As the founder of Monitor ERP System, Åke Persson is synonymous with his audacious drive to do things differently and to challenge the status quo at that time. He wanted to raise the bar in Sweden’s manufacturing industry. Each decade of the company’s journey is punctuated by the evolutionary development of Monitor at the epicenter.

Åke is well renowned for his leadership and vision. He was the vision of Monitor. Being able to see what manufacturers needed in a time when the use of computers, even for businesses, was unheard of, and adapt accordingly defined the foundation of Monitor.

Åke was born in 1942, in a small village called Ytterhavra, deep in the forest of northern Sweden. He studied to become an engineer and started working as a production engineer and time and motion study advisor at industrial facilities in Hudiksvall. In 1974, he founded a company as he set sights on helping manufacturing companies to achieve operational efficiency. He worked as a consultant and had focused his work on time study and industrial rationalization.

Being a maverick entrepreneur at the time, Åke was the first in his town to buy Luxor ABC 80, a home computer which was introduced on the Swedish market in August 1978. He spent half of his savings on the computer on Christmas that year. The seed of an idea to create a time calculation software was then sown, he began developing formulas to calculate processing time, measure how long workers on the production floor spend completing each step – he saw plans for a computer software that replaced spreadsheet calculations and set about programming the first version of Monitor.

Åke’s eccentric attitude and his unwavering passion towards developing the ultimate solution we now called “Time Recording”, that allows operators on the production floor to report working hours and manufacturing orders in real-time, was frowned upon. Many did not support his idea. Customers were not convinced at a time when computers were almost non-existent in the early 90s.

The quality of an innovative leader is not only one who comes up with new ideas first, but one who knows how to leapfrog when ideas are spurned. Åke pressed ahead with an iron-willed determination to make it work, and it became a huge success. It made history by being the first company to provide software solution to businesses in the city. The application has allowed our customers to follow up on their production in a completely new way, with minimal need for investment.

Through customization and honing in the span of four decades, the computer software that was created to replace spreadsheet calculations has now evolved into the complete, fully integrated system we know today – Monitor. Monitor is a complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, designed to meet the needs of manufacturing sector, aimed at helping manufacturers to gain real-time insights into operational performance and take full control of their supply chain, inventory, production, and planning. The system streamlines business operations and processes across six key areas: manufacturing, purchase, sales, stock, shop floor, and finance.

Following a short period of ill health, Åke passed away in the spring of 2016. He never lived to witness the launch of Monitor ERP in the fall of 2016, but his story does not end here. He is the story of Monitor and stands as Monitoranda (Monitor spirit) and the textbook example of success. The seed of his idea, rooted in Sweden, is now fully-fledged, and has made its way into Southeast Asia with a presence in Malaysia.

The skills attributed to the success of Monitor and the ability to cultivate revolutionary ERP solution lie in the culture left behind by the late founder. The torch has been passed to Daniel Häggmark, the Managing Director of Monitor ERP System Sdn. Bhd., when a project opportunity in Singapore paved his journey in the region, in 2009. Daniel immediately learned the enormous potential in Malaysia and established our headquarters for Asia in Penang, in 2013, with the great support from Åke and the management in Sweden. Åke saw a booming market with massive growth potential the moment he set foot in Penang for the first time in 2013. He paid a few more visits after to unveil this new opportunity. Both leaders knew they had to introduce Swedish best practices and Monitor to the Malaysian operations with the hope of lending support to local manufacturers in their pursuit of the right path to Industry 4.0, anchored in their minds.

Monitor ecosystem is earmarked for SMEs manufacturing companies. Åke’s ideas are still at the heart of the company, as well as our product, Monitor. More than 300 employees around the world go to work every day to continue what Åke once set in motion. Daniel is no exception, he is committed to continuously creating, communicating, and delivering the true value of Monitor to our customers, business owners, and industry leaders, by sculpting customer-centric culture into the company and everyday business.

Today, we empower more than 100 manufacturing companies in Southeast Asia through Swedish manufacturing best practices and continued education. Our aim is to be the market leader in the region. We value the trust and confidence our customers have in Monitor, and we wish to show our appreciation by continually upgrading our technology, processes, and systems to ensure the highest benchmarks and best system implementation.

We are the leading provider of ERP system in the manufacturing industry in Sweden. We are privileged to work alongside 5,000 customers and 300,000 daily users across the globe to pave the way forward for cost-effective manufacturing.

And, all that is left now is for us to allow all the seeds that Åke have planted to grow, nurture, and blossom. We make sure everything we do uphold the core values he once held dearly: down-to-earth, committed, and long term, from our commitment to incorporate manufacturing best practices in Monitor, to every point of contact we make with our customers, and try to make the manufacturing world a little better and a little more efficient.