AmbaFlex

AmbaFlex: growth acceleration through standardized data platform

A leading manufacturer of conveyor belt systems, AmbaFlex sees the importance of good data. These help to make business processes more efficient and better decisions. In addition, customers ask for the data from Ambaflex's solutions to better control their own processes. But the existing IT environment had become spaghetti and inhibited these ambitions. Valid was asked to untangle the tangle, then brought the IT landscape up to a higher level, enabling growth acceleration.

Challenge: simplify infrastructure

Like most manufacturing companies, AmbaFlex uses numerous applications to support primary business processes. Think EPR, MES, CAD, CRM, HRM. Over the years, a cluttered mess developed. Management was difficult and time-consuming. Transferring data from one system to another was done manually, sometimes even from paper. Marcel Schilder, Global IT Manager at AmbaFlex, says he wanted to get rid of that. An unambiguous, standardized structure was needed, of higher technical quality, without manual work, but with central management. AmbaFlex also wanted an MES (Manufacturing Execution System) with end-to-end data integration of the entire business process, from ordering to service and maintenance.

Valid was asked to do this job. Painter: "I already knew Valid from a previous position. They helped me then to build a cloud platform, for monitoring and controlling access systems. The collaboration was excellent, because as a Microsoft partner, Valid is well versed in Azure technology."

AmbaFlex
Valid - male female collaboration
Solution: lay hybrid foundation
  • By building an integration layer for the ERP, CRM and MES systems, Valid laid the foundation for AmbaFlex's growth acceleration. The Azure Integration Platform was deployed to establish and manage integrations. Valid also provides management and support.
  • With Azure Logic Apps, connections were made between legacy on-premises systems and modern, sophisticated systems in the cloud with little to no code. This created a hybrid environment.
Collaborative benefits: capacity and valuable advice

According to Schilder, Valid's added value is its expertise and availability of good people. "We enjoy working with Valid," he says. "They fill our need for knowledge and experience extremely well. Because they are close to the fire as a Microsoft partner, they provide advice that is of great use to us."

"Because Valid is 'close to the fire' as a Microsoft partner, we get advice that is very helpful, Marcel Schilder, Global IT Manager AmbaFlex."

Marcel Schilder Global IT manager AmbaFlex
The result: future-proof IT landscape

The new integration landscape is clear, easy to manage, and expandable if necessary. Thanks to unambiguous documentation, building links is standardized and structured. So in time, AmbaFlex can do even more with data, for example, better asset management and predictive maintenance. "Or make the systems smart with sensors and integrate them into the customer's data environment," Schilder says. All the conditions for carefree growth have been met. "We have now laid the foundation for further innovation."

Other results:
  • Robust and high-quality integration platform for further digitization
  • Structure in creating and managing links
  • Links well documented
  • Greater efficiency and speed through centralization
  • Higher uptime information delivery
  • Fewer errors and failures
  • Basis for IoT and smart making of products
  • End-to-end digitized business processes
  • Complete integration Manufacturing Execution System (MES) realized
Vaid consultation - woman man
Valid - man workplace
AmbaFlex
  • Founded in 1996
  • Sales offices in Zwaag (headquarters), Singapore, Shanghai and Dallas
  • Machine manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands, Romania, China and the United States
  • Solutions for logistics, packaging, bottling and printing industries, among others
  • Company size 500-1000 employees
Added value Valid
  •  Great knowledge and experience in system integration
  • Great knowledge of and experience with Microsoft Azure technology
  • Structured, yet flexible approach
  • Contribution of high-quality capacity
  • Quality-oriented, much attention to testing
  • High handling speed
  • Result-oriented
  • Teamwork with client and client business partners