How the UK's leading kitchen supplier modernized 140 production lines, cut order lead time from 21 to 14 days, and scaled from 3,000 to 130,000 pieces - by partnering with IndX to implement SAP Digital Manufacturing.
Howdens is a £2.3 billion kitchen supplier serving trade professionals across 950 depots in the UK and Europe. At that scale, the production model that ran the business for over a decade had become a liability.
By 2020, 140 production lines were running on a system that couldn't link a single production plan to a specific customer order. No closed-loop supply chain. No way to scale without breaking something.
Howdens needed a partner who could rebuild the foundation without stopping the machine. It chose IndX.
Howdens worked with IndX to deploy SAP Digital Manufacturing - starting with a proof of concept on the lamination production line, then expanding to the work surface plant and the paint-to-order facility over 12 months.
With one central manufacturing solution integrated across sites, adding new facilities became a configuration exercise. Once you've set up the initial framework, rolling out to new plants is quite simple, says Peacock.
When SAP Digital Manufacturing went live at the end of 2023, the paint-to-order plant was producing 3,000 pieces for 100 unique customer orders per month. By end of 2024, it was producing 130,000 pieces for more than 5,000 unique orders - all within a 14-day lead time.
Howdens is now working to reduce the number of system interactions required from machine operators. At a decorative panels facility, SAP Digital Manufacturing sends jobs to machines, collects task feedback, and moves orders through the production sequence automatically. Operators launch the job - the platform orchestrates the rest.
IndX is a long-standing SAP partner and strategic advisor for digital transformation in industrial manufacturing. Its team of Industry 4.0, digital manufacturing, and supply chain specialists supported Howdens at every stage - from initial assessment and proof of concept through to multi-site implementation and ongoing expansion.
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"It's very easy to continue doing what you do today. But as technology evolves, we had to be open-minded about which processes and systems could help us innovate and remain on top of our market. SAP Digital Manufacturing offers the power, connectivity, and real-time data and analytics we need to succeed in the future of manufacturing."
— David Peacock, IS Manufacturing Systems Technical Lead, Howdens Joinery Group Plc
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