Customisation Has Changed the Furniture Business Like Never Before

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Customisation Has Changed the Furniture

The global trend of customisation has changed the furniture business like never before. More specifically, there has been a shift from mass production to mass customisation. This has changed the way business is done, and that change is still ongoing. From customer interaction to product design to manufacturing, to delivery and installation, the element of customisation in business functions is only increasing, says Ingo Bathe, international sales director at imos AG.

In this insightful conversation, Bathe explains how the furniture business is becoming more web-dependent and data-driven.

Bathe is an old hand at the furniture game. He cut his teeth as a student trainee, building trailers and developing woodworking machines. His first job was at Nobilia, Europeā€™s largest modular kitchen manufacturer, where he honed his skills in equipment planning for production and monitoring workflow and machine efficiency. Later he joined IMA Schelling, the German machinery major, and helped clients plan plant layouts and oversaw project implementation. Since joining imos AG, he has been helping his customers automate business processes and make their machines super-efficient. Imos develops software solutions for designing and planning furniture and elements, automating their production, and marketing them directly.

Therefore when Bathe says that customisation has changed the furniture business, he knows something. ā€œTechnology has enabled organisations to manage sales and design interactions with their customers, the entire manufacturing cycle, and how the products are shipped and installed. This has become possible due to digitalisation.ā€

According to Bathe, the role of data cannot be underestimated in the growth of any business, particularly when nearly every customer is asking for personalised solutions and services.

ā€œWe get data each time a customer looks up our website and browses through the catalogue. We generate data about preferences and costs when a kitchen is designed. Data is generated when the BOM is created and information is fed to the machine. Even for shipment and installation, data is generated. How well we manage the data and learn from it helps our business grow.ā€

While digitalisation, and consequently data-centricity, is happening worldwide, Bathe says that Indian businesses are becoming data-driven at an accelerating pace. ā€œThis is enabling them to offer customised products and services effectively. The growth of e-commerce is ample proof of that.ā€

E-commerce is the fullest manifestation of customisation, according to Bathe. ā€œCustomers can select sizes and colours, packaging, payment methods and delivery schedules, even returns. The entire fulfilment cycle can be designed to the customer’s preference.ā€

Bathe notes that over the past few years, he has seen furniture enterprises developing omnichannel strategies for connecting with their customers. While they are selling online, they are also setting up physical stores where customers can come and personalise their orders. ā€œThe success of the modular kitchen business is the result of mass customisation, where software like imos has been the major enabler.ā€

India Kitchen Congress

Another emerging business model is the B2B channel (contractors), which Bathe says is quite prevalent in Europe and expects to pick up in India soon. ā€œCustomisation allows furniture manufacturers to accept orders from carpenters and contractors, who in turn sell to their retail customers. These small entrepreneurs do not have to invest in equipment or materials, there are no offcuts, and they only need to focus on the delivery and installation. Through robust software, the manufacturer can ensure that even small custom orders are fulfilled without any error.ā€

ā€œI believe that the ability to offer customisation is the main differentiator for businesses today.ā€

When imos was invented in 1993 by Professor Frank Prekwinkel, the companyā€™s founder and CEO, the milieu in Europe was of mass production using technologies like computer numeric control (CNC). What started as a project for his PhD class at the Technical University in Braunschweig went on to become the worldā€™s first CAD/CAM technology exclusively for customised furniture.

In 2001 the company introduced imos NET, the e-commerce solution for web-based display and ordering. In 2008 it brought iFurn, the cloud service to link fitting manufacturers with furniture designers, which provides the logic behind application of every component so that design-to-manufacturing becomes a breeze. And iX is the latest offering, an on-cloud library of products and equipment of global and Indian suppliers, to make life easy and smooth for furniture manufacturers, e-commerce sellers and project integrators.

Bathe says that imos is being used by most of the European kitchen manufacturers, for developing their web-based furniture planning and configuration system. Together with imos NET, iFurn and iX the CAD/CAM solution has emerged as an industry-standard in over 80 countries.

The same dynamic is being observed in India, which he says is the largest international market for imos now. To fortify its lead position, the company is building partnerships with educational institutions and training providers through nodal agency Furniture and Fittings Skill Council (FFSC). Most recently, in December 2024, imos and FFSC launched the Decora imos Academy in Delhi NCR, to train apprentices and upskill experienced personnel from the industry.

Listen here to what Bathe has to say about how customisation has changed the furniture business in India.

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