Significantly easier equipment planning in 21 countries – Adolf Würth GmbH uses 3D product configuration for vehicle equipment.
Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG based in the Swabian town of Obersulm has been working with the product configurator of the Lower Saxony technology business ACATEC since 2009. The second version was launched in 2014 and featured automatic pricing, quotation preparation and attractive 3D visualisation.
This provides customers with 3D quotations interactively at the click of a button. "Specialist vehicle equipment sales" (Würth’s internal name for the department) as well as Würth’s trade partners now work with this tool, which is called PlaTo3D internally, around the world. The processes run smoothly thanks to the automation of all the IT systems involved (CAD-automation, SAP automation) and the shift of complex procedures to batch operation. Würth’s employees save a great deal of effort, the are no more planning errors and the entire sales-related business process is supported systematically from A to Z.
ACATEC was chosen because of its overall solution proposal – moving away from an isolated application to an end-to-end process.
Internationalisation began in 2011 – cue: multi-language capability. The first foreign companies were equipped with the product configurator – after one year ten language versions had been integrated. By 2014, 21 countries with up to 150 users were already using the configurator in offline operation.
Würth’s installation partners have also been integrated directly into the quotation preparation stage thanks to the ACATEC product configurator. Prices for the installation of the vehicle equipment are calculated during configuration with speedmaxx and integrated into the quotation as so-called work values (assembly prices). They are then passed to SAP.
The use of the configurator makes work a lot easier – for Würth’s sales staff as well as for their installation partners – because the work values can be precisely calculated and can no longer be merely estimated as was the case previously. The ensures the statements are credible and saves inconvenient price corrections. The result is a high level of reliability. Würth’s customers know exactly what they will have to pay for the equipment and for installation. Adolf Würth GmbH has used speedmaxx Enterprise to greatly automate order processing, including SAP and SolidWorks integration, and to speed it up by several orders of magnitude.
Würth uses the following speedmaxx Enterprise product modules:
The guided, safe route to the correct and buildable variant,
the core of speedmaxx
Clear and standard representation and documentation of variants requiring explanation
Determine costs of production and selling prices for variants quickly and reliably, optimise margins
Use, generate and make master data, bills of material and documents available in a rule-based process
Create individual parts, assemblies and drawings of product variants in a rule-based process
Inspire your prospects and customers with an interactive preview of your individual product.
Run product configurators on WEB servers, application servers, notebooks and PCs
Model object dependencies, interfaces and user interfaces graphically yourself
User interfaces and documents in the languages of your target markets
Würth and ACATEC in the media:
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