Emalec specializes in the technical maintenance of multiple sites in 7 languages, 24/7. In 2001, this 15-strong company did not have any information systems. Since then, they decided to have full control over their operational infrastructures and developments by means of customized tools which provide competitive advantages. President Jean J. discusses the strategic approach which turned his company into a success story with 300 employees. Apitech is proud to have contributed to its growth.

Mastering its IT enables Emalec to handle multiples requirements in terms of service, quality, responsiveness and traceability. This is indispensable in order to be able to manage 300,000 interventions and associated actions every year in several languages. Redundant power supplies, security and back up issues come up regularly. The company also follows developments of webbased tools including tablets.

From the start, Emalec decided to focus on customized developments rather than invest in off-the-shelf products. This is how
the proprietary, corporate ERP «Mozart» system was designed: it enables Emalec to handle their interventions on more than 18,000 sites in France and Europe and also deal with daily management tasks.

“It was a choice based on experience” explains Jean Jullien. “I tested 4 or 5 CMMS tools in the past but they did not serve our purposes as far as building maintenance was concerned. Off -the-shelf products have far too many features, but only a fraction is fully used. Besides, they are not at all user-friendly. They may be sold at attractive rates, but maintenance fees are high and responsiveness in terms of support is rarely available”.

This corporate ERP had to fully comply with Emalec’s operational requirements, which were also those of their customers. The tool had to be as fl exible as possible to handle all sorts of technical maintenance issues including the repair of locks, metal curtains, leaks and so on, from a wide variety of businesses (retail store Auchan and telephony firm Bouygues are amongst their clients).

According to Mr. Jullien, companies who do without any IT culture often go for market-available products by default but, ultimately, they will be impacted negatively as a result. In the building sector, there are numerous update requests every day, not to mention preventive or corrective maintenance. It is crucial to facilitate decision-making and to have a global view of a situation by means of a user-friendly tool. Furthermore, Emalec is more and more leaning towards « facility management», while integrating duration into the process and taking into account all the peripheral technical services of their customers. More and more outsource their asset management. 

“Apitech knew how to reply to Emalec’s expectations when the book of specifi cations was laid out, they knew exactly what our needs were and how to anticipate our evolutions. A partnership built on trust developed because they off ered a time-based vision. Flexibility, support, versatility as well as respect of confidentiality rules were keys to this business relationship.“