Configura Announces Group Dekko as New Partner

2015.1102.Tech.Configura.GroupDekko.Ashley Trio+ Bezel™- winner 2015 Best of NeoCon Gold Award, Workplace Technologies
Group Dekko’s Ashley Trio+ Bezel™- winner of 2015 Best of NeoCon Gold Award, Workplace Technologies

Configura will develop the first CET Designer Extension for desktop power solutions product line

Configura, maker of CET Designer software, today announced a collaboration agreement with Garrett, Indiana-based Group Dekko, a leading provider of workplace power solutions with a long history of providing electrical distribution systems and charging devices to the office furniture market.

Configura will develop a CET Designer Extension for Group Dekko’s diverse product lines.

“We’re impressed with the Configura team and its industry-wide solution that helps both the manufacturers who make the products and the designers and dealers who specify the products,” Group Dekko CEO John May said. “We are pleased to have our 2015 Best of NeoCon Gold Award-winning Ashley power taps be the first power solutions product line available in CET Designer, an extremely user-friendly and accurate solution for the entire sales and ordering process.”

CET Designer helps manufacturers and their dealers and designers to more quickly bring products to market by providing a single software solution for the entire space-planning process. CET Designer lets users create drawings in 2D and 3D, produce photorealistic renderings and fly-thru videos of the designed space, and generate accurate bills of materials and detailed installation documents.

CET Designer is Parametric Graphical Configuration (PGC)-based software residing on the Configura Extension Technology (CET) platform; an Extension is an addition to the program with functionality that incorporates all of the rules, parts and pricing of a given manufacturer’s products. Manufacturers invest in proprietary CET Designer Extensions to make selling products easier, faster and more accurate.

“Our Ashley power taps sales have really taken off since launch this past June,” May said. “A CET Designer Extension helps designers best showcase them as both aesthetic and state-of-the-art USB charging and power solutions in their workspace plans. Ashley is one of several new product lines that we plan to make available in CET Designer.”

Users of CET Designer simply “drag and drop” manufacturers’ product symbols into the highly visual 2D and 3D layouts while the software handles the technical product details behind the scenes, automatically calculating parts and prices. This functionality lets the user focus on design, and even collaborate with customers in real-time to plan spaces and order products.

“Group Dekko products are ideal for a CET Designer Extension, which will simplify specifying and selling of the products. We’re excited about this partnership and welcome the company to the Configura family of manufacturers,” Configura Business Development Manager Brooke Snow said.

The Group Dekko CET Designer Extension is planned to launch in early December.

About Configura

Configura creates intelligent space-planning software for manufacturers, dealers and designers in the Contract Furniture, Kitchen and Bath, Material Handling, Industrial Machinery, and Laboratory and Healthcare industries. The company’s software products, including CET Designer®, are used by more than 10,000 people around the world.Configura Sverige AB, the parent company, is headquartered in Linköping, Sweden, with commercial operations in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Founded in 1990, Configura is privately owned with more than 90 employees worldwide and annual sales of more than $10 million USD. More information at www.configura.com.

About CET Designer®

Based on technology created by Configura, CET Designer® is intelligent, highly visual and intuitive space-planning software that simplifies specifying and selling of products in a variety of industries. It’s a complete solution that quickly and accurately handles every step of the sales and order process. In CET Designer®, components that represent manufacturers’ products look and behave like actual products. Users drag and drop components into 2D and 3D virtual environments; behind the scenes, the software tracks components, calculates pricing and prevents user errors. Users can create and generate layouts, quotes, photorealistic renderings, movies, installation drawings, reconfigurations and bills of materials – in other words, everything needed to propose on work and place orders. CET Designer® is the future of space planning. More information at www.configura.com/cet.

About Group Dekko

Group Dekko is a privately held company and North American leader in workspace power solutions with 1,300 associates across seven facilities in three states and Mexico. For over 40 years, Group Dekko has been a preferred electrical distribution product solutions provider for leading office furniture original equipment manufacturers. The Ashley product line is being specified in office, hospitality, education and medical markets. The company, founded in 1952, is headquartered in Garrett, Indiana, USA.  More information at www.dekko.com.