Learn how a leading window blind manufacturer and supplier utilised existing technology to create a master database, significantly reducing time spend on manual administration tasks.
About the company
ShadeTech is an innovative and progressive Window Blind Manufacturer and supplier. In addition to manufacturing and installing window blinds is also a wholesaler with a nationwide distribution network offering exclusive window covering solutions to trade partners.
Shade Tech
The Challenge
The company needed to have an accurate record of onsite installations both from a productivity and quality control perspective. There current process was proving cumbersome, labour intensive, was not readily accessible and not scalable. Real-time structured access was required to improve quality of installation and customer service queries.
It was also important for the company to have an accurate database of all completed installations so that warranties and latent defects could be managed efficiently. They found they were spending a lot of time sorting through unstructured manual records which was proving to be time consuming and inconclusive as records were not stored on a centralized database.
What did they do?
ShadeTech recognised they could utilise existing technologies that they already had experience with to overcome the remote working challenges associated with window blind installation. They also introduced a digital user-friendly standard structure for the installation information including window referencing which set out clearly defined steps to the process which improved efficiency and reduced errors.
Projects could be set up on the master database and the use of prepopulated drop-down menus and standard templates now takes about 5 minutes for an average Retail Job and 10 minutes for the average Commercial Job. Their process is now entirely digitised supporting an improved customer service experience with much reduced time and effort.
How did it help?
The entire operation takes just 20% of the time it used to take to produce handwritten job cards which were sometimes difficult to read and prone to being lost. The real bonus is that this information now exists for multiple uses including the reprinting of job cards.
Importantly, data is now available as the basis for the recording of real time installation data onsite. It takes about 30 seconds to record and upload all necessary information relation to an individual blind for storage in the company database.
Conclusions and Future outlook
Digitisation of this workflow now means that management of the company have a real time record of what is happening on site during installation. It also provides an accurate record of quality and installation issues, so root causes can be identified more quickly, and counter measures applied.
“As a result of this project and the efficiencies it has delivered to the installation workflow other opportunities have been identified which when implemented will allow ST offer additional benefits to its Trade, Commercial and Retail customers.”