Only recently, Doppelmayr has begun to integrate electronic spare part catalogs into its service portal for customers. In the first phase of the project, spare part catalogs have gone online for 30 systems of the innovative cableway manufacturer’s D-Line and 3S. A parts list linked to 2D drawings enables easy identification and ordering of spare parts for these systems.
Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH, with its seat in Wolfurt, Austria, is part of the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group. As a quality, technology and market leader in cableway construction, Doppelmayr/Garaventa operates production sites and sales and service offices in more than 40 countries around the world. To date, the company has built over 15,000 cableway systems for customers in 95 countries.
Until recently, Doppelmayr had received a variety of requests for cableway spare parts. Customers had attached photos or Excel sheets to their requests or called the customer service right away. These different approaches impeded the further processing of the spare parts orders.
On the basis of the documents provided, it was often difficult for the customers to identify directly the right spare parts. In 2013, the search began for a modern, up-to-date solution that would ensure reliable identification of spare parts for the individual systems and make work easier for cableway employees.
After first favoring a solution specially developed for Doppelmayr, market research quickly revealed that standard software for electronic spare part catalogs best meets the requirements. It was essential for Doppelmayr that the software integrated seamlessly with its customer-service portal.
Among the three available providers, TID Informatik GmbH with its CATALOGcreator® solution emerged as the winner. Johannes Köb from Doppelmayr Customer Service explains: “TID gave us the impression that CATALOGcreator® would empower us to implement solutions quickly and without bureaucratic overhead. This turned out to be a great advantage for the cooperation later in the project.”
The Austrian company wished to implement two key requirements with a spare part catalog software: Simple and fast online ordering for all customers and a representation of the system within the catalog that would facilitate the work of the internal departments. Fast loading of the online catalog’s pages was yet another important criterion.
The Austrian company wished to implement two key requirements with a spare part catalog software: Simple and fast online ordering for all customers and a representation of the system within the catalog that would facilitate the work of the internal departments. Fast loading of the online catalog’s pages was yet another important criterion in view of poor internet connections on many mountain stations.
The first phase of the project aimed at limiting information within the catalog to classic spare part search and ordering. Additional documents, such as maintenance or operating instructions, are being integrated at present. The minimalist information approach ensures fast page loading at the start of the project and thus wins a high level of acceptance on the part of the users.
The first cableways in the spare part catalog are 3S and D-Line systems. This new generation of cableways features pioneering technology and includes Doppelmayr’s first-class products on the market. At the same time as the D-Line was presented at the trade fair in the spring of 2017, the first 2D spare part catalog was completed for the system. As early as January of 2019, 30 additional systems had been integrated with the online catalog.
“What impressed me most was that our corporate identity would fit perfectly into the catalog – and in a very short time. The generally extremely flexible CATALOGcreator® software solution integrates seamlessly into our customer service portal,” says Johannes Köb.
The next major project phase is the ongoing integration of new products into the electronic catalog. In 2019 alone, Doppelmayr plans to ship another 40 new cableway systems, their spare parts being ordered from its central customer service department. The legally required printed system documentation will of course continue to be supplied in full, while the online catalog is the digital service for Doppelmayr customers to facilitate the spare parts ordering process.
Importing data into the electronic catalog still requires manual effort. Data is retrieved from various programs and processed by a specialized service provider before it is imported into the electronic catalog. Johannes Köb describes the cooperation between TID, Doppelmayr’s external service providers and the project managers at the cableway manufacturer as “very pleasant and extremely efficient overall”.
Doppelmayr is now striving to establish automatic data import in order to ensure efficient processing of further catalogs and maintenance of existing catalogs in the future. Overall, the new electronic spare part catalogs are a great success already and a giant leap for Doppelmayr’s customer service.
“With Rafi Boudjakdjian from TID, we had a highly competent project manager and perfect supervisor for this project at our side. Everything we wished for was implemented reliably and quickly. The results have even exceeded our expectations. We have always been on time and on budget. Cooperation at its best! I can only recommend TID to anyone who looks for an electronic spare part catalog,” concludes Johannes Köb, who initiated the project at Doppelmayr and continues to oversee it to date.
Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH
„TID gave us the impression that CATALOGcreator® would empower us to implement solutions quickly and without bureaucratic overhead. This turned out to be a great advantage for the cooperation later in the project.“
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