A Jolt of Speed

Lightnin, a maker of custom-designed industrial blenders and mixers, needed more speed in getting products to customers. An online quote system saved time and money.

BEFORE ...

1) Lightnin manufacturing or sales rep gets a request for quote from customer.

2) Rep reviews product catalogs, prepares quote and sends documents to customer by fax or mail. [Time: 1 to 10 days]

3) Customer approves quote. [1 day to 2 weeks]

4) Rep writes up order—by hand or on word processor— and faxes to lightnin. [20 to 30 minutes for simple order; up to 2 hours for complex orders]

5) At lightnin, fax goes to an "order editor" who keys in orders. [1 to 8 hours]

6) Editor sends an acknowledgement to rep. [1 to 2 hours]

7) Rep Reviews order for accuracy. about 20% have errors—the process reverts back to Step 5.

8) Order enters manufacturing planning system. [1 to 4 days]

Total Time: 3 to 29 days

Estimated Annual Costs

$ 920,000: wages for 23 Information Technology and data processing employees.

$ 8,000,000: expenses attributed to errors in orders.

Total: $8.92 Million

N0W ...

1) Manufacturing rep gets a request for quote.

2) Web-based ordering system allows rep to generate quote that includes full technical drawing created in autocad. Quote is e-mailed or faxed. [under 1 day]

3) Customer approves quote. [1 day to 2 weeks]

4) Rep uses data from quote to generate manufacturing order. [10 minutes]

5) "Clean" orders with required data go directly into Lightnin's Baan enterprise resource planning system and are scheduled for manufacturing. [immediate]

6) Special orders or those missing data or requiring special handling go to an order-editor. After digital documents are updated, order gets scheduled for manufacturing. [up to 2 days]

Total Time: 1 to 14 days

Estimated Annual Costs

$ 440,000: wages for 11 Information Technology and data processing employees.*

$ 24,000: hosted online order-entry service.

$ 62,500: software license, annualized over four years.

Total: $526,500

Sources: Lightnin, Mills-Winfield, Baseline research

*Lightnin manufacturing reps are independent contractors, and are not included in this estimate.