Integrated solution to automate complex sales processes
Chicago, IL — December 4, 2003 — Quincy Compressor, an EnPro Industries Company and a manufacturer of compressors, has selected BigMachines Lean Front-End (LFE) to accelerate its front-end selling and customer service processes.
With BigMachines LFE, Quincy said it would streamline its selling processes by creating an integrated Web platform for the selection, configuration, quoting, and ordering for its compressors and related accessories. Quincy expects to improve customer service by increasing speed, ensuring accuracy and improving order flow.
"We selected BigMachines Lean Front-End to create an integrated selling engine for Quincy," said Keith Schumacher, vice president of Quincy Compressor. "We will streamline our selling processes and improve our support of our distribution partners and end users. We expect to grow our revenue by providing customers accurate quotes and information in real-time. We will more effectively manage our sales processes, products and distribution channels by leveraging the LFE's real-time information and analysis capabilities."
"In the past, manufacturers such as Quincy have focused on improving their back-end manufacturing to drive process improvements," said Godard Abel, co-founder and CEO of BigMachines. "With LFE, Quincy and other manufacturers now have the opportunity to apply lean thinking to their front-end selling and service processes."
BigMachines said it offers manufacturers the Value Realization process, which is a systematic methodology designed to identify and eliminate waste in manufacturers' front-end business processes. The process, according to the provider, enables manufacturers to design and implement their own Lean Front-End in five sequential steps. It also minimizes risk, since each step is contingent upon the successful completion of the prior step, and the manufacturer only makes incremental investments as success is proven in each step.
With Quincy, BigMachines said it is having success applying the Value Realization process. The provider first conducted a Breakthrough Opportunity Analysis (BOA) to identify Quincy's major process improvement challenges and opportunities. BigMachines then conducted a Value Assessment and Value Validation project with a cross-functional Quincy team to show how Quincy's LFE would be implemented to drive front-end process improvement. This enabled Quincy to identify and validate key process improvements before making a major investment.
Keith Schumacher, vice president and plant manager of Quincy's Bay Minette plant, said BigMachines proved its capabilities by developing a complete LFE prototype for one of Quincy's compressor product lines in a three-week Value Validation project.
"We were amazed at how quickly and cost-effectively BigMachines can implement its solution, and we were excited to see how easily the LFE could handle the selection, configuration, quoting and ordering of our complex products," he commented. "Based on this successful Value Validation, we decided to go ahead with a full Lean Front-End implementation. We believe that this will accelerate our lean enterprise initiative called Total Customer Value by eliminating waste in the front-end and delivering more value to our customers."
