For many glass manufacturers, independent installers are an important part of the customer base. Keeping them happy with fast, error-free delivery is critically important, although it can be quite a job making sense of some of the drawings and measurements that they send you.
Moving beyond pencil and paper
As a manufacturer, you have systems like Gtrak, which provide a single point of entry, check for errors automatically and track every glass product from the office through the factory to the customer. But for installers, who spend a lot of time at their customer premises, measuring up, sketching out ideas and discussing options, the only tools available are often pencil and paper.
In that environment, mistakes often happen, particularly when you have non-standard shapes or cut-outs that all need to be exactly right. It is also time-consuming for your staff to recreate drawings using dimensions provided on sketches or in emails from the installer.
Taking orders directly into your Gtrak system
Large glass manufacturers are now giving their installer customers an easy-to-use yet powerful design tool that makes order capture quicker and easier for everyone, while eliminating errors.
Jotika has integrated Gtrak with Smart-Builder, the leading design package for installers. This allows installers to capture all the details they need when they are on-site and quickly create professional drawings to review with their customer. All the details are sent directly to the manufacturer’s Gtrak system, with no re-keying and no re-drawing. Staff can quickly review incoming orders in Gtrak, discuss them with the installer if necessary and put them straight into the production queue.
Adding value for your installer customers
Using Smart-Builder linked to Gtrak is great for installers, who can spend less time on paperwork and more time with their customers. These digital design tools are faster than doing drawings on paper and certainly quicker than typing out details in an email.
What’s more, installers can be sure that every detail has been passed to the glass manufacturer without risk of miscommunication or mis-keying.
Of course some people shy away from new technology, but we have seen that many installers are already running parts of their business using their tablet or mobile phone, and welcome the opportunity to embrace smarter, faster ways of working.
Saving resources and strengthening relationships
For you as a manufacturer, there are tremendous time and cost savings to be made by having the installer provide precise measurements and accurate drawings directly into your Gtrak system. Eliminating errors is key to customer service, no matter whether mistakes were made by your team or the installer.
And from a strategic perspective, helping your installer customers to successfully adopt new, labour-saving technology will help to lift your own status from commodity supplier to valued partner.
Find out more
If you would like to explore the ways in which you could help installer customers to go digital and order electronically with Jotika and Smart-Builder, please contact us.
