Upholstery technology specialist Lectra took the opportunity to cement its position as an Industry 4.0 pioneer at its in-house event in Bordeaux-Cestas, France, last month, where it unveiled two fresh solutions – Furniture on Demand by Lectra and Versalis 2019.
Over 50 guests and industry experts from 12 countries convened at Lectra’s International Advanced Technology and Conference Center (IATC) to examine how rapidly the furniture industry is changing, and disocver how they might meet evolving demand by embracing greater customisation and productivity capabilities.
The opening keynote, a joint presentation by Milan’s CSIL and Lectra, detailed how customisation, the experience economy, sustainability and evolution in retail are driving furniture companies to reinvent themselves and their processes. Over one-and-a-half days of demonstrations, presentations, workshops and customer testimonials, industry experts revealed how accelerating digital transformation and implementing Industry 4.0 principles might enable furniture manufacturers to meet customer expectations through the delivery of original products, designed and manufactured in an optimised way, sold at the right price and delivered as quickly as possible.
Furniture on Demand is composed of two packages – Made to Order and Made to Customize – and offers an end-to-end solution, from order processing to cutting, for small series and customised order production. Arriving one year after Made to Order, Made to Customize brings even greater automation and intelligence.
Meanwhile, for manufacturers of leather-upholstered furniture, Versalis 2019, Lectra’s latest digital leather cutting solution, significantly improves productivity, nesting efficiency, and operator ergonomics, resulting in increased throughput. New APIs tighten integration between Versalis and a company’s ERP system to enable the direct transfer of work orders for cutting. Users also have greater access to production data, and employs AR technology at the hide digitisation and offloading stages to improve comfort and performance, minimises waste and avoid sorting mistakes.
“The furniture industry is at the dawn of an era rich in opportunity,” says Céline Choussy, Lectra’s chief marketing and communications officer. “Industry 4.0 opens up a range of possibilities for value creation and transformation. When change is so profound, having the right partnerships is key. Lectra’s newest solutions affirm our deep commitment to supporting our customers on their Industry 4.0 journey.”
