Translink Corporate Finance acted as the advisor to Eluxis, a full-service agency for knowledge management in the technical sector, on the sale to Demcon, a company focused on developing, manufacturing and supplying high-quality technology and innovative products to address social challenges in various sectors.

The sale will enable Eluxis to retain and continue to expand its own customer base and for Demcon to expand its knowledge management services. Demcon can continue to develop by actively supporting the entire product lifecycle, in addition to developing new products and technology, primarily by means of technical documentation and technical training.

Eluxis’ service portfolio is complementary to Demcon’s, says Eluxis co-owner and founder Peter van Bart. “We enable people to work effectively with the technical products and systems that companies like Demcon develop and build. Examples of the knowledge management we provide include practical manuals and work instructions, appealing training courses and animations, sales-supporting information in, for example, product application manuals, and training systems and knowledge bases. In summary: we provide everything people need to properly operate manufacturing & engineering products and systems. We serve the entire chain, from manufacturers to owners and from users to service providers.”

In its quest for an acquisition, Eluxis approached Demcon, Van Bart explains. “The three shareholders are nearing retirement age and wanted to ensure the continuity of Eluxis. We all agreed that becoming part of a larger company would enable us to grow. What we liked most about Demcon were our overlapping customer bases and a focus on excellence and innovation to add value for the customer. We also have shared roots in Twente and both parties have a good relationship with the University of Twente. For Demcon, we saw opportunities to provide even more comprehensive, attractive services to Eluxis customers by adding knowledge management to their technology offerings.”

Jan Leideman, new business development manager at Demcon, also identified interfaces with Eluxis and saw opportunities for Demcon. “Technical documentation is a key part of the design process. In the past, we would draft our own documentation or bring in an outside service provider. However, we gradually came to see the strategic importance of having a group of in-house specialists dedicated to knowledge management and were eager to explore how we could expand our services in this field. We had previously acquired specialist companies dedicated to a particular discipline but had always been struck by how reluctantly they were adopted at first. Gradually, however, our people would begin to see the benefits before ultimately wholeheartedly embracing the new discipline. I expect that the process will be much the same with knowledge management. While everyone intuitively understands the importance of technical documentation and the benefits of having our colleagues at Eluxis take it off our hands, other applications will have to grow. Currently, we often provide customers with a product and a manual on a one-off basis, but we could do much more with documentation and support over the entire life cycle, such as writing instructions and creating training courses for all kinds of users. These services would be a valuable addition to our portfolio and we will master them gradually.”

Van Bart adds, “The key to success is full service throughout the full product life cycle. With the rise of “servitisation,” companies are moving beyond products alone, tagging on a package of services to make customers’ lives easier. With Eluxis on board, Demcon can now actively embrace this new approach. A great example is multilingual documentation for products with multiple variants. We can harness special Component Content Management software to build modular documentation sourced from different building blocks, resulting in substantial savings on translation and development costs. Furthermore, more and more technology is emerging to support people in using and servicing products and systems, including virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence (AI). We also intend to leverage these new technologies and have already started using AI-based tools to create animations. Our zeal to adopt new technology is yet another reason why Demcon, an innovative company, is such a good fit. I understand that people think of manuals first and foremost, but the possibilities are so much greater.”

Demcon is eager to take advantage of these new opportunities in knowledge management, says Leideman. “That’s why we believe it’s so important for Eluxis, as part of Demcon, to keep and nurture its existing customers, as well as bringing in new customers. As I see it, a dual role in which they contribute to Demcon products while also retaining their own outside customers has tremendous benefits. It will keep them on their toes and expose them to direct market feedback. Some of our previous acquisitions are a testament to how successful such a dual role can be.”