55 Configure One Cloud Testimonials

"To configure a custom product, we would start with a base model, and add a ‘kit’ for different options. We would merge the different ‘kit’ options together and try to create a bill of materials (BOM). We had over 20,000 standard drawings, and that didn’t even begin to cover all of the possible configurations. With top panels alone we had approximately 1500 drawings, and it was almost impossible to find the right one. Even though engineering accuracy was high, 99 percent, errors of one percent would kill us. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t find the mistakes until the very end of the assembly process."

"Our unit shipments have increased 65% since the implementation of Configure One."

"Our previous process was very manual and time consuming, When a dealer requested a quotation, it went to our estimating department. They created the quote and sent it back to the dealer. We would wait for a purchase order then start the cycle of producing a drawing for the project. The customer would modify/approve the drawings, and when the customer was ready the dealer would place the order, and we’d send the information to the factory for manufacture. While the cycle remains somewhat the same, it is now much more efficient."

"There were delays in producing quotes and production drawings could take up to two weeks."

"It used to take between 24 to 48 hours to create a quotation."

“The Staging tables of Configure One provides everything we need to integrate with Infor10 Business (SyteLine) ERP software. The data is easily passed with a SQL SSIS connector, and gives us all the information we need to create custom orders, jobs and items. Everything is available to us from order headers and lines to bills of material and routing information. Configure One did a great job working with our developers to get the project done in a short amount of time.”

"I immediately saw problems with the way we were selling, Things hadn’t changed since the 1970s, and our competitors described our sales methodology as antiquated."

"With Configure One, our sales people and distributors have the ability to create their own drawings and quotes without reliance on engineering."

"As we sell through a network of dealers, we were looking for a web-based configurator as we wanted all of the information to be available to our distributors and customers. From the beginning, our goal was to integrate the product configurator into our web sites so that any customer or dealer can go online and configure a product and create a quote."

"The sales rep would either call in the order via telephone or send an email to the customer service department, The customer service representative would enter the order into the system from the sales person’s notes. This led to a lot of mistakes, and customers receiving the wrong product."

"The quotation process required a lot of knowledge by our sales team, It was hard to tell what size cassette was needed, and this knowledge was gained by trial and error, or by taking the instruments in and out of cassettes to see which ones fit the best."

"After 2001, we needed to get back to basics and start creating demand for our products. We recognized that we had to rebuild our business, and cabinet systems were a strategic part of that. We had a huge catalog with over 10,000 part numbers, and it was very difficult for someone who was unfamiliar with our products to order the right parts. We needed a tool that helped our customers quickly understand how the products were used, so they could order the right parts."

"Our previous tool wasn’t really a configurator, t was a custom-built UNIX application we called an ‘Intelligent Catalog’. The original development was done in India, and we had no way to maintain the content. All changes were programmed in India, resulting in long lead times, and because of the time difference between the USA and India, all the phone calls were at five o’clock in the morning."

"We needed to improve our customer service, especially our ability to respond back to the customer with information as well as to meet delivery dates, Business was growing and our old homegrown system could not keep pace. We couldn’t schedule effectively, and that was causing us to miss delivery dates because we didn’t have visibility of the orders in the system."

"If you buy an ERP system, you are going to have to adjust your business, eventually if not immediately, to the way the system runs. That is a critical point that people don’t take into consideration. With traditional ERP systems, you have to manage your business according to the software. But no software vendor can tell me the best way to run my business."