Pilot 2 - Lot-Size-One in Furniture Manufacturing

The need to find new customer segments for increased turnover is pushing furniture manufacturers to diversify both production systems and supply chains. The traditional clients of the Home segment, who buy from a catalogue with different options to personalise the furniture, coexist with new clients of the Contract segment (hotels, offices, …) that demand an integral service of furnishing and decoration. Sometimes this service is provided entirely by a third party (decorator, interior designer), sometimes it must be provided by the furniture manufacturer who accepts the order and deals with different suppliers.
This new form of business requires substantial modification of "traditional" supply chains, since now, it must be the furniture manufacturer that seeks other suppliers (e.g. lighting and textiles), or someone in charge of the complete installation of the project. The production process is also affected, since in this case it is oriented towards the manufacture of unique products that deviate from the company's catalogue. These unique products are manufactured in unit-sized lots, customised for a specific project.

The new business models in the Furniture Manufacturing sector can benefit from EFPF platform that facilitate search and selection of suppliers and/or products with certain characteristics; and also those that allow monitoring of manufacturing processes, coordination of deliveries, and planning of both internal and external activities throughout the existing or newly created supply network.