Focusing on high quality and responsible actions, Black Moda Oy is a family business operating in textile industry. When the company’s business increased at a rapid pace, it became more crucial to get the company’s systems updated. Business Finland was enquired to provide help with the development of information management, and from there, they got a contact to Innoman. Now Black Moda can release working time equivalent to 1.5 full time employee from routine tasks to value generating work.
Black Moda Oy has well over doubled their turnover in a few years and at the same time they are involved in the textile industry in a versatile manner. There are two family enterprises, Black Moda Finland and Black Moda Portugal. The company’s place of business located in Pirkanmaa has focused on the design, marketing and quality control of textile products. The actual production is located in northern Portugal, where the company invests in responsible textile production operating in Europe. Due to the company’s rapid growth, the ERP information system and operating modes did not any longer meet the needs.
With Innoman, we developed the company’s existing processes and planned target processes both in Finland and in Portugal. The clarification of Black Moda’s strategy and classification of customers had a central role in the project.
–To be able to understand what is needed, you have to understand the company’s processes. This way you’ll know which functions need to be made more effective and which ones can be automated, says Marko Keski-Vähälä, the managing director of Black Moda Oy, about Innoman’s approach.
Re-engineering the processes in interaction with the company and Innoman’s development expert, the roles and know-how of the company’s staff get to their rights. Also continuous development of processes will be established as a part of the company’s daily work.
Two different business environments and cultures
The main target of the cooperation was to find several different information management software solutions for the different functions in the company’s places of business.
–When two different business environments and cultures meet, this will bring about challenges of its own, Marko Keski-Vähälä sums up the initial situation.
When the developing project was launched, the processes and information systems used in both countries were described, as well as partners’ experiences of the implementation of the business model. There were clear differences in operating modes and the use of systems between the places of business, on one hand due to the environment, on the other due to different functions. With regard to the development work, the essential thing was to find out about the expectations of both places of business, customers and partners for the processes and cooperation models. The information obtained made it possible to classify customers, to specify the company’s strategy and to plan target processes. The development of system solutions and processes started with a refined strategy and the overall picture was kept in mind at every step.
–The time we had was spent effectively, Marko Keski-Vähälä compliments.
Competent cooperation brings extra strength to the development work
The evaluation of benefits has a key position in the steering and prioritizing of development work. It is required by the successful development of processes that job descriptions and areas of responsibility will be specified based on the business strategy. Good leadership is also necessary. By removing overlapping or unnecessary work, by making daily actions more effective and easier, and by creating standardized and reliable processes, we’ll achieve increase in profitability.
–I consider this a successful project, says Marko Keski-Vähälä.
Marko Keski-Vähälä feels that Innoman’s expert Venla Berg brought a good amount of views and her own expertise to the project. The development of processes and system solutions was based on the strategy, and together we were able to discuss the company as an entity. Innoman provided experience to the discussions, and this enabled us to strengthen existing models and to provide new perspectives.
–In Black Moda Oy they think about the things that the development work may enable them to do, and what this means in practice, Venla Berg describes.
In successful cooperation both parties recognize the other one’s know-how and value, and the mutual expertise will be integrated in the project.
Are you pursuing new growth for your company? Make an appointment for a consultation free of change, and our consult will tell you what are the things that you should focus on when developing your business!