Grasso GmbH

Parts Catalog System with PSIpenta integration, Online shop for spare parts

Grasso GmbH (a company of the GEA Group) in Berlin is one of the leading providers of machines and systems in the field of refrigeration technology. The comprehensive range of series-produced and tailored screw compressors, screw compressor units and fluid cooling units is sold around the world. The service and spare parts business is carried out by service and sales companies in the respective countries, so-called PSCs (Product Selling Companies). These are situated between the company headquarters and the end customers. Spare parts orders from the end customers are received by the PSCs and processed via the headquarters.

Starting situation

Until mid-2003, GEA Grasso GmbH provided paper catalogs for the PSCs. Spare Parts were ordered by telephone, fax or e-mail. Orders received by Grasso via the PSCs were transferred manually to PSIpenta and processed.

Task

It was the objective to optimise the entire order processing procedure by means of an e-business solution. The old paper catalogs were to be replaced by an online ordering system for spare parts that fulfills the specific requirements of the spare parts sale.

Integrated catalog/shop solution

With the help of Docware GmbH, GEA Grasso GmbH has implemented an online ordering system named G-POS (Grasso Parts Online Shop) based on the spare parts catalog software PARTS-PUBLISHER and the shop software PARTS-SHOP of Docware.

Integration with PSIpenta

The spare parts shop (with integrated PARTS-PUBLISHER catalog system) is connected to PSIpenta. The integrated ERP/shop system enables largely automated order processing.

Automated creation and updating of spare parts catalogs

With the workbench of the spare parts catalog software PARTS-PUBLISHER, Grasso employees in their function of catalog producers are at all times able to create and up-date spare parts catalogs with a few mouse clicks. Here, spare parts and service data of the most varied kind (e.g. master data, prices, graphics, exploded diagrams) are automatically processed, linked and presented in the Internet shop without intermediate steps in a matter of minutes. The parts list data required for catalog creation are generated from the ERP system. An interface enables parts lists to be imported into the data base of the catalog software PARTS-PUBLISHER. Data changes made in PSIpenta are incorporated directly in the Internet catalog. In this way, the effort needed for updating the catalogs is minimal. Drawings are imported as TIF files in the catalog software PARTS-PUBLISHER. The TIF formats are generated with Corel Draw 11 from CAD drawings.

Machine-specific catalogs

Grasso´s spare parts shop provides machine-specific catalogs. With PARTS-PUBLISHER the creation of machine spezific catalogs needs no additional effort. All data relevant for the catalog creation is centered in the PARTS-PUBLISHER data base. From this central pool data is provided selectively for different machines respectively catalog users. The machine or userspecific provision of data is configurable point-and-click with the filter function of PARTS-PUBLISHER. Each catalog user – i.e. each Product Selling Company – can only call up the data relevant to the machines used by the end customers in the respective support area. Access is regulated by user ID, password and customer ID. Access to other data is thus prevented and users need not deal with information that is irrelevant to them. Incorrect ordering of spare parts can therefore to a large extent be avoided.

Automated order processing

If an end customer needs spare parts, the regional Product Selling Company is contacted. There, a member of staff logs into Grasso’sspare parts shop and selects the catalogue of the relevant machine. Identification of requested spare parts is simple with comprehensive search functions. Selected spare parts are placed in the shop’s shopping basket with the required order quantity by mouse click. With the entry of further data relevant to the order, predefined customer data and trade agreements (Incoterms, delivery type, language) are used. They can simply be selected via a pull-down menu. Also stored in the shop are the delivery addresses of the end customers, whose data was used for the initial filling of the system from PSIpenta. The Product Selling Companies have the possibility to update existing delivery addresses or to create new ones. New or changed addresses are transmitted with the orders and requests to the PSIpenta System at Grasso and there incorporated into the ERP database. Data from effected orders can be stored and reactivated. In this way, the repeat order of the same parts is simplified. Orders or requests are actuated by mouse click and transmitted to Grasso via the Internet. Orders and address data received at Grasso are cyclically read into PSIpenta and implemented. This procedure is automatic. A processing agent is still responsible for checking technical details and content, approval of the automatically placed orders and processing the requests/ queries placed through the system.

With approval of the order or creation of an offer, in PSIpenta a PDF receipt with order number is generated. The order confirmation is transmitted to the spare parts shop and can there be called up by the PSC in case of further enquiries. Via the online ordering system, price and availability queries and the ordering of spare parts are possible everywhere around the clock. The direct incorporation of the order data in the ERP system reduces incorrect orders. Thanks to the largely automated system, the procedure for spare part supply is accelerated.

Wear parts/accessories packages

In the catalog special spare parts and tool packages are preconfigured for specific service jobs. The job-specific parts sets can be ordered with a single mouse click. As the parts need not be compiled new each time, time is saved and in addition the possibility of required spare parts or tools being forgotten or mixed up is excluded.

„The first contact with the company Docware was on the occasion of an roadshow in Berlin-Spandau in September 2002. A complicated evaluation procedure confirmed that the shop solutions offered by Docware assure an easy implementation of a B2B platform for the Grasso spare parts trade. Docware provided excellent consulting and support during the system implementation and the indroduction phase.“

Oliver Abraham, Spare Parts International, GEA Grasso GmbH