Bringing Mendix in-house at AME

We opened with conversations. Picking the right first application means understanding the company and the ambition behind the request, so that is where the early time went.

About Applied Micro Electronics

Applied Micro Electronics designs and manufactures advanced electronic systems and modules for industrial applications, and stays with its customers all the way through: electronics development, software, production, and testing. Their modules end up inside other companies’ machines, so reliability and quality are as much the product as the electronics are.

Why AME wanted more than a single Mendix app

AME came to The Orange Force looking for a low-code partner to explore what Mendix could mean for the business, and the ambition went well past one application. AME wanted to know where low-code could help across the organisation, and wanted that knowledge to stay in the building.

So we sat down with people from operations, management, business, and IT. Those conversations showed us where the real openings were, and which one made the strongest first project.

Co-building the first app, training the team behind it

The job had two halves. Deliver a working application, and leave AME with the skills and the internal backing to keep going.

We built AME’s first Mendix application together with AME employees. They learned by doing, while our consultants kept quality, pace, and good practice on track. We trained internal developers to an intermediate level, so Mendix knowledge sat with a group instead of one person. And we ran Product Owner training for management, an architect, operations, and IT, which gave them one shared way of handling requirements and priorities.

Short lines of communication made the difference. AME’s needs got sharper as the project went on, and we moved with them.

At AME, production-level quality and stability are key. The Orange Force helped us train our team, introduce Mendix, and co-develop our first Mendix application. With their broad expertise across development and UI/UX, we achieved a smooth launch, and since then, we’ve built multiple applications ourselves.

Glenn Smulders, Data & Business Analyst at AME

A QR-scan packing app that talks to SAP

The first application the two teams built together replaced the packaging solution AME used before, and it now runs the manual packing process on the shop floor.

Every product carries its own QR code, whether that is a PCBA, a mechanical part, or a full assembly. An operator scans it. The app identifies the correct product and recipe, then returns the packing instructions needed to finish the job by hand. Once packing is done, the app confirms back to SAP and marks the product ready for the next step.

Mendix sits as a layer on top of SAP here, which gives AME room to move fast while SAP keeps holding the record. Mendix is also the only enterprise low-code platform endorsed by SAP. The design brief was clear. It had to be rock solid, because it runs in live production. It had to be obvious to use, because operators on a shop floor have better things to do than think about software. And it had to fit neatly with the systems AME already had.

Results: live on the shop floor, owned by AME

The application is live in production and runs every day on more than 40 workstations. It is how AME packs its products now.

The app is the visible part. AME also owns its applications and roadmap, has Mendix developers of its own, clear product ownership across departments, and a much wider sense across the company of what low-code can do. When the business needs something new, AME can extend this app or build the next one. We are still on speed dial when they want a second pair of eyes.

AME and Mendix in numbers

Fact	Detail
Workstations running the app daily	40+
Location	Brainport region, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Product types tracked by QR code	PCBAs, mechanical parts, and assemblies
Client contact	Glenn Smulders, Data & Business Analyst at AME