Customer case: Waterkracht
Significant efficiency gain in parts ordering process by using exploded views
Waterkracht designs, manufactures and supplies effective cleaning solutions. They offer a suitable cleaning machine or high-pressure cleaner for every situation that can clean quickly, thoroughly and on a large scale.
Challenge
In addition to its products and associated parts, Waterkracht supplies various machines and components from other suppliers. If parts need replacement, the customer called or emailed Waterkracht customer service. Waterkracht’s customer service representatives then became extremely busy searching, often in paper catalogues, for which part was ultimately needed.
It often happened that the wrong part was still sent, whereby employees were afterwards busy with returns, and the customer had to wait even longer before the part could be replaced. This is therefore very labour-intensive, not customer-friendly and time-consuming.
Solution
Together with spareparts.live, Frontis has found a solution that makes ordering parts a lot more efficient.
spareparts.live
A large number of the exploded views* available of the products that Waterkracht supplies are only available on paper in thick catalogues. Spareparts.live makes it possible to read exploded views on paper and in digital form. The system automatically places a layer over the drawing with the numbers in an exploded view almost automatically linked to an article list.
*An exploded view is a technical drawing in which, for example, a machine is drawn in such a way that it appears as if the parts have been pulled apart, whereby the machine has exploded, as it were.
Needs Assessment and Design Concept
Before we started realizing the project, we mapped out the wishes and the bottlenecks in the ordering process for parts together with Waterkracht and Waterkracht’s customers. For example, ordering through exploded views had to be user-friendly and seamlessly connect to the existing ordering process within the Waterkracht webshop.
We started with a design concept in which the new functionalities were visually integrated into the existing process. This is to ensure user-friendliness and to have a clear blueprint in terms of data needs.
Synchronization with spareparts.live
Waterkracht uses the Kentico CMS as a solid basis for both the website and the integrated Webshop. Kentico has an extensive rest API with which we could link the delivered exploded view and dataset from spareparts.live Generator. The link is set up uniformly to integrate with other .NET CMS systems such as Umbraco and Ucommerce.
Integration within the existing e-commerce process
Waterkracht has had a Webshop for years in which cleaning machines and parts can be ordered. The product data in the Webshop is kept up to date through a link with Infor LN (ERP system). The data set sent from the exploded views is synchronized with this product data in the Webshop so that the correct article can also be ordered from the exploded view within the current Webshop flow.
Summary …
Q: What were the challenges in your spareparts business before you started using spareparts.live?
Giving our customers the right Waterkracht part numbers without sending an exploded view from our manufacturer with their part numbers. We also want to make it easy for our customers to order parts through our Webshop.
Q: Why did you choose spareparts.live?
Spareparts.live was the best solution for our problem. Also, the platform is suitable for integrating the interactive exploded views into our website. The contact is pleasant, and if there is an issue, they solve it quickly.
Q: What results have been achieved with the use of spareparts.live? How does it improve your business or processes?
17% less pressure on the customer service
22% time saving on ordering spare parts by our customers
17% more spareparts ordered through our Webshop
Rik Wassink
Marketing / Verkoop binnendienst
Waterkracht B.V.
www.waterkracht.nl
