Wenger Manufacturing Accelerates Quote-to-Order Time with Experlogix CPQ
Products and Services
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer
- Engagement, Microsoft 365
- Finance & Operations
Benefits
- Reduces time from quote to production by half
- Generates all documentation for completing an order in one system
- Accelerates BOM generation
- Automates data flows
Country
- USA
Wenger Manufacturing builds extrusion systems for producing pet food, aqua feed and human food for some of the world’s largest pet and snack food brands. Founded in 1935, the company has made a strong impact in the food and feed industries by commercializing cooking extruders for both human and pet food production.
Wenger’s customers depend on high quality machines that fulfill specific needs, which can include factors like production capacity as well as the type of ingredients used in the food. For example, the type of equipment used to make pet food would be different from the machines needed to produce snack food for human consumption.
Wenger endeavors to deliver high customer expectations, but the company recognized that its current quote-to-order process could be significantly accelerated with a new CPQ and CRM solution that could work more cohesively.
The Challenge
“Our equipment quotes are heavily configured,” said Doug Clark, engineer at Wenger Manufacturing. “We rarely build the same machine twice, even for the same customer, and because of that, we do a lot of customization. Use of a product configurator was critical to ensure quotes were accurate as the cost of mistakes escalates quickly.”
Previously, Wenger used an in-house built product configurator. There were a couple issues with this system: only one person knew how to maintain it and it was slow to convert quotes into orders. This could be costly because it meant that specific parts would need to be reordered, and it could also lead to delays for the customer.
The decision to switch to a new CPQ solution emerged alongside the choice to switch to a new CRM system: Microsoft Dynamics 365. Leveraging a new cloud-based CRM would give the company a more frictionless flow of information between platforms and CPQ could give the team more information during the quote production process.
The Microsoft consultant that helped the Wenger team with CRM and ERP implementation highly recommended Experlogix to handle the company’s CPQ needs. Switching to a new system can create some challenges of its own, though. Wenger had a lot of existing product data that had to be moved from its old solution to Microsoft Dynamics 365 to fully implement the new system.
Fortunately, the team worked alongside Microsoft and Experlogix engineers to create a fully integrated solution that could help it better meet its customers’ high expectations.
“We faced a lot of messiness because of how much data we had to migrate,” continued Clark. “Experlogix engineers spent a lot of time with us to help us figure out the best approach, and how CPQ could work within our environment. They helped us navigate a lot of chaos while also teaching us the ins and outs of their CPQ solution.”
“We faced a lot of messiness because of how much data we had to migrate. Experlogix engineers spent a lot of time with us to help us figure out the best approach and how CPQ could work within our environment. They helped us navigate a lot of chaos while also teaching us the ins and outs of their CPQ solution.”
Doug Clark, Engineer
The Solution
Wenger Manufacturing now uses Experlogix CPQ for all its equipment configurations, while also using Experlogix Document Automation to create sophisticated, high-quality proposal documents. The level of customization required for its products means that orders can still be complex; however, being able to generate all the necessary documentation for completing an order from one system has saved a lot of time, reducing the time it takes to move an order to production from two months to one month.
“The time it takes to get a quote to an order has been cut down in half,” said Clark. “We buy a lot of components that are just for one specific piece of equipment…so a lot of the time it takes to produce an order is spent waiting for new parts to come. Experlogix helps us ensure that all the information for an order is right the first time, and we’re getting orders out a lot faster.”
One of the biggest ways Experlogix has helped Wenger is by significantly accelerating the generation of Bills- of-Materials (BOMs). Wenger primarily uses Experlogix with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM; however, since all key order data is included with the help of Experlogix, it’s now easier to include production data between CRM and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. As the company moves forward with refining its processes, it hopes to automate more of the data flow between systems.
Wenger Manufacturing’s machines stand out for achieving the highest quality production in the market. Now, the company gets those products to customers faster, even for the most complex orders.
“Experlogix helps us ensure that all the information for an order is right the first time, so wer’e getting orders out a lot faster while still maintaining our extremely high quality standards.”
Doug Clark, Engineer