Minkels
We no longer want to think back to a time without Sofon
Bart Nieuwenhuis
PRODUCT MANAGER
5 questions for a Sofon User
1 What does Minkels do?
“Minkels equips computer rooms. Until five or so years ago we focused entirely on computer cabinets: the 19 inch racks. In recent years, however, there has been a shift at the company from just the sale of products to the sale of solution based services. This has seen our range of configurations expand dramatically. For example, we now offer cooling solutions too. Temperatures in a rack can rise substan-tially. We are able to cool up to 24 KW in a rack. To put this in perspective, a domestic oven has an output of less than 3 KW. This means that you could screw eight ovens into a rack, turn them all to high and it would still stay cool. We are also active in the area of monitoring – the monitoring of ambient conditions, such as humidity, temperature and power consumption, for example. Power con-sumption in particular has been a hot topic in recent times.”
2 Why does Minkels use Sofon?
“We wanted to safeguard knowledge. After all, a great deal of product knowledge is required in order to offer a product. Employees who have worked for Minkels for 15 years already have this product knowledge in their heads. They know that opting for a certain accessory leads to the exclusion of other accessories. But if you have to train a new employee or a reseller, this information cannot be communi-cated so easily. This knowledge and intelligence has now been incorporated into Sofon. We therefore refer to Sofon as ‘the automated engineer’.”
3 How does Minkels use Sofon?
“We use Sofon to configure the racks. This takes place on the basis of questions and answers. All defaults and exclusions have been recorded here, which means that errors can no longer be made. During configuration, the bill of materials is compiled which is passed on to our ERP package. In addition, the product is also presented visually while the cabinet is being put together. This means that we can actually see how the cabinet will turn out. The specifications of the configuration are then recorded in a document that is taken along to the customer.”
4 What changes has Sofon brought about?
“We have become so used to Sofon that we no longer want to think back to a time without it. Without Sofon, numerous errors would be made and a great deal of speed would be lost. It enables us to ensure that all the products we configure are feasible and can actually be built or delivered once the quote becomes an order. Our sales offices and dealers are also experiencing the advantages of using Sofon. We wanted our dealers to be able to provide their customers with greater added value, for example. Thanks to Sofon, now they don’t just sell item numbers, but create the cabinet together with the customer. And it saves us time too, as we no longer have to realize the configuration.”
5 What does the future hold for Minkels and Sofon?
“We want to use Sofon to offer complete solutions, not just cabinets. A complete solution may take the form of the design for an entire room – twenty cabinets with a cold corridor, for example. A cold corridor is an aisle that the fronts of all the computers face. The com-puters suck in cold air from this aisle. The backs of the computers face another aisle, which is where the hot air ends up. We erect a roof over these aisles and place sliding doors at the end of the corridor. This means that the cold air is kept completely separate and we are able to monitor the ambient conditions. Sofon will soon allow us to configure whole projects: to equip complete computer rooms with various components, tailored to the customer’s needs.”