“WE CAN QUICKLY CONFIGURE A PERFECT SYSTEM AND WE ALWAYS HAVE THE CERTAINTY THAT IT IS TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE”

Fronius develops, manufactures and sells products from three divisions: Welding Technology, Solar Electronics and Battery Charging Systems. It focuses on the transformation of energy with all its products. The family business is renowned in the market for its technological leadership and now has a workforce of 2,500 employees. This growth has made it extremely important for Fronius to make complex product knowledge available for its staff in a simple way. Sofon provided a welcome solution to this problem.

What does Fronius do?

The divisions of Fronius are divided into three parts: battery-charging systems, solar electronics, and welding technology. In the area of the battery-charging systems, with the Active Inventer Technology, we have brought about a technical revolution and we are now among the leading providers in Europe. In the area of solar technology, we contribute to using renewable energy to achieve greater energy independence. With our network-linked inverters and products for controlling photovoltaic installation, we are now already among the leading suppliers in the field of solar electronics. Moreover, we develop welding technologies such as complete systems for arc welding and resistance spot welding and we have set for ourselves the goal of making impossible welding connections possible.

What was the situation before Sofon?

Before Sofon, technically advanced welding systems had to be carefully inspected and the technical dependency had to be checked with the relevant product specialists. E This often lead to considerable delays when preparing quotations. Our inside sales team was then also required to enter the correct reference marks of the various components in our ERP system. All components had to be correctly marked in order to indicate clearly how something must be assembled or changed during the production process. All positions had to be processed separately.

How does Sofon work at Fronius?

We use the Sofon Web Sales Configurator in all three of the divisions. In principle, the structure of the configurator is the same in every division; only the implementation is different. The division that is the most technically complex is welding technology. Sofon supports the sales team in preparing quotations and orders. The employees are guided step-by-step through the technical assembly of the welding installation. With every click or selection from a manual, Sofon works in the background, continuously checking the technical possibilities. This ensures that all individual components that make up the welding systems “function together” technically and satisfy all requirements 100%.

What is the situation like with Sofon now?

We now have nearly all technical dependencies entered in the system. As a result, our sales representatives can configure a perfect system for the customer in a very short time and they always have the assurance that the technical requirements are being satisfied. This is a clear improvement, particularly for new employees. Moreover, during the configuration of the system, Sofon shows all suitable and smart options for the right welding system – and in that way we can immediately comply with all of the customer’s wishes. Once the configuration is complete, the field sales team, and the inside sales team will only need to pass on the automatic configuration number. In this way, with just a few clicks in our ERP system, the system can be transferred, including all of the necessary information and characteristics for the production. It is no longer necessary to place all items in the order or quotation manually. Sofon is constantly provided with the latest data, new products are continuously integrated and useful descriptions, photos, or reserve lists can immediately be requested in ­Sofon and all in direct connection with our ERP system.

Results

• Technical dependency checks for both components andproduction
• Quotations/orders can be prepared much more quickly and satisfy the requirements 100%
• Manual entry of all items is no longer necessary
• The depiction of the product diversity makes a perfect quotation possible for every customer wish
• Changes/updates to quotations can be made quickly and easily
• New employees can be trained in less time
• Integration with the ERP system

Need for discussion, contact us!

Follow our LinkedIn company page to stay informed of all our blogs.