For more than 50 years, NEDCON has led the way in steel storage systems. Headquartered in Doetinchem, Netherlands, NEDCON has manufacturing operations in Pardubice, Czech Republic, plus global branches across Europe and the United States. NEDCON also offers its products through an extensive reseller network.
With a growing demand for fast quotations of racking products, NEDCON needed a tool that would allow its resellers, also known as distributors, to configure an order quickly. The tool also needed to be developed quickly due to some of NEDCON’s resellers that considered leaving the network for other competitors offering a configuration tool.
The manager of NEDCON’s Reseller Department, Jan Tragter, had a vision for a software that would make it possible to grab components with a mouse and could be moved, pulled and stretched in different ways. Tragter also needed a tool that could incorporate load bearing capacity for steel products and speed up the sales process for resellers.
NEDCON approached Configura to create an Extension for Configura Extension Technology (CET). With the Extension having launched in March 2020, NEDCON and its resellers now have a software solution that supports the sales process from configuration to order while giving them a competitive edge within the material handling industry.
The challenge
In the past, multiple software applications were required for each part of the bidding process. To create a quote, NEDCON’s resellers would need to alternate between different applications to enter data, at least five or more times per transaction, according to Tragter. NEDCON needed software that would consolidate this process into a single platform which would allow users to move and stretch products for accurate configurations and fast quotes.
“We are one of the lucky ones that stumbled upon Configura,” said Tragter. “Its software is a cornerstone of modern development in material handling.”
The solution
NEDCON partnered with Configura to develop an Extension for selling its steel racking products. Today the Extension is almost entirely used by NEDCON’s resellers.
- NEDCON’s Extension allows users to configure racking products, visualize how the products fit in a warehouse and generate multiple quotes quickly.
- The Extension handles everything from configuration to order – down to every nut, bolt and washer, drawings and bill of materials.
- After the launch of the Extension, NEDCON utilized Configura’s “MyConfigura” briefcases to share training videos for users in lieu of in-person training sessions that were postponed due to the global pandemic.
“Everyone wants a quicker quotation within two days, and it’s important for resellers to have a tool that can do that. For one successful order, a reseller may have to make eight quotations, so you can see the time savings with a tool like CET,” Tragter said. “CET contains the knowledge resellers need to produce accurate quotes and prevents users from making mistakes.”
The result
A year after launching its Extension, NEDCON has simplified its sales process and offers a tool that gives resellers a competitive advantage.
- NEDCON retained their resellers that generate millions of dollars in revenue for the company.
- Resellers went from adding data at least five times across multiple applications to one tool with CET.
- NEDCON’s resellers now have a software that holds the product knowledge and data within the tool, which is attractive to the next generation of talent.
“We already have a high-quality product and now we have a tool that helps speed up the sales process,” said David Smidek, NEDCON’s category manager. “Configura helped us reach Jan’s vision of creating a tool that makes the user’s work easy, reliable, fast, pleasant and joyful, which has added value for our resellers.”
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