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"Access Commerce is an international provider of Multichannel Commerce & Configurator Software
that simplify the sale of complex and configurable products and services. "
Source : Access Commerce
Configure-to-Order (CTO): Optimizing Selling and Ordering Processes for Complex Products across Multiple Sales Channels
Configure-to-Order (CTO) process is also known as :
Configure-to-Order,
Configure-to-Order systems,
made-to-order,
MTO,
made-to-order product,
build-to-order product,
build-to-order,
BTO,
Order Configuration,
Configure Order,
To Order Manufacturing,
Configure-to-Order Solution
Sales Order Configuration Solution,
Sales Order Configuration,
Configure-to-Order module,
Order Configuration Solution
sales lead management system,
lean production,
lean manufacturing software,
lead management software,
Also stood for:
lead time optimization,
chain supply management.
Manitou Case Study
Following a rich history of innovation, Manitou has become the world leader
in rough terrain forklift trucks by pursuing a strategy that each truck should
be customizable to meet the exact requirements of every customer. Manitou is an
international company with 17 subsidiaries doing business in more than 120
countries, and has developed a broad line of lift trucks, compact loaders and
aerial access platforms.
Manitou deployed Cameleon to optimize complex selling and ordering processes
for their worldwide sales channels. Cameleon is used by Manitou field sales,
dealers and order administration to manage customers and contacts, to select
products from an electronic catalog, to configure and place orders and to ensure
complete order accuracy and real time sales follow up.
"Our entire domestic and international sales organization uses Cameleon to
place orders for customizable products. The benefits of Cameleon are obvious;
increased productivity, elimination of errors and a reduction in sales and
production cycle times."
Christian Hermann,
Chief Information Officer
Configure-to-Order (CTO): The Challenge
Complex configure-to-order products, 17 subsidiary companies, 80 field sales
representatives, and more than 500 dealers around the world. Manitou wanted to
optimize their sales processes to overcome several challenges:
- Lack of visibility to dealers' order pipeline
- Error prone order capture
- Frequent back and forth between sales and engineering to validate
configurations
- Difficulty and delay of communicating product changes to the field
Configure-to-Order (CTO): The Solution
Field sales, dealers and order administration all use Cameleon to better
manage the sales process. Manitou sales reps use the solution to interact
with the indirect dealer network and capture accurate opportunity and
order statistics coming from the channel.
Dealers have access to the entire
Manitou catalog via the Internet to research and download technical product
information, configure products on-line, obtain dealer negotiated purchase
prices and place orders that are 100% accurate. Moreover, Cameleon is
integrated with other Manitou information systems to provide dealer
self-service access to order status and account balances.
Lastly, domestic
and international order administration use Cameleon to take orders for
configurable products. The seamless integration with Manitou's ERP system
eliminates errors and reduces order-to-production cycle times, as Cameleon
takes each customized order and automatically generates accurate
Bills-of-Materials, routings and technical data sheets.
Configure-to-Order (CTO): The Implementation
One of the most important steps during the implementation of any
configurator solution is creating models that represent all of the selling
and engineering rules for your company's products. These models must be
carefully designed to ensure that they are logical and easy-to-use, and
also result in a sale-able and build-able configuration. Access Commerce
developed the Cameleon Model Designer methodology to assemble the different
stakeholders (sales, marketing, manufacturing and engineering) involved in
the definition of a product offering and guide them through a structured
process that ultimately defines the configuration model. The result is an
easy to understand blueprint model defining all the rules and constraints of
the product. This model is simple to update and maintain, and provides a
documented description of the product offering.
By following the Cameleon
Model Designer methodology and using Cameleon's intuitive modeling tools,
Manitou was able to create more than 80 lift truck, wheel loader and
aerial platform models in less than six months. These models are updated
regularly and quickly deployed around the world to ensure that all Manitou
sales channels have current and accurate product and pricing information.
Configure-to-Order (CTO): The Results
The implementation of Cameleon as a common selling and ordering solution
for the sales team and dealersproduced many concrete results. The average
time to configure and place an order was reduced from 30 days to 1 day.
Manitou's former paper catalog was bulky and difficult to navigate, which
made it hard for order administration to take orders without technical
assistance. With Cameleon, the catalog is electronic and always up-to-
date, eliminating configuration and pricing errors. Manitou is able to
distribute their catalog to all sales channels in a consistent and uniform
manner. Cameleon has also increased the average revenue from each order by
automatically providing up-selling and cross-selling options to dealer sales
reps.
More than 70% of dealer orders are now entered through Cameleon via
the Web. This eliminated the manual processing of most orders and
significantly reduced sales costs, resulting in a direct positive impact on
company revenue and margins. Going forward, Manitou will also allow their
dealers to purchase services, such as extended warranties, over the Web
www.access-commerce.com
Contact: info_en@access-commerce.com