Quote-to-order ERP to save Panalytical eur300,000

Analytical instrumentation manufacturer PANalytical, part of the Spectris group, is looking for savings of eur 300,000-plus per annum from a configuration and quoting engine that it believes will transform its sales engineering to what the company describes as ‘waste-free processing’. The firm, which is among world leaders in X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, has been struggling with the sheer complexity and scope of its systems for individual customers. It was spending too long reworking too many quotations, and a serious bottleneck was emerging between sales and engineering to support quotes. As a result, products too often could not be manufactured as specified, leading to further expensive re-work and delays in production. Just as important, pricing was not formalised, so there was always commercial risk. PANalytical’s mantra soon became ‘deliver waste-free’ by creating a lean order processing chain. That meant being able to configure quotes accurately and quickly, offer reliable and easy-to-access order information, and comply accurately right through production to on-time, in-full delivery. And in the spirit of lean thinking, that translated to error-free, single entry of data, elimination of non value-adding steps, minimal handovers, minimal wait states and so on – all driven by the customer. The company chose a Socrates configuration and quotation management system from Cincom for what has become known as the ‘Quote Maker’ project, to interface to its existing QAD Mfg/Pro ERP system and SalesLogix CRM (customer relationship management). Says Andre Balogh de Galantha, PANalytical’s business improvement manager: “The Cincom solution will support key objectives for growth, including a reduction in the time required to produce quotations, leading to improved sales efficiency and elimination of pricing errors – resulting in reduced commercial risk. Our aim is to have zero tolerance for technical errors, enabling cost savings through reduced checking processes and re-work.” It’s going to deliver in spades. PANalytical believes that, with improved quotation production efficiency and savings on quotation re-work, sales will see an increase of 15% in efficiency, equating to over eur 160,000 per annum. As for the back office, reductions in the requirement for product management support, order checking, re-keying and handling will produce a full 80% improvement, resulting in more than eur 180,000 per year. Then in the supply chain, improvements in order accuracy, reductions in order changes, re-work and checking there will mean a 50% improvement, generating a further eur 50,000 improvement per year. That’s eur 300,000 per annum – and the company is the first to admit that it’s been conservative in its ROI calculations, taking into consideration only efficiency improvements; not, for example, areas like increased revenues brought about by improved customer service. In operation, the Cincom system will cover: quotation production and management; product and sales configuration; regional dynamic, rules-based pricing; local part and item number management; and technical validation, management reporting and analysis – all with seamless integration to the company’s existing ERP and CRM systems. Following initial trails, the solution is to be rolled-out world-wide, with multi-language, multi-currency support, and will work on- and off-line, allowing disconnected operation for the mobile sales force. Says Balogh de Galantha: “In addition to the solution being a very good fit to the requirements, we liked Cincom’s consultative ‘no nonsense’ approach. They responded very well to some tough questions in real depth, rather than saying yes to everything. At the outset, Cincom’s consultants worked with us at a business level to confirm efficiency improvements and achievable ROI targets.”