Software matters
Crystal Units Ltd is located in North West London (Hendon) – with great views of Wembley Stadium from the Board Room. The company was founded on 18th Oct 1994 and today employs in excess of 90 staff with a turnover in 2014 of thirteen million British Pounds.
“We aim to have a healthy and reasonable production capacity, and try to focus on the type of products that are difficult and are most likely to cause a headache at the start of the project,“ says General Manager Pankaj Gorsia, who runs the company together with his brother in law, Vijay Halai. “We are good at offering solutions to architects who need to realize unique projects“, the young entrepreneur proudly adds. What makes Crystal Units unique in the market is the opportunity they offer to get everything from one single source with the advantages of a flat hierarchy: quick decisions, smart teams that pick up business as fast as they can and an innate hands-on mentality.
Software – the key to growth and quality
Last year Crystal Units decided to install LiSEC software tools. Until then, they relied on a software package from a local supplier, which did not offer an intelligent system in the order entry process, at that time deadlines were deadlines. Thanks to the LiSEC capacity planning tool, the orders are now structured and the system tells which days are possible to deliver and which are not. Now deliveries are ready three days in advance – and the team can take in more orders. LiSEC software enabled Crystal Units to increase capacity by nearly 15% and to fundamentally change the way they work. Because of easier batching, Crystal Units have reduced the time spent on toughening and have also 10-12% less waste now. Gorsia: “In the past, everything was urgent and we were chasing our tails“.
The new way of planning capacity also had an impact on the organisation of the teams. Before the LiSEC capacity planning was installed, shifts at the IG lines took 12 hours, now they last 8 hours with the same workload. Today, Crystal Units have room for capacity at the same site without having to invest in further machines. „Which is important, since we are very tight on space here. The tracking system has hugely helped us to get more room in production and to locate glass much more efficiently”, Gorsia adds.
A glimpse into the future
Crystal Units believe business in the UK is going to be very good the next ten years, this will be the time to push business and also the time to expand because investments will take place. The company is gearing up for tomorrow’s business. On the one hand they consider the possibilities of setting up new plants - create satellite production sites. They may even consider starting with a smaller site, then grow it. Gorsia: “For this to happen, we need to ensure we have perfect processes in place which we can then replicate into new ventures. On the other hand Crystal Units is also looking at opportunities via partnerships in other countries.
Crystal Units focuses the importance of partnerships: We do business but what we really like to work on are partnerships – like with LiSEC and Crystal Units: LiSEC gives us highly valuable input as to how to do the business and provides us with robust training, having only one goal in mind: they want us to be successful as a company“.
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