Customer – “Hi There, I would like to place an order for a Seal of our Pump at our Austin site, can you help me with that?”
Sales Executive – “Sure ma’am, I can do that for you. But before proceeding, I would just need to gather some spare parts data about the pump and the seal from you.”
This is a standard beginning of any sales call an Industrial OEM Sales team might receive for a spare part. Subsequently, a lengthy information collection process follows, which usually takes approximately 30 mins. (for just 1 order!) which includes asking and looking for relevant details required about the customer, the equipment and the spare part they would like to place the order for
Let’s consider a sales team receiving 25 order calls daily.
This would result in a straight-up loss of 750 mins (6.5 hours) of productive time for the Sales team.
Spare Parts Data & Order Processing: Challenges
1. PDFs containing machine parts relationship
The sales team encounters the initial hurdle of identifying relationships between various machine parts, often stored in pdfs. The Sales team must navigate through the pdfs to locate the relevant spare parts data within these documents, which is time-consuming and difficult to find.
2. Inconsistent Parts item number and Description
Another challenge arises from inconsistent parts item numbers and descriptions. Different departments may utilize varying names or codes for the same part, making accurate identification a difficult task.
3. Flat BOM Structure without Hierarchy
Bill of Materials (BOM) is an essential part of the manufacturing process that lists all the components required to make a product. However, the BOM structure is often flat, without any hierarchy, making it difficult to navigate and locate the relevant part required.
4. Inconsistent Spare Parts Data Categorization
Inconsistent spare parts data categorization is another challenge that the sales team faces. Different departments might categorize parts differently, making it difficult to locate the relevant part required.
5. Parts Pricing Inconsistencies
Pricing is an essential factor in any business transaction. However, the pricing of spare parts can vary, depending on the supplier, location, and other factors. This variance in pricing can make it difficult for the sales team to quote the right price to the customer.
6. Parts being obsolete
Obsolete parts are no longer produced or supported by the manufacturer. However, customers might still require these parts for their machines. Finding these parts can be a challenge, and the sales team might have to spend more time searching for them.
Solution
To overcome these hurdles and increase efficiency, the Industrial OEM sales team can use Entytle Services. Entytle Services is focused on solving manufacturer’s installed base and spare parts data challenges with a range of data quality & analytics services.
Entytle Services uses AI and ML to clean, enrich and analyze spare parts data from various sources and provides insight into their customer’s machine parts requirements. It helps the sales team to identify the right parts, the relationship between the different parts, and the pricing of parts. Entytle also helps in providing a comprehensive hierarchized view of the Bill of Materials (BOM) hierarchy, making it easy to locate the relevant parts. To understand more watch my webinar video “Spare Parts Data for OEMs Order Processing – Major Hurdles and What’s the Solution?”, which will help the sales team understand how to use the platform effectively.
In conclusion, the process of taking orders for spare parts can be challenging and time-consuming for the Industrial OEMs sales team. However, with the help of Entytle, the sales team can fasten/simplify the process and increase efficiency by reducing this time to as much as 5 minutes!
Entytle services provide actionable insights into their customer’s spare parts data, help to identify the correct spare parts, and provide a comprehensive view of the Bill of Material (BOM) hierarchy, thereby saving valuable time for Industrial OEMs sales teams. By utilizing such cutting-edge technologies, Industrial OEMs can boost their productivity and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced market.