Flux is a fast-growing software company that currently employs nineteen people on the Frankrijklei in Antwerp. “We have developed a program that allows people to design a custom cabinet themselves online,” says Stijn De Witte. “You can adjust the width, depth, and height of every component of the cabinet, choose the materials, determine the number of shelves, what shape the handle should be, what colour, and so on. You can then take your configuration to a store, where your design is loaded into a computer and where you receive extra guidance. Or, based on your design, you can buy the cabinet immediately online. We ensure that the model you designed online is directly linked to the production software of a furniture manufacturer.”
From Sleeplife to Brico
Flux’s software is being used by an increasing number of furniture manufacturers. For example, you can use it on the website ilovemaatkasten.be, on the Sleeplife website to configure your own bed, and also at the DIY stores Brico and Hubo, which use the Flux configuration model to allow customers to design exterior doors and windows.
“Because customers can design their own cabinets or furniture using our software, a large part of the work of technical draftsmen is skipped,” says Stijn De Witte. “There is a major shortage of technical draftsmen, which is why customers today have to wait a long time for the final design of their cabinets. Furthermore, those professionals are expensive. The labour costs in Belgium are much higher than in the neighbouring countries or in Eastern Europe. The high cost of technical draftsmen and the long waiting times make custom cabinets in Belgium expensive. Thanks to our software, the cost of a custom cabinet is immediately clear, and we reduce the internal lead time for our production partners by 90 percent. As a result, Belgian furniture producers can better compete with the Swedish furniture giant Ikea and with cheaper Asian players. The company behind ilovemaatkasten.be, for example, produces in Kontich.”
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