About Waterstone

[ "Waterstone Consulting's knowledge of our business made partnering with them an easy decision."-
Karin Blaski, Marketing Services Manager
General Signal Pump Group
]

Karin Blaski,
Marketing Services Manager,
explains how Waterstone Consulting's Order Configuration and Pricing system improved General Signal Pump Group's bottom line.

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General Signal Pump Group is a leading manufacturer of industrial pumping equipment. The company manufactures five pump lines, and customizes each order for diverse customer needs. Previous projects have included the '96 Olympic Village in Atlanta, the Kuwaiti Palace, and the fire pumps off Chicago's Navy Pier.
Executive Summary

Because of the many complex options and component dependencies for these products, configuring an order was a lengthy process. Quoting errors were not uncommon. The resulting long lead times opened the door to competitors who began chipping away at the company's market share.

Business Strategy

General Signal selected Waterstone Consulting to provide a solution. Knowing the competitors capabilities, Waterstone strove to provide them with a competitive edge. The consulting firm set objectives to shorten lead times, increase quote accuracy, improve customer service, and minimize sales force training time.

Technology Strategy

Waterstone Consulting developed a Technology Strategy that focused on three areas:

A configuration and pricing system to trap errors before entering the order cycle

Electronic price updates for mobile sales force

Flexible architecture to support new product additions

For the configuration "engine" Waterstone Consulting used Visual C++ to provide the horsepower needed to crunch through the complex engineering and business rules that govern the product lines. Visual Basic provided the flashy front-end that the sales force needed to impress customers.

Project Approach

Waterstone Consulting used Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions with General Signal experts and dealers, to ensure that the finished product would support the business. The consulting firm also accompanied General Signal in their efforts to promote the new system and secure buy-in among the dealer community.

Project Success

The order configuration and pricing experts from Waterstone Consulting helped General Signal's sales force to reduce lead times, improve order accuracy, and flush cost out of the supply chain. And, with salespeople now focused on selling, rather than "engineering" the order, they are sure to pump-up General Signal's revenues!

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Industry:
Benefit:

Manufacturing
Highly-engineered products Shortened lead time
Increased order accuracy
On-site, immediate quoting
$20,000/mo. printing savings

Solution:

Technology:

Sales Order Configurator
Pricing and Quoting system
Microsoft Windows
Visual C++, OLE
Visual Basic
Microsoft Access