Saturday, 2008-05-17
 

Success Story: Bucher GmbH, Jettingen

An integrated ERP system from GSD Software mbH allows for Jettinger Treppenbauer Bucher GmbH to have more efficient and more transparent administration processes.

With the introduction of an integrated software system that closely links the areas of communication, archival, enterprise resource planning, document management and calendar administration with each other, Bucher GmbH was able to increase the efficiency of their administrative processes substantially. For example, all employees who are involved in a project now have centralised important project information at their disposal – which can, of course, also be called up whilst on the road. Double entries, waiting periods due to missing information, as well as contradictory data concerning partners and customers, are effortlessly avoided.

This not only saved time and money, but also improved customer service since field representatives, for example, can now give up-to-date information regarding the status of a project. The complete solution based on ERP software from GSD was implemented by the comTeam systems house yourIT from Hechingen and adapted to the specific needs of the stair builder.


Complex Project Processes

With more than 100 employees - making it one of the largest stair building enterprises in South Germany and leading provider of solid wood staircases, Bucher GmbH produces and installs about 3,500 staircases per year. Besides production costs themselves, each order brings a substantial administrative expense as, between the first visit of a customer in the stair showroom and/or the request by a builder or architect and the installed stairs, numerous project steps take place in which various parties are involved. This includes numerous meetings with the customer and/or builder, different agreements and contracts in addition to the materials ordering, the manufacturing and the installation. So it is not surprising that the customer file collecting all the important information of the ongoing project quickly contains 60 or more different documents – from the customer details to the planning sketches to all sorts of verbal and written agreements.
Traditionally, this information was collected from Bucher on paper in only one file that was sent back and forth by post between the main office and the responsible branch. Thus it repeatedly occurred that the information was not where it needed to be at the right time. Also, communication between the main and branch offices, the field service agents, builders and the customer was sometimes incompletely documented. Accordingly, many work procedures were delayed or had to be implemented several times.

"Sometimes we invested more time in the administration, than in the production of the stairs," remembers Sales Director Gero Hohmuth. "It was clear that we had to change something. Since we had already optimised the production side a few years ago with the acquisition of one the largest and most modern CNC machines for stair production, we were now looking for a comprehensive software system with which our administration could also be clearly streamlined."


A Tailor-made Solution

In order to select the appropriate software, Bucher GmbH drew up a booklet with requirements and compared several providers. The most important requirement of the new solution was that the different components – in particular for enterprise resource planning and document management – should be interlocked seamlessly with one another. Beyond that, the processes should be automated as much as possible and, at the same time, offer the possibility to make uncomplicated manual adjustments. The complete solution, offered by the comTeam systems house yourIT, based on the GSD Software’s ERP solution fulfilled these requirements and came out as a winner in the selection phase.

From December 2003 to June 2004, the individual components were implemented and adapted to the specific requirements of the stair manufacturer. So, among other things, new features that were needed for planning and configuration of stair products were added to the ERP system. With the introduction of the new solution, Workflows were arranged completely afresh and processes, which so far had been separate, were interconnected. All documents are now digitised and made available centrally in a virtual file within the document management program, DOCUframe®, where they are accessible to all six branches and to the 15 field representatives.
Customer details as well as entire communications within a project are also stored here – from the correspondence up to the results of meetings and telephone calls. In addition, the relevant data from the enterprise’s resource planning can be tracked here. All information can be inspected and changed by the staff members involved at any time – regardless of where they are. For this purpose, an on-line connection to the server is simply established.


Clear Workflows

Even further, with an integrated Workflow module, it is ensured that certain work procedures are implemented at the right time. "As a past example, it sometimes happened that potential customers were not called back in time by the responsible field representative, because he did not get to it," explains Gero Hohmuth. "That could have resulted in us losing a prospective new customer. With the new system, we prevent such omissions: as soon as we identify a potential customer in an acquisition, a notification is submitted to the responsible field representative and his assistant automatically, including deadline, and the latest date a customer may be contacted. If this doesn't happen, I receive a message and can look into it. So I can be sure that the complete course of the project is correctly observed." Also, the electronic deadline administration, that replaced a manually kept calendar, contributes and now all the meetings between the individual parties are coordinated. With this system, verifiable savings could already be realised within a very short time. Hohmuth confirms, "because the information is found faster and I can make very fast, sound quotations to enquiring telephone customers, for example, we save about 30 minutes of work time per employee and day. Projected onto the entire enterprise, considerable sums are coming together."


GSD Software mbH as a Certified Solution

Effective immediately, the DOCUframe® full communications solution from GSD Software is offered to all members of the comTeam systems house network as a certified solution. For that, GSD has drawn up an SMB variant software– for up to 10 workstations - exclusively for comTeam. Also, branch and customer-specific expansions of the system through yourIT can be offered by the partner enterprises. Furthermore, they benefit from intensive training courses and accompanying marketing activities.


For further information:

GSD Software mbH
Ludwigsstädter Str. 95 + 97
96342 Stockheim / Neukenroth
Germany

Fon: +49 (0) 9265 / 955 - 0
Fax: +49 (0) 9265 / 955 - 50 00

E-Mail: info@gsd-software.com
www: http://www.gsd-software.com
or our partner :

yourIT OHG
Neustraße 12
72379 Hechingen
Germany

Fon: +49 (0) 7471 / 93010 - 0
Fax: +49 (0) 7471 / 93010-15

E-Mail: info@yourit.de
www: http://www.yourit.de


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