Lectra, Karimoku partner on furniture made to order

HIGASHIURA, Japan – High-end Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku has partnered with Lectra technology to speed the efficiency of producing furniture made to order.

Through the implementation of Lectra’s Furniture On Demand system, Karimoku will be able to connect its IT system to its cutting room, transform and digitalize its fabric-cutting process and set the foundation for expanding its sales footprint in other countries.

Lectra’s system creates a direct link between factory production and the consumer, greatly simplifying a client’s ability to streamline their business model towards catering to consumer demand.

Karimoku’s customers can customize more than 100 models of upholstered furniture with a wide variety of fabrics, leathers, and woods in different dimensions. The company receives 300 orders a day – 80% made to order – and uses, on average, three types of material per order, which equals 900 cutting orders per day.

“We wanted to not only accelerate made-to-order production, but also manage complexity, and by improving the quality of cut parts, we aim to show fabrics to their advantage, enhancing the attractiveness of the finished product,” said Hiroyuki Hayashi, Karimoku’s senior managing director, adding that Lectra’s pattern-matching capability was a major reason the company selected Lectra. Lectra’s made-to-order solution “is excellent in pattern matching and skew adjustment. Karimoku uses high-end fabric. If we can match patterns and skew perfectly, we can put our products in a higher position. … The whole production process is faster, shortening lead-time.”

Karimoku chose to collaborate with Lectra, not only because of Lectra’s advanced technologies, but also for its extensive experience in the global furniture industry. Furniture On Demand by Lectra Order holds great promise for Karimoku’s future success, Hayashi said.

“In the future, we will be able to monitor multiple production sites remotely from a central location,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is a direct link between factory and customer.”