Product data and e-commerce with DATAROCKET Shuttle
RIEGLER & Co. KG of Bad Urach is faced with the problem of digitally transforming itself as a company. The supplier of compressed air technology and pneumatics products is taking on this challenge and has already chalked up the achievement of many successful milestones along the way. In doing so, the company put its primary focus on the customer side as well as RIEGLER’s omnichannel positioning. In addition to sales on its own webshop, RIEGLER also allows orders to be placed via custom scanner connections or using the EDI ordering channel.
On the market side, we already had a strong connection to digital transformation in the past, since we were implementing large focus projects for and with our customers in order to generate added value. We currently have a digital order share of 60% and are working all the time to further boost this figure.
P. Krebs Division Manager eSolutions/IT/Marketing of RIEGLER & Co. KG
However, digital technologies offer great potential for improvement, not only for customers. The onboarding of material data on the procurement side has been a particular challenge in the past.
Successful development partnership
As part of a master data management project, the company exchanged ideas with Berlin-based software company innoscale AG in regard to challenges on the procurement side and a possible solution. Less than three months after the initial exchange, a development partnership was formed between the two companies. The goal was to create a software solution for the automatic onboarding of material data from suppliers with direct testing against RIEGLER’s data quality criteria, resulting in the supplier portal DATAROCKET Shuttle.
Four key requirements were defined for the project:
RIEGLER employees and suppliers must be able to use the system.
Rather than working with rigid templates, the system allows suppliers to easily map their data structures to RIEGLER’s target system so that ease of use and high acceptance can be achieved.
RIEGLER’s data quality criteria (DQ criteria) are checked automatically.
Optimization is to encompass not only the supplier portal but the entire process of item creation, including ultimate storage in the ERP target system.
After the initial coordination meetings, the two companies defined a development plan and determined the joint approach to be taken. Something that was particularly attractive for RIEGLER was the active involvement in the development process, as ideas could be directly contributed and discussed.
The implementation of DATAROCKET Shuttle
The real-life conditions and direct customer feedback from RIEGLER proved to be a great asset in the development of our supplier portal.
M. Czerwonka CEO of innoscale AG
After a few months, the time had finally come: The initial tests could be carried out with the new software. External suppliers and internal employees alike were impressed by the user-friendliness and utility of the solution. Quality checks of the suppliers’ material data were carried out directly in RIEGLER’s ERP target system.
Now RIEGLER could turn its attention to the optimization of the last step – transferring the data into the ERP target system. The Bad Urach-based company relied heavily on a change in the specific characteristics of the format so that it would be possible to fully map the data according to their hierarchical properties.
The previous process for creating articles was quite complex, prone to errors, and time-consuming. The relevant department needed to carry out various imports into the ERP system, meaning that a great deal of energy was invested in a process that did not actually add any value. That was a situation that we of course wanted to change with this project.
M. Meng Processing & MDM at RIEGLER & Co. KG
After this portion of the project was also brought to a successful conclusion, RIEGLER’s bottom line for the overall project and the development partnership with innoscale AG was very positive. All planned requirements were met in full.
The development partnership between RIEGLER and innoscale AG demonstrated how fruitful cooperation can be between the areas of expertise of software development and day-to-day business at RIEGLER. The experience of both sides led to a win-win for all, with RIEGLER getting a new, more efficient process for article creation and innoscale a new software product with enormous potential, DATAROCKET Shuttle.
SIMPLY. THAT BIT. BETTER. RIEGLER facts.
Whether you are learning a craft or studying a scientific discipline, only after you obtain the ability can you actually do something: apply what you have learned, combine your skills, and solve problems proactively. In short, “Simply. That bit. Better.” And that’s exactly what RIEGLER stands for. No matter what the requirements of the compressed air system and the pneumatic application of our customers from industry and technical trade, we will find the answers.
