In the past few years, the furniture industry — and the customized furniture industry in particular — has seen rapid, even explosive growth. Huge ads for major furniture brands can be seen in public venues everywhere, including airports, train stations, and along highways. The Oppein brand, a trendsetter in furniture customization, has undergone more than a decade of rapid development to become a benchmark enterprise in the customized furniture industry.

Founded in 1994, Oppein is a leader in China’s kitchen cabinet industry. Kitchen cabinets, Oppein’s principal product, have driven the development of related products, including wardrobes, bathroom sets, modern wooden doors, wall decorations and wallpaper and kitchen appliances. With diverse product offerings, an international furniture manufacturing base, and a highly competitive production scale, Oppein is a one-stop modern furniture service provider for the Chinese market.

As a Chinese frontrunner in flexible production lines, Oppein’s three-pronged approach to the manufacturing process — automation, information support and refinement — ensures delivery of high-quality products in each segment of production: from design, cutting and cropping, to surface processing, assembly and shipping, and including installation and service. Oppein selects raw materials that conform to European environmental protection standards and incorporates traditional Chinese cultural concepts and leading European and American design elements to provide consumers with high-end products and to create new opportunities for Chinese furniture companies to participate in international competition.

Overall, the company employs approximately 10,000 people with manufacturing spread across 125 acres. In addition to cabinetry, Oppein manufactures home storage and furniture products including: combination wardrobes, designer wardrobes, open metal frame wardrobes, sliding wardrobe doors, partitioning doors, bed stands and bedroom sets.

Software solutions help wardrobe business soar

Relying on years of success in kitchen cabinets, Oppein entered the field of wardrobes in 2005 and quickly rose to the top of the industry. Currently, the company processes more than 2,500 complete wardrobe orders each day.

In the past, the company relied on electronic forms for recording the ordering and plant management processes, using dozens in the management process. Not only did this require a lot of manpower, it also resulted in low visibility of operations.

To improve operations and optimize business procedures, Oppein said it considered several enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions before implementing the 2020 Insight manufacturing operations management solution. Developed specifically for furniture manufacturers, 2020 Insight allows for seamless production, from sales orders to shipping, while providing the foundation for future expansion of Oppein’s wardrobe business.

Using the software solution, Oppein wardrobe distributors first design home furnishing solutions in 2020 Design. After an order is created, the design data is sent through 2020 Live Order to 2020 Insight, which converts the information into the necessary production documents and generates material lists and CNC programs, allowing the factory to begin production. Distributers also can upload other documents related to orders, such as diagrams, electronic forms, and Word files. These files can be checked at any time during the order input and production process, providing a seamless transmission of information and accurate production of orders.

Currently, 90 to 95 percent of the orders are generated in 2020 design with the remaining ones, which are CAD orders, entered directly into Insight for production management. The company adds that before implementing the software system, about 35 percent of the orders input by distributors had design problems. Now, distributors are automatically notified to adjust the design. Also, Oppein notes, manpower requirements have been reduced by 2.5 in the ordering cycle.

The production cycle has been reduced by 35 percent and capabilities improved since the end-to-end software solution system was implemented. In addition to streamlining the entire process, the production status is delivered to stores and consumers in real-time, improving the consumer experience. 

Oppein’s wardrobe business in particular saw improved efficiency in tracking data from all segments. To track the circulation of parts in the production process, scanning functions have been added to the system. Now barcodes are attached to all boards that can be scanned upon arriving at each segment. Real-time updating of dynamic reports also provides management with important data that allows it to see all kinds of information in the order-processing queue during important stages of the order processing cycle.

The system also can promptly identify order backlogs, the duration that orders stay in the system, daily payments received, daily sales order volume, daily sales order statistics, and other key performance indices that greatly improve decision making and allow management to accurately understand where and when to allocate resources. Also significant has been the increased speed in which the company can now bring new products to market.

“We were very happy to see our plant truly gain in efficiency,” says an Oppein furniture manager. “The demand in the Asian market for high-quality, complete furniture sets continues to grow, and we are fully confident that as we continue to expand we will be able to provide our customers with the same outstanding service as before.”

Oppein is a chair unit of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Cabinet Professional Committee and authored the national standards “Residential Kitchens” and “Residential Bathrooms.” The company has received more than 60 certifications and awards for its products from Chinese and global authorities, including the Chinese environmental marking certification. As one of China’s fastest growing and most efficient furniture companies, Oppein says it plans to continue expanding in China and around the world.