The leading French wood-aluminum joinery manufacturer has deployed Magic Software’s FactoryEye to improve its Information Systems and simplify its Industry 4.0 migration.
Manufacturing-focused FactoryEye combines Magic’s integration experience with intelligent production data processing, cross-organizational data contextualization, cloud storage, and advanced analytics to provide organizational intelligence and real-time insights for accelerating the evolution to data-driven organizations. All tools are provided in a platform agnostic common workspace. As a starter, FactoryEye ensures that the Factory Floor systems communicate with the organization’s IT tools to create a crucial bridge between the IT teams and operations.
The first stage of MéO’s project was to restructure its ERP setup to overcome what had become cumbersome maintenance.
Thanks to FactoryEye’s integration module, MéO now has total control of all its business flows and its operational management. Down the road, FactoryEye should allow MéO to optimize the performance of all its production workshops.
Creator of the wood-aluminum concept in 1983, MéO is the first manufacturer of custom-made, decorative, accessible, and efficient wood-aluminum joinery. Thanks to its in-house R&D design center, MéO has invented and patented a new concept of windows and sliding bays and offers a wide range of entrance doors and wood-aluminum canopies and verandas. MéO is part of the LIEBOT Group, which was founded in 1745 by Anselme Briand in the Vendée region of France. Over the years, it has never ceased to evolve, innovate, and invest – and has become France’s leading manufacturer of windows and façades and one of the leading players in Europe. The Group is organized around two main businesses: the “industrial window” business (of which MéO is a part) and the “façade” business.
Integrate business application processes and free up data
Anthony Fèvre, MéO’s IT manager, says: “Our project dates back to 2019. At the time, our priority was to regain agility and restructure our ERP by freeing up the amount of data it processed, particularly our technical and customer data. The choice of Magic Software was made during a visit to a trade show where we discovered their solution and were impressed by its ability to integrate and orchestrate flows, while at the same time offering great flexibility and improved data visibility.”
The FactoryEye integration module provides a centralized platform for integrating and orchestrating company processes, with connectors that are kept up to date throughout the application lifecycle and the ability to execute these business flows in the cloud, on-premises, or in hybrid mode.
MéO decided to map all existing flows within its numerous applications and to transfer its technical and customer data (sales management) to dedicated software.
At the same time, MéO set up workshops to understand how to integrate all the relavent flows via Magic’s integration module. Internal training sessions were soon organized to enable the IT teams to become proficient and fully autonomous with the Magic solution. Two sessions were held, the first at the end of 2019 and another at the beginning of 2020, during which the first flows relating to customer data were deployed.
Anthony Fèvre explains: “Customer data is everywhere, in all our applications, but in this particular case, we decided to give priority to the ERP in terms of updating processes and data visibility. It is very important to define the direction of the flows and where the ‘master data’ is located – and this has to be done at each deployment. This is why it was important for us to be able to master the solution internally and only call on Magic Software’s expert consultants for new projects”.
The next step included the flows relating to product items, orders, production, lifecycle management, and, finally, delivery management.
Reconciling the challenges of IT and operations with Industry 4.0
The second stage of the project involved the implementation of the Magic Software FactoryEye MES module (provided Matics).
Anthony Fèvre explains: “This second stage aimed to modernize our production sites and move towards 4.0 type workshops. To do this, we asked Magic Software to carry out a POC (Proof of Concept) for our ‘window’ business. At the end of this test, which took place between January and April 2021, we went directly into production on one of our sites on the basis of an annual contract with a SaaS model.
Since then, MéO has continued to develop the platform by organizing weekly technical committees, that supervise the manufacturing workshops ensuring that the right real-time decisions are made and that productivity improves.
In July 2021, a second and broader POC was carried which led to the signing of an agreement for all production sites, with around thirty machines.
Anthony Fèvre continues: “Today, thanks to the implementation of Magic Software’s solutions, we have much better control of our flows and have real-time information that is very useful for optimizing our production lines and improving our performance. We have also improved collaborative efficiency and intend to use a single portal for all the group’s entities”.
Eric Choppe, Managing Director France and Southern Europe of Magic Software, summarizes: “The IT projects carried out by the LIEBOT Group over the last 3 years demonstrate the importance of good control of its data, both that of the IT systems and operations – with monitoring and decision-making tools improving factory management. We are pleased to be able to support them in these various challenges by providing them with reliable solutions and greater efficiency.”
About MéO
Creator of the wood-aluminum concept in 1983 and subsidiary of the LIEBOT Group (1st French group of windows and facades), MéO is the 1st French manufacturer of custom-made, decorative, accessible and high-performance wood-aluminum joinery, intended for professional installers.
About Magic Software
Magic Software has been providing innovative solutions for application development and integration across the globe for 38 years. It helps companies achieve comprehensive digital migration and evolve into fully data-driven organizations for continuous improvement and business excellence.
The company is present in more than 50 countries and has thousands of installations worldwide, as well as strategic alliances with global software leaders, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce or SAP. Together with its partners, Magic Software facilitates the implementation of new technologies and increases the efficiency of its customers.
Magic Software’s FactoryEye is an innovative solution for simplified Industry 4.0 migration.
Magic Software www.magicsoftware.fr
Magic Factory Eye www.factoryeye.fr