Automating Configuration, Quoting at FS-Elliot

Air compressor manufacturer selects BigMachines to consolidate various point solutions into one system for complex sales processes

Chicago, IL and Munich, Germany November 9, 2005 FS-Elliott, a manufacturer of air compressors, said today it has selected BigMachines Inc.'s solution to streamline its front-end selling processes online.

BigMachines' Lean Front-End solution is expected to provide FS-Elliott a global platform to standardize and manage selection, configuration, pricing, quoting and ordering processes for its product lines. By implementing a Web-based front-end system, the company anticipates a reduction in the time and resources needed to produce a high volume of complex quotes and proposals, as well as an online quoting tool for its channel partners.

FS-Elliott, located in Export, Pa., manufactures air compressors for various industries, ranging from automotive manufacturing, food and beverage processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, to oil and gas production industries. Designing and manufacturing a product to meet a customer's specific business needs is typically a manual, time-consuming part of the sales process involving heavy reliance on internal engineering resources, taking many hours and steps to complete.

To address the challenge of this complex selling process, FS-Elliott said it selected BigMachines whose Web-based configuration technology automatically maps the right set of products to customer requirements. With the Lean Front-End (LFE) solution, FS-Elliott said it will be able to use the experience and knowledge of its best sales persons and engineers so its entire internal sales force, as well as its channel partners, can perform efficiently. The result, FS-Elliott predicts, will be the ability to better meet customer needs and control costs.

In addition, the LFE solution will integrate to FS-Elliott's back-end Vantage enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Epicor, as well as to AutoCAD for quicker implementation and more rapid time to value.

"We're excited to be able to consolidate our various point solutions into one system that could handle our complex sales processes,