Symetri helps Ellis Furniture implement seamless digital workflow from concept to manufacture

When 3D digital design first made an impact on the design engineering community, there was much talk about seamless and automatic workflows throughout the complete concept to manufacturing process. The integration of CAD with a corporate ERP was the ultimate goal – and a way to derive optimum value from design data. 

Yet, progress towards this Holy Grail has been steady but gradual. Many manufacturers have been pleased to enjoy the benefits of digital prototyping without necessarily feeling the need to go any further. 

During this time, further capabilities have been added to digital design solutions such as Autodesk Inventor, bringing this integration ever closer. The expertise and knowledge of some of Autodesk’s more experienced partners such as Symetri has also expanded. Consequently, when the West Yorkshire-based company Ellis Furniture made the decision to invest in a CAD system that could be integrated with its ERP system, everything was in place to make implementation a success. 

Established in 1891, Ellis Furniture is a privately-owned family business that helps form the backbone of the UK economy. Over the years it has evolved to become the type of forward-looking organisation that could well help get us out of the current economic doldrums. 

Based in a modern 200,000 square foot factory, its 200-plus employees produce a wide range of furniture supplied to hotels, educational establishments, high street kitchen & bathroom studios, and large building contractors.  Because of its links with both the construction industry and the UK public sector, the past few years have been highly competitive. However, as director Tom Ellis reports: “we made the decision to invest to make ourselves more efficient, rather than just to cut back as others in our field were doing.” 

At the time, Ellis Furniture’s design office used a complete range of design software including Google SketchUp and 20-20 CAD, a package specifically for kitchen and bathroom design. Bill of materials (BOM) data was held on Excel spreadsheets and fed into the ERP system manually. Within these processes there were plenty of opportunities for mistakes to creep in and be replicated throughout the workflow. 

The Ellis team recognised that it needed to bring all its software together with a 3D CAD package at the front end to enable further automation and leave less room for error. The integration of CAD and ERP systems is not yet that common so it needed to find consultants who have a thorough understanding of the issues at stake and Ellis Furniture’s goals. 

“It was no good working with a reseller who could only tell us to open the box,” says Ellis.  “We considered a number of Autodesk reseller partners, but Symetri stood out.  We wanted to optimise our investment and Symetri had the expertise to help us do so.” 

Ellis chose to buy Autodesk’s product design suite which includes Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Vault and Autodesk 3ds Max among other solutions. The 2011 version of Inventor was the first to include Inventor iLogic which was key to the entire implementation.  

“We had a huge amount of information in our ERP system and effectively we have translated it over to iLogic which is more flexible and so enables us to write all the rules behind the 3D image and around the information we need to drive our CNC machinery,” says Ellis. “So, now Inventor feeds the 3D model with all the data behind it into our ERP system which then creates work orders and associated segment values which drive the CNC machinery. It’s all about reducing the possibility of errors and so accelerating time to market.” 

Although the main goal of the project was to streamline workflow, numerous other benefits are now becoming evident. For example, Inventor’s animation and simulation capabilities help designers communicate ideas with shop floor colleagues. 

“I’ve always thought that having written instructions is like trying to do a jigsaw without a picture,” says Ellis. “Now our designers can explain how a drawer opens and closes, show hinges in detail and so on. They are not demonstrating a complex piece of engineering, but even simple, visual explanation helps get it right first time.” 

The designers are also, “enthusiastic about the potential of Autodesk 3ds Max, although with so many other changes going on they are just starting to experiment with what it can do,” he reports. 

Ellis praises Symetri’s role in the project: “Thousands of manufacturers use Inventor for straightforward product design, with no desire to push it any further. However, we came at it from a different angle, primarily to tie everything together.  

“We’d made mistakes in the past, following the implementation of our ERP system, but this time, using Symetri we had their experience and knowledge to guide us through.” 

The entire implementation has taken around 18 months with the first units of furniture designed and produced using the system coming off the line around 9 months ago.“There is still some work to be done, but when everything is complete, I wouldn’t be surprised if we cut our time to market by half,” says Ellis. 

Although Ellis is clearly delighted by the results of the project, there is no sign that the firm will stop striving to find other ways to innovate and become more efficient. He is also interested in exploring the possibilities of Autodesk Engineering to Order (ETO). “We have a number of standard ranges, but within these our customers have the flexibility to customise the product as they wish.  We see that this is the way the market is going and providing more and more elements of a bespoke nature,” he says. 

By building on past experience and working with experts in the field, it seems as though Ellis Furniture is winning the fight to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace. It has done this by refusing to stand still, recognising that innovation and investment in the future will help strengthen its cause and pushing its software beyond the norm.  “But we couldn’t have done it without Symetri,” concludes Ellis.