Requirements
Ergonomic Seating Solutions (ESS) designs and manufactures bespoke chairs for people with postural problems and specialist seating requirements.
ESS offers a unique range of seating with a multitude of design decisions, and they approached Koderly to digitalise their bespoke production process.
Pain points in the previous process
Manual distribution
Production batches of around 20 orders were manually printed and distributed
Error-prone
data entry
Minimal validation meant mistakes were common
Slow
processing
Paper-based workflows created avoidable delays
Difficult to amend
Changes to production batches required reprinting and handwritten edits across multiple job sheets.
No real-time visibility
No view of where orders were in the production process
Manual time recording
Production start and end times were logged by hand.
No
scalability
The manual process couldn’t scale with increasing production volumes.
Objectives
Digitalisation
Replace paper-based workflows with a web-based application to support the unique production process.
Accuracy
Introduce validation and structured data entry to remove the inconsistencies caused by handwritten amendments.
Visibility
Provide real-time progress tracking across the production floor, replacing manual time recording with automated logging.
Multi-device access
Deliver a responsive, touch screen compatible system for both desktop and tablet.
Scalability for growth
Build a solution that can grow and adapt alongside the business.
Solution
We followed the Agile methodology as it’s iterative and collaborative, providing 25 hours of software development, business analysis, and project management services each week.
We delivered the MVP across ten sprints.
We developed a responsive, web-based application that allows ESS to:
- Create a new order using pre-defined, product-specific templates
- Prioritise an order
- Prepare an order
- Dispatch an order
- Administer an order
- Manage users
- Perform digital quality checks with a full audit trail
- Print production and dispatch labels directly from the system
- Handle system configuration (including product order and printer label templates)
- Report on production insights and performance in real-time
Results
Better resource management
Automated prioritisation and streamlined processes enabled clearer scheduling and improved resource utilisation. Order visibility, improved accuracy, and increased communication have freed up 50% of users time.
Improved quality
Validation and templated data entry has reduced order errors.
Digital Quality Checking stages has decreased rework and defects.
Introduction of reporting functionality has surfaced a training gap in assembly, enabling targeted retraining and preventing recurring issues.
Increased efficiency
A continuous digital workflow increased production speed and reduced delays.
Real-time visibility
Management has gained live insights into order progress without physically walking the floor.
Enhanced collaboration
The solution has improved cross-departmental communication through centralised, accurate, digital information.
Scalability for growth
The platform supports a continuous production flow with no downtime between batches, allowing ESS to scale with increasing order volumes and new customers
reduction in average production lead time
total system
downtime
error rate on
raised orders
