house. And again, it appeared likely that Komfort might be able to make use of the EFACS E8鈥檚 capability, and take advantage of its in-built SFDC functionality. Testing would be required in order to prove this, but the prognosis appeared favourable.

There was no need to delay further: in May 2022, Komfort placed the order to upgrade their EFACS E/8 test environment to a full production environment.

And in November 2022, the company went live with EFACS E/8 version 8.6.3, hosted by Exel鈥檚 own hosting partner.

Why Exel?

鈥淚t just felt right,鈥� sums up Anderson, simply. 鈥淏y this point, EFACS E/8 had become 鈥榖usiness critical鈥�, it was how we operated, linking all the parts of the business together.鈥�

鈥淎nd given the opportunity to have Exel Computer Systems鈥� own experts look after and support our EFACS E/8 instance, why wouldn鈥檛 you do that?鈥�

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