News & Blogs
Stay updated with the latest news, insights, and expert blogs from Emixa. Explore industry trends, digital innovations, and company updates all in one place.
Digital Banking Solutions | Argenta Success Case
Emixa will renovate the customer portal of Argenta Netherlands, a bank specializing in mortgages and savings for individuals. Argenta, a Belgian bank with its Dutch branch located next to the Rat Verlegh Stadium in Breda, where we are also based, has been active in the Netherlands for over 24 years.
Technical Business Students Dive into the Digital World at Siemens
Question from Daniel: “What do you think Siemens produces?” Answer from students: “Washing machines.”
How to Cope with (Over)full Warehouses?
Effectively managing (over)full warehouses poses a significant operational challenge. Warehousing inherently involves complexities, and the current trend, particularly in areas like the hinterland of the port of Rotterdam and other strategic logistics hubs, is the accumulation of goods leading to warehouses reaching maximum capacities. This makes it harder to work efficiently and comes with its own set of problems. That raises the question: ‘how to cope with (over)full warehouses?’ This development is partly a consequence of the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. During the lockdowns, dining out and in-person shopping were restricted, but online ordering of goods was unrestricted. This resulted in a high demand for various products, causing the logistical system to struggle to meet the demand. Businesses and retailers procured their merchandise well in advance, resulting in the saturation of all distribution centres in the hinterland of major ports and, more recently, inland terminals, with goods ordered ahead of schedule. If current demand and buying confidence were still as robust as during the pandemic, this might not be a major concern. However, the combination of inflation and soaring energy prices has made people more cautious about their spending. As a result, goods are staying in warehouses longer than usual, causing efficiency and optimisation challenges in warehouse management. While companies have limited control over macroeconomic factors, they can secure a competitive edge by concentrating on optimisations in their warehouse layout and/or operational methods, enhancing the flow of goods within their warehouses. Read on to find out how to cope with (over)full warehouses and the role Emixa can play in improving processes in warehouses. Practical problems in coping with (over)full warehouses The accumulation of goods confronts warehouses with various practical problems. Many warehouses do not actually earn their money through storage itself, but above all by repacking, labelling and distributing goods. As a result, any lack of turnover and the steady accumulation of products in the warehouse threatens their business model and profitability. Moreover, there are negative consequences for daily operations within the workplace. For example, warehouse utilisation of 90 to 98 percent means that warehouse teams are less efficient. Forklifts are required to lift goods to greater heights, and numerous products are positioned in challenging or harder-to-reach spots outside the racks. The result is that pickers and forklift operators need to cover more distance, resulting in less efficient routing and delays, further prolonging the storage of goods. Locating and gathering the correct items also becomes more challenging, contributing to delays in deliveries. Ultimately, there's a risk at the end of the chain where retailers may need to discard products that have been sitting on the shelves for too long. The aforementioned issues not only compromise efficiency but also have negative effects on employees. They find themselves working overtime more frequently and with less enjoyment. The likelihood of fatigue and overburdening increases, resulting in additional costs and staff shortages. Finding sufficient personnel is already challenging in the current tight labour market. In summary, no one benefits from an excessively high fill rate in the warehouse. The digital twin Evaluating potential solutions to enhance operational efficiency in a warehouse carries inherent risks. The proposed idea may succeed, fail, or require multiple attempts before achieving the desired outcome. Regardless of the result, these attempts consume valuable time. Utilising advanced simulation software mitigates these risks. A realistic, interactive digital twin of your warehouse allows for the virtual testing of ideas and scenarios in a digital replica. This well-established technology, initially used for virtualising production lines and entire factory setups, has been extended to optimise warehouses due to the close connection between production and logistics. Years ago, we applied this expertise to enhance warehouse efficiency. Altering walking or driving routes to improve the efficiency of pickers and expedite order completion? Changing the warehouse layout and pathways to facilitate easy access for forklifts to pallets and boxes? Optimising the existing space? With plant simulation, you can virtually experiment and compare multiple options, scenarios, and warehouse layouts. This way, you can quickly determine the most efficient working method. How Emixa can help Emixa can assist companies with warehouse management and optimisation. “Using the ‘digital twin’, true-to-life, complex simulations are possible. This enables our clients to maximise efficiency from their warehouse capacity,” explains Nick Peeters, PlantSim Expert at Emixa. “The expertise of Emixa in both the manufacturing and logistics/warehousing sectors, combined with our in-depth knowledge of the Mendix platform for developing specialist low-code applications for logistics and warehousing, make Emixa Industry Solutions and Emixa Applications Solutions a very valuable partner for our clients,” says Ruben van der Leer, Account Executive at Emixa Applications Solutions. “Thanks to low-code and integration, you can achieve a level of efficiency that would not have been possible a few years ago.” Most warehouses work with automation from various suppliers and a wide variety of partners within the logistics chain. The solutions and knowledge of Emixa Industry Solutions ensure that all those different cogs are represented in one system. In this way, they produce a dynamic layout of your logistics system, providing insight into the entire system. Because many logistics companies need to allow for growth in capacity, maintaining oversight is the most important thing. By tuning the performance of subsystems to one another, you avoid suppliers and partners sending you from pillar to post. One of Emixa Industry Solutions’ specialities is simulating warehouses and the systems they use. By simulating systems, potential improvements and different scenarios and solutions over time, your organisation can instruct employees and partners in detail to implement the necessary optimisations. Want to learn more about managing (over)full warehouses? For a smooth flow of goods, warehouses are partially reliant on economic factors beyond their control. Nevertheless, a well-designed, modern, and flexible simulation and optimisation system provides more opportunities to maintain service levels, control fill rates, and streamline warehouse processes efficiently. But it all begins with insight. Curious how Siemens & Mendix solutions, combined with our expertise, can support you in this matter? Please feel free to contact us for more information and expert advice.
Manufacturing Menu: Optimize Resources and Performance with Top Tools
Manufacturing companies operate in a challenging and dynamic marketplace. They face volatile prices, fluctuating raw material availability and increasingly complex supply chains. In addition, reducing waste is high on the sustainability agenda, and finding enough skilled workers in a tight technical labour market is no easy task. To strike the right balance between resource utilization, cost optimization and supply chain optimization, optimal performance and efficient utilization of the production environment is essential. By improving the utilization of your factory and the performance of your equipment, you can increase productivity, improve job satisfaction and optimize collaboration throughout the production and supply chain. This is why this part of a manufacturing company's operations has a prominent place in Emixa's Manufacturing Menu.
Is your Company Making a Difference with Model-Based Definition?
Digitisation is progressing rapidly everywhere. Manufacturing companies also face this challenge now more than ever. To be digital, or not to be. In the shift to digital, traditional 2D drawings are giving way to Model-Based Definition (MBD). Has your company made the essential move towards Industry 4.0?
Transforming from Static Blueprints to a Dynamic Digital Factory
Van Wijnen is a Dutch company in the construction sector, committed to environmentally friendly building for the next generation. Operating from 25 locations across The Netherlands, Van Wijnen is involved in the development, construction, management, and maintenance of buildings and homes. With the high demand for housing in The Netherlands and a shortage of affordable homes, Van Wijnen recognises the need for a different approach to construction. The scarcity of skilled workers in the industry further intensifies the challenges in housing construction. To address these issues, Van Wijnen is increasingly focusing on industrialised construction, aiming for faster, more cost-effective, cleaner, and circular building methods. A digital production process To meet the high demand for housing in the coming years, a substantial number of homes need to be built. Van Wijnen's goal is to realise 4,000 homes per year in the upcoming years. To achieve this, Van Wijnen has invested in a dynamic (or in other words: digital) design, development, and production process. This digital production process takes shape in a greenfield housing factory. In this future factory, there are large steel tables on which a mould is built using a robot. By using a high degree of robotisation, the problem of skilled worker shortages in construction is also partially solved. The tables with moulds move like a carousel through the factory. At each point where the table stops, value is added, such as reinforcement steel, electrical boxes, window frames and structural lifting and coupling facilities. After adding all the components, concrete is poured, and elements like walls, facades, or floors are prepared. These elements are then put in a controlled environment to cure, all part of an automated process. On-site teams later assemble these components, maintaining a rapid pace, completing one home or two flats each day. This automated process, with its scale and variety, ranging from ground-based homes to flats and gallery flats, all produced in a single housing factory, stands out as unique in the construction industry, not just in the Netherlands but beyond. The added value of simulation Simulation serves a crucial role in assessing the viability of an automated process designed to manufacture prefabricated elements for 4,000 homes per year. By transforming the initial static layout drawing into a dynamic scale model, different scenarios can be evaluated. Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation allows Van Wijnen to analyse the manufacturing facility's capability to produce a significant number of components within the desired timeframe. This simulation involves replicating the plant, production floor, machinery, and personnel to examine and validate production changeover times. With various machines assigned different tasks, aligning them seamlessly becomes essential. This software empowers Van Wijnen to optimise machine configurations successfully, ensuring the achievement of the goal to manufacture 4,000 homes each year. "Through our simulations, we gained early insights into the optimal machinery layout. The dynamic factory simulation helps uncover potential errors, allowing for early identification and resolution of bottlenecks. This not only instils confidence but also offers the flexibility to test optimisations cost-effectively." - André Klouwen, Deputy Director of Technology at Van Wijnen Components Save costs and maintain oversight An increasing number of companies establishing a greenfield production facility opt to simulate a dynamic version of the future factory or production hall before its physical construction. The ability to foresee and test the flow of your factory in advance, ensuring that your machinery and desired production can be realised. Knowing the required number of operators to achieve the projected and determined production levels. Despite the complexity of the process, Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation can preserve clarity and save costs. We are very proud to be part of the future of living! While prefabricated homes have been around for some time, they haven't been produced at this volume. Tecnomatix Plant Simulation is the solution for intricate processes, transitioning from static drawings to a dynamic, digital version of your factory! Would you like to get started with a simulation of your production environment? Contact us directly.
Manufacturing Menu: Boost Marketing & Sales with Mendix Dealer Portal
What is the secret of B2B marketing and sales in the digital age? Personalization and strong engagement with your dealers. This is achieved by having a good understanding of their needs and wishes and establishing powerful integration between all your communication and sales channels. Building and actively using a dealer portal is a great solution for manufacturing companies and B2B sellers to boost their marketing and sales activities. But what can you do with a dealer portal? And what are the benefits? We'll tell you in this article and show how the combined knowledge and experience of the companies within Emixa help in developing a modern, versatile and future-proof dealer platform.
A Fully Automated Exam Flow with EMO
In collaboration with Emixa, Examenadviesburo developed the application EMO, a solution that streamlines the entire exam flow. We spoke with General Director Anne Prins-van den Bergh about the development process, the collaboration with Emixa, and the benefits of the new system.
Maximise production with Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a common Key Performance Indicator within industry, which compares actual production output with the maximum capacity of production processes.