For SPX FLOW's Lightnin, manual configure, price, quote methods were costing far too much time, money, and resulted in errors that delayed sales and shipments – ultimately hindering customer service. But with the right tools and training, Lightnin transformed their service and sales operations.  Lightnin provides industrial fluid mixers and agitators to a wide range of companies with diverse applications, and they manufacture a large catalog of products, from standardized portable mixers to complex, engineered-to-order heavy industrial mixers.

A Cumbersome Sales Process 

Products that require extensive design and engineering efforts are often difficult to properly select, configure, propose, and convert to sales orders. In Lightnin’s case, the sales force often had to rely on back-office experts who used manual processes to select, mechanically check, and configure the product offerings. Mechanical checks and product configurations were done off-line because sales representatives and application engineers had to correctly apply sophisticated combinations of configurable attributes based on complex calculations and compatibility rules. These procedures were extremely costly and far too often resulted in quotation errors that were not caught until order reconciliation. Capturing, reconciling, and posting sales orders was also an extremely time consuming, serial process involving up to a dozen steps. Orders were routed to as many as six different departments, with minimal automation, high error rates, and weeks of cycle time. Lightnin needed to streamline the quote and order processes to reduce costs and cycle times and improve transaction quality.