With more than 825 employees, VAHLE looks back on over 100 years of company history and achieves a global turnover of 139 million euros. The company manufactures custom power and data transmission systems, among others, for crane technology, intralogistics, port technology, automotive, people movers, and amusement rides. VAHLE is known, among other things, for the development of the first copper conductor bar by Paul Vahle in 1912.
CUSTOMER: VAHLE
INDUSTRY: Electrical industry / Mobile industrial applications
PROJECT: VAHLE Customer Hub
SOLUTION: E-Commerce / Configurator
TECHNOLOGIES: JavaScript, Bootstrap 2, jQuery
As a long-standing customer of Plan Software (now 4PACE), VAHLE approached us with the goal of bringing the engineering and planning tool we had originally developed for them to the web. The greatest challenge was to make the tool intuitive and user-friendly for customers, sales administrators, and sales representatives alike, despite its complexity, as the configuration process covers VAHLE’s extensive product portfolio. Users needed the flexibility to choose between an expert-level configuration mode and a standard design mode. The primary objective was to enable the system to generate a complete system package—including a bill of materials—at the end of the planning process, which required sophisticated calculations and complex business logic. The newly developed VAHLE Customer Hub was conceived as a comprehensive solution that seamlessly combines SAP, an online shop, and the configurator within a single, user-friendly platform.
With the Customer Hub, we have created a comprehensive platform in close consultation with the customer that combines the desired functionalities. We connected the Customer Hub to SAP via web services to integrate customer-specific prices, stock levels, delivery times, and copper prices. Individual materials and spare parts can now be found easily using extensive search functions, significantly increasing efficiency. Representatives and clerks also benefit from the dynamically generated data sheet, which contains all relevant information for the customer (calculations, user input, material list). Customers themselves can also find their way around the customer portal. Here, they can access the article search, configurators, system project planning, order history, and project planning management.
