construction
RZB
Overcoming boundaries: Web-based mVariants as the key to solving the unsolvable
TESTIMONIAL
“Thanks to nuveon's mVariants, sales and work preparation are now able to concentrate fully on the core tasks: selling frames and entering orders. Pricing and technical verification take place fully automatically in the background. It is ensured that every configured frame can actually be produced and sold at the correct price.”
Christopher Péus, Authorized Signatory
HOW IT BEGAN
The challenge
As a manufacturer of highly customized steel frames, RZB is faced with the challenge of an enormous variety of products. In the contract business in particular, conventional article-based systems are no longer able to display the numerous variants. There is also the challenge of providing each variant with a comprehensible and appropriate price.
In order to meet this requirement, RZB was forced to accept more and more individual and almost incomprehensible manual activities in the entry of offers and orders. This led to an increasing reliance on the expertise of individuals. Training times lengthened and product knowledge was no longer stored in an efficient IT system but in the heads of individuals.
Thanks to nuveon's mVariants technology, a solution was finally found to implement a consistent quotation and order tool for almost 100% of the entire product range.
TEAMWORK
The solution
Nuveon's groundbreaking and surprising solution approach to dealing with the variant issue proved to be a decisive success factor.
“We have been looking for a new IT system that offers significant added value for several years. After many discussions with various software providers, it turned out that the procedure for such a project is always similar. There are ready-made program modules that are not at all or hardly adaptable and are all designed to work with fixed items. We don't have these fixed items. Nuveon is pursuing a completely new approach for us, which is logical and efficient right from the start.” States Christopher Péus, authorized representative of RZB.
From the very beginning, the nuveon team pursued the approach of comprehensively representing all product variants using a single product model. In close collaboration with the RZB team, the current sales process was analyzed, documented and evaluated in detail.
The experts from nuveon recorded RZB's product range and, together with the RZB specialists, arranged it into a new product structure in a well-founded manner. This resulted in a web-based configurator solution that is able to record every approved variant without any technical or commercial errors.
The recorded items can easily be placed in a shopping cart using the latest technology. From there, all other necessary actions can be triggered intuitively, with offers, order confirmations, production documents, labels, delivery notes and automatically generated invoices, sent by email and orderly stored in the Project Explorer.
Uncomplicated but extremely powerful master data management enables internal employees to continuously adapt the portfolio to the current market and supplier situations. The product is stored clearly and transparently in the system and can be safely refined or changed by internal employees.
“The previous system constantly required a large number of manual activities, verification processes and controls. These work steps were not value-adding, but they were essential. We were able to completely eliminate this type of waste with mVariants because the system performs constant background checks. The technical (dimensional) limits are stored in the master data. If an incorrect entry is made, the configurator either blocks the next step or issues a clear warning.” Continues Mr. Péus.
By implementing mVariants for the entire sales process, the foundation has now been laid to advance the automation of production. Thanks to the complete and error-free description of the products using generated variables, any subsequent processes can now be easily integrated.
IMPACT
benefits
“In my opinion, two factors played a crucial role in this successful project. Understanding how the program works and continuously following the nuveon approach. During the project, we internalized this approach and gained a feeling for being able to solve partial problems that were previously considered unsolvable. The exchange with the nuveon project management was uncomplicated and very constructive. Thanks to the web-based system solution, working from home is also possible at any time without any complications.” Concludes Mr. Péus.
In the future, RZB plans to gradually optimize and digitalize production processes through the integration of the mHub platform and to further reduce any form of waste.
