Success Story - Infinex Holding GmbH

The Client

The Infinex Group is one of Germany’s leading family-owned plastics manufacturers. Around 250 employees generate annual revenues of approximately 60 million euros across the group. Production takes place both domestically and internationally, with the main site located in Haiterbach in the Black Forest. This is where innovative plastic solutions are developed, increasingly with a focus on sustainability. With its U.S. cooperation partner, ID Plastics, LP in Auburn (Alabama), the group has also been serving the North American market for several years.

As the company grew, the need for transparent and up-to-date key figures increased as well. To meet this requirement, Infinex adopted Power BI early on—initially on a manageable scale. The focus was on quickly visualizing key metrics and providing the first insights for business departments. The solution was originally developed in-house and primarily drew data from the ABAS ERP system.

Over time, however, the existing setup reached its limits: loading times were sometimes too long, data models were not optimally structured, and dashboards were only partially usable. Requirements increased especially in production and HR reporting. Production KPIs needed to be consolidated in cockpit views, while in HR, topics such as headcount, Full Time Equivalent (FTE) analysis, and working time monitoring became priorities.

It quickly became clear that the existing solution required a fundamental optimization to run more efficiently and meet future needs.

The core task was to optimize the existing Power BI environment and sustainably increase its performance. The focus was on building a clean, flexibly expandable data model that would serve as a stable foundation for various reporting requirements.

Particular attention was given to several aspects: first, improving performance by reducing loading times and speeding up queries. Second, designing a data model that ensures transparency and scalability. In addition, dashboards were to be enhanced so that they are understandable and usable for both management and operational departments.

For the further development of the solution, Infinex sought support from an external partner.

The optimized Power BI solution is used across several areas at Infinex, with the sales dashboard playing the most important role. Approximately 40 users, including the sales team, access it regularly. The dashboard enables KPI analysis across various dimensions, such as product groups, items, customers, or the responsible inside and outside sales representatives.

Additional areas of application include:

At the German locations, the key figures of the various plants and companies are consolidated, enabling cross-site analyses—for example, group-level revenue reporting.

The Power BI solution is designed to allow business departments to work in self-service mode: employees can independently access the dashboards and export data as needed. This option is enabled in all reports. Additionally, some employees receive automated report deliveries.

20% Faster, 100% More Reliable: Optimized Power BI Drives Efficiency and Data Quality

With Informatec’s optimization of Power BI, Infinex now benefits from significantly improved performance and higher data quality. Loading times and queries are now noticeably faster—“loading times could be reduced by an estimated 20 percent,” confirms Sarah Mehlhart. DAX is now used specifically for KPI calculations and analytical evaluations, while many transformations have been offloaded to the SQL Server. The result is leaner data models, clearly structured dashboards, and a unified, reliable data foundation.

The reports today are not only more performant, but also more consistent and more meaningful. Redundant data maintenance has been eliminated, inconsistencies are avoided, and confidence in the data has increased. “From time to time, there is still some skepticism when a KPI does not match the expected result,” says Sarah Mehlhart. “But manual verification always shows that the reports were correct and the underlying data was accurate. Such checks confirm that we can rely on the system.”

Users also feel the improvements: instead of long loading times or simple single-KPI reports, they now have access to interactive dashboards that combine various dimensions and metrics. Standardized visualizations with Zebra BI additionally ensure consistent, IBCS-compliant presentation.

Learn more about Zebra BI

Beyond the technical improvements, Infinex particularly highlights the quality of the collaboration: “We would choose Informatec again at any time. The cooperation is professional, solution-oriented, and reliable,” says Sarah Mehlhart. She especially appreciates Informatec’s practical and easy-to-understand approach.

Mehlhart also emphasizes the flexibility in consulting: “Depending on the need, Informatec provides selective or highly intensive support—exactly as required by the situation. In quieter phases, monthly or bi-monthly check-ins are often sufficient, while for larger projects—such as the introduction of the production dashboard in the United States—the support is intensified at short notice and organized very closely.”