Download the Press release as pdf 

Best of NeoCon Gold winner to host users and dealers, Steelcase, Haworth, Teknion and ProjectMatrix representatives.

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., USA

Configura CET Designer® users and dealers considering the software will benefit from the CET Designer User Conference to be held Oct. 1-2 at The Luxor in Las Vegas. The conference sessions are free. A special room-rate is available for conference attendees.

 

Each dealer who registers and attends the conference will receive a one-year subscription to CET Designer, a value of $750 (extensions not included; limit of one subscription per dealer/company).

 

“It’s a user conference, but we are thinking of it as a ‘partner conference,’” Configura CEO Johan Lyreborn said. “Beyond training and the latest updates, we want our users to tell us how we could make our software even better so their work is made easier. We want to partner with them.”

 

Configura received a Best of NeoCon Gold Award for CET Designer in June.

 

Users and dealers from across the country will join representatives from Configura, Steelcase, Haworth, Teknion and ProjectMatrix to discuss industry best practices and ways to simplify the selling process through software. Networking and a demo of CET Designer 2.1 are on the agenda.

 

“CET Designer is becoming a workplace strategy. It is solving the problem of the complicated design-sales-ordering process,” Configura Vice President Peter Brandinger said.

 

In addition to being used by designer-dealers of Steelcase, Haworth and Teknion products, the software also is being used to teach design at such schools as the University of Southern Mississippi. A collaboration with ProjectMatrix gives users access to more than 80 percent of the office furniture symbols in the contract-furniture industry, making the software a complete solution.

 

Online registration is available at www.cetdesigner.com. Space is limited to the first 75 attendees.

 

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Configura Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Configura Sverige AB, is the market leader in Parametric Graphical Configuration technology. The company’s software products are used by thousands of people in leading companies around the world. Configura’s mission is to set the industry standard in software tools for automating, simplifying and speeding the sales and order processes. Well-known brands in the European office furniture industry, such as Kinnarps and Martela, already use Configura software, as well as North American companies Haworth, Steelcase, Teknion, ProjectMatrix, Spacesaver, Borroughs and TAB. www.configura.com

Visit us at booth 7-7046; meet our CEO; view demos; learn how CET Designer can make designing and specifying faster, easier, more accurate. Visit our NeoCon Newsroom.

 

Configura will be at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair 2008 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, June 9-11, demo’ing software and offering training sessions. The Sweden-based company with a U.S. office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, makes CET Designer, design and specification software extensions used by Steelcase, Haworth and Teknion dealers. Located in Booth 7-7046, Configura representatives from both Sweden and Grand Rapids will be attending, including CEO Johan Lyreborn and nationally known designer/trainer Cate Sword.

 

Configura released Version 2.0 of its NeoCon-award-winning CET Designer software earlier this month. See demos showing how users can now work with large projects and big drawings, start to finish … plus see previews of coming CET Designer version working in a real-time fully rendered 3D environment and navigating fast through huge drawings.

Steelcase, Haworth and Teknion dealers will especially benefit from CET Designer demos.

• 
  Steelcase Inc. launched Steelcase SmartTools, Steelcase’s Extension powered by CET Designer, on
  May 19.
• 
  Haworth’s Extension, Canvas, has been used by Haworth dealers since 2006.
• 
  An Extension for Teknion, Storyboard, also launched earlier this year.
• 
  Last year, a collaboration with ProjectMatrix resulted in an Extension called ProjectSymbols for CET Designer, which gives CET users instant access to ProjectMatrix’s vast AutoCAD symbols library. Because it represents 80 percent of industry products, the collaboration makes CET Designer a solution for
  practically the entire commercial furniture industry.

Visit our NeoCon Newsroom for online demos, fact sheets, our annual report and more.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., USA—May 19, 2008—Configura, Inc. today announced that Steelcase Inc. has launched Steelcase SmartTools, Steelcase’s Extension powered by CET Designer,

Configura’s software for designing and specifying office furniture and interiors.

“Steelcase and Configura have collaborated over the past year to produce Steelcase SmartTools. This Extension is specific to Steelcase product lines, and we’re pleased to announce it’s now available to Steelcase dealers,” said Peter Brandinger, vice president, Configura. “It’s designed to make their work
easier and faster as well as more creative and accurate.”

Said Steven Eriksson, Channel Strategy Leadership Team, Steelcase Inc.: “The design process for the contract furniture industry has always required designers to work at a detailed parts level and is very complex, sometimes taking years to learn the rules and application criteria for systems furniture. Steelcase SmartTools powered by Configura’s CET Designer reduces the learning curve to understand and design with our extensive systems products, designing at the object rather than at the parts level.”

Calling it more efficient and intuitive than traditional programs, Eriksson noted the design modifications are easier and faster to implement. “We will be able to offer more design and product applications solutions, coupled with the ability to cost effectively and quickly render those solutions. Designers using Steelcase SmartTools can provide customers with faster overall responses, accurate specifications, a broader variety of design possibilities and budgetary pricing,” he said.

Configura released Version 2.0 of its NeoCon-award-winning CET Designer software earlier this month. The software is also used by Haworth and Teknion dealers. A partnership with ProjectMatrix provides CET Designer users access to more than 80 percent of the products in the commercial furniture industry.

Steelcase dealers can visit a dedicated Web site, http://in2.steelcase.com/configura/, where download instructions, a training schedule, a narrated software demo, FAQs, and other helpful information are located. Dealers with questions are encouraged to use the ‘contact us’ link on the Web site or they can send e-mails directly to CETadmin@steelcase.com or call the Configura CET Designer toll-free help number, 877-238-0808. For more information about CET Designer in general, please visit www.cet-extensions.net.

Configura will demo CET Designer at NeoCon in Chicago this June at Booth 7-7046. Also, a CET Designer Users’ Conference is slated for Oct. 1 and 2 in Las Vegas.

Significant updates enable users to design more, sell more

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., USA—May 6, 2008—Configura, Inc.  today released Version 2.0 of its NeoCon-award-winning CET Designer software for designing and specifying office furniture and interiors. The software is used by Haworth and Teknion dealers and, May 19, will be launched by Steelcase. A partnership with ProjectMatrix provides CET Designer users access to more than 80 percent of the products in the commercial furniture industry. 

“In collaboration with these leaders, CET Designer is now industry-wide and an industry standard. The successes that started with Haworth just two years ago have proven what the software is capable of,” CEO Johan Lyreborn said. “With Version 2.0, we have made significant enhancements that will benefit new and existing users across the board.” 

According to U.S.-based Configura Vice President Peter Brandinger, improvements to CET Designer Version 2.0 include a streamlined printing function, the ability to work in a highly rendered environment and a tool that supports virtually every currency in the world. A new rendering engine launches this fall with Version 2.1, which has significant speed enhancements and expanded capacity for handling very large projects. 

How it works: A CET Designer Extension is loaded with a manufacturer’s product lines, and users drag and drop product images into layouts as opposed to having to know part numbers and go through a series of pull-down menus. All products in CET Designer are programmed with the manufacturer’s current information on valid configurations, prices and part numbers. This rules-based technology won’t let users make mistakes. Through rapid configuration, CET Designer reveals layouts in 2D, photo-realistic 3D and/or in rendered form, as well as accurate, real-time product/parts specification and pricing. Based on Parametric Graphical Configuration technology developed by Configura, this highly visual software simplifies the selling process by bridging gaps in information/communication between dealer, designer, specifier and customer. 

 

Configura will demo CET Designer at NeoCon in Chicago this June at Booth 7-7046. Also, a CET Users’ Conference is slated for Oct. 1 and 2 in Las Vegas.

FACT SHEET Upgrades in CET Designer 2.0: Printing/publishing enhancement – PaperView function provides flexible, WYSIWYG/desktop publishing capabilities within CET Designer so users can transfer a whole drawing, or parts of a drawing, to a new paper view where they can create the designed layout with title blocks, images and text. More image formats – ProjectMatrix components can be shown as basic or more detailed; more than one type of flooring can be depicted in a project; common image formats such as GIF, PNG, BMP and JPG can be imported; wall images can be imported to give the appearance of artwork or a logotype – images also can be framed. Remote live customer service support – A CET technical support person can assume control of a user’s system from anywhere in the world and visually walk the user through the problem, even showing the user how to correct the problem. Both see the same screen in real time. A built-in, timed internal reminder – An “early warning” a few days before a certificate expires has been added, alerting the user to connect and download the most recent version, which contains the manufacturers’ most current products and pricing. Reworked calculation dialog – The software has new functionality tools for searching, filtering, and sorting/changing/removing different columns of data; performing article adjustments right in the calculation dialog; and seeing multiple views showing different versions of the same calculations depending on set filters. Currency tool – The new version supports virtually every currency in the world. New rendering engine/speed enhancements (coming with Version 2.1 releasing fall 2008) – A new rendering engine, Redsdk 1.4 by Redway 3d, optimizes the power of the graphics card in users’ computers and achieves: – Ability to work in real-time in a photo-realistic, rendered 3D environment – Significant speed in enhancements in designing, rendering, printing – Expanded ability to handle very large projects – up to 500 stations/cubicles How is CET Designer different from other software? – CET Designer is based on Parametric Graphical Configuration, an objects–oriented technology. Most commercial-furniture space design software is typically rooted in AutoCAD. – In CET Designer, users point, click, drag and drop product icons, which snap into place. – Users do not need to know product/parts numbers or go through a complicated sequence of menus. – Through rapid configuration, CET Designer reveals layouts in 2D, photo-realistic 3D, and/or in rendered form as well as accurate, real-time product/parts specification and pricing. – Each Extension is programmed with the specific manufacturer’s product rules, virtually eliminating specification mistakes. – CET Designer automates the repetitious tasks involved in product specification, thus reducing the time and effort associated with product specification. Instead of spending 80 percent of time on specifying and 20 percent designing, the software reverses those figures and enables designer-dealers to be more creative for their clients, output more, and sell more. – AutoCAD drawings can be imported into CET if desired, and CET-created drawings can be converted back to AutoCAD if needed. – The majority of Haworth dealers now use the software for designing and specifying under its Canvas Extension, launched in 2006. The Teknion Storyboard Extension launched earlier this year. The Steelcase Extension launches May 19. ProjectMatrix’s ProjectSymbols Extension launched in 2007.