Summary
Separex makes sliding walls, doors, and partitions in aluminum and glass, with a partner network across the country. I delivered a platform that unifies the sales pipeline, quote configuration at millimeter precision, production planning, and inventory — all in one place, with separate roles for sales, production, and admin. I intermediated the project end-to-end — hub model in action: I took the brief, picked the FastCodingAgency team (my principal software collaborator, 15-20 developers) for execution, and stayed the single point of contact between the Brașov factory and the technical team throughout.
Client context
Separex (separex.ro) operates out of Brașov and ships across the country through a network of dealers, interior designers, architects, and contractors. Products are configured to order: slim aluminum profiles, tempered glass, Italian hardware, dimensions matched to the space at 1 mm precision. Each order is effectively a small project — not something pulled off a shelf.
In that setting, the real flow looks like: lead from a partner or direct → quote configuration with dimensions and options → client confirmation → bill of materials computed from the configuration → workshop planning → production → delivery. Each step used to live in a different tool — or in Excel.
Problem
First problem — sales and production spoke different languages. The sales team worked on quotes and partner requests; production worked on plans and workshop tasks. Between them, information moved through email, phone, or meetings. Any late client change triggered a chain of manual re-communication.
Second problem — quote configuration is technical. Millimeter dimensions, tempered glass or not, hardware type, slim profiles with visible width vs structural depth, finish options. Without a configurator, quotes were written in Word, with a real risk that the production BOM didn't match what the client confirmed.
Third problem — stock and procurement. Profiles, glass, hardware — each with different lead times. Without a unified view of inventory against the confirmed order portfolio, the team was either over-ordering "just in case," or running short exactly on the longest-lead-time material.
My role
Consultant & intermediary — hub model in action. Separex is the largest example of my model: the client came with a real production-and-sales problem, I owned it end-to-end, picked the right team — FastCodingAgency, my principal software collaborator — and coordinated everything. The client talked to a single front door: me.
- Discovery with the Separex team in Brașov — sales, production, admin; I sat next to the real flows, not the idealized ones from meetings. I translated between factory language and technical language.
- Team selection — I picked FastCodingAgency as the execution team: 15-20 developers, already trained on ERP / CRM projects of similar complexity, with insanely fast lead times for the requested scope.
- Solution architecture (hub decision) — ERP + CRM modules, data model for the millimeter-configurable product, role separation. I held the architectural decisions; the FCA team executed.
- Weekly coordination cadence — sprint planning, code review on critical parts, client validation at every major iteration. The client got weekly updates without chasing anyone.
- Application security — role-based authentication, audit on sensitive actions (price change, order cancellation), clear permission separation. I held this layer as a business requirement.
- Single point of contact — the client was never asked to mediate between developers. Any question, any adjustment, any issue: it came to me. That was part of the hub's promise.
Solution
Quote configurator with auto-computed BOM. Sales enters dimensions (with 1 mm validation), picks profile type, glass, hardware. The system produces the client-facing quote and, in parallel, the internal BOM — one source of truth for both. No hand-written BOMs.
Integrated CRM pipeline. Leads (from partners or direct) enter a single pipeline with clear stages: lead → qualified → quoted → confirmed → in production → delivered. Each stage has an owner, a status, and a history.
Production module wired to the order portfolio. Confirmed orders flow into workshop planning. Operators see what to make, in what order, with what materials reserved. A delay at one point fires alerts into the CRM, so sales talks to the client transparently instead of finding out by accident.
Multi-warehouse inventory with reservations. On order confirmation, materials are logically reserved; what's missing becomes a procurement request. That broke the "over-order" vs "stuck on profile" cycle.
Strict roles. Sales sees the quote and the client, not internal costs. Production sees the plan and BOM, not margin. Admin sees everything, with audit. That cut both the error risk and the risk of information walking where it shouldn't.
Partner portal. Designers, architects, and dealers get an account with visibility on their own leads, quotes, and orders — no status-check phone calls.
Outcome
Separex moved from "each team with its own tool" to "one platform where everyone sees the same thing." Sales only promises what production can deliver; production plans against what sales actually confirmed; procurement reacts to numbers, not hunches.
Metrics that matter:
average lead time reduction from order confirmation to delivery
% orders with a correct BOM on first pass, before vs after the configurator
"safety stock" reduction on long-lead-time materials
number of active partners on the portal, with self-service visibility
Lessons learned
Biggest lesson: in an ERP + CRM project for a real manufacturer, value doesn't come from the modules listed in the brief — it comes from what disappears. Every status meeting that's no longer needed, every "do we still have it in stock?" email, every shared Excel with three versions — those are the real wins. That taught me the architect-and-coordinator role isn't about adding software, it's about letting information flow on its own between people who used to carry it on their backs.
The Separex-specific intermediation lesson: in a project this size, a real manufacturer doesn't have the time to manage a dev team directly. They want one person they can tell "solve this" and go back to running the factory. The hub model — me on brief and coordination, the FastCodingAgency team on execution — is what made it possible to deliver an ERP + CRM platform at a cadence a factory can absorb without stopping production.
Tech stack
RO — translation pending
Tech direction — confirmabil cu clientul / to be confirmed with client.
- Frontend web app: framework modern de tip Next.js sau echivalent, cu UI gândit pentru desktop și pentru tabletele din atelier
- Backend & business logic: stivă server-side robustă (Node.js / Laravel / similar), modulară pe CRM, configurator, producție, stoc
- Bază de date: PostgreSQL pentru date relaționale (clienți, comenzi, BOM, stoc), cu indexare atentă pe rapoarte
- Configurator de produs: motor de reguli pentru validarea dimensiunilor și a combinațiilor profil + sticlă + feronerie
- Cozi & job-uri asincrone: procesare de calcule BOM, generare PDF de ofertă, notificări către parteneri
- Autentificare & roluri: auth cu roluri separate pentru vânzări, producție, administrare, parteneri externi
- Portal parteneri: zonă separată cu acces restricționat la propriile date
- Audit & securitate: log de audit pe acțiuni sensibile, criptare pe date sensibile, backup planificat
- Hosting & deploy: infrastructură cloud cu medii separate dev / staging / producție