SOENEN GOLFKARTON
The customer portal provides benefits for employees and customers at Soenen Golfkarton
Soenen Golfkarton has been processing corrugated cardboard into custom-made packaging since 1964. The family business from Hooglede-Gits has around 20 processing machines, allowing them to offer a wide variety of boxes, as well as 2 modern corrugated cardboard machines that are 2.81 metres wide. Their specialties include American boxes, high-quality flexo printing up to 7 colours, die-cut packaging, larger series, and set-up boxes. Soenen Golfkarton is one of the most modern and automated corrugated cardboard factories in Europe.
ON THE SAME PAGE WITH EXPERIENCED SOFTWARE PARTNER
“Our sales department had been working partially automated for some time. At fixed intervals, a list of outstanding orders per customer was sent out via the ERP system. However, this was not fully standardised, and our people in the sales department still had work to do,” says Sales Manager Bénédicte Soenen.
Together with IT Manager Wim Vandenberghe, she searched for a reliable software partner who could help devise and implement a solution. The goal: complete automation so that information is always available online, which would lead to greater efficiency and control within the company.
“Conics has a lot of experience in our sector, and from the very first contact, we felt that they perfectly understood our needs and problems. That gave us a lot of confidence, so we started the collaboration,” said Wim.
COMPLEX GRAPHIC FLOW BACKGROUND
At the beginning of the project, Bénédicte and Wim did their 'homework' with a few employees. “We reflected on the complex flow in our company and stuck the different steps with post-its on a large cardboard board. We then presented this to the people from Conics. They immediately understood our way of working and what kind of solution we needed. It was great to see that they were on the same page right away!” says Wim.
Based on the information from the preparatory phase, Conics was able to work on the solution: a user-friendly solution to manage our artworks, including a customer portal with up-to-date information. Here, Soenen Golfkarton's customers can consult the status of their ongoing orders at any time. Bénédicte: “In this way, we want to better inform our customers with information that is available 24/7 and always up-to-date.”
"With the portal, we want to better inform our customers: we provide them with the necessary information that is available 24/7 and up-to-date."
PHASED IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation of the solution took place in several phases. Wim explains: “The first phase was a purely technical connection with our own ERP package. Our internal team prepared all the data, which was then picked up by Conics so they could get to work on it. We managed to stay under 50% of the estimated budget in this phase thanks to the excellent collaboration with Conics.”
“The second phase was more complex. This was still internal, this time with our development department responsible for the artwork of the products. We asked them to list all the steps that the customer goes through in the process. Previously, this all took place via email, but there was no visible flow or control. This led to problems, for example when someone fell ill, and mistakes were made sporadically. It took a lot of time to structure all those steps, as eventually it was not always clear to our people either. We ultimately arrived at ten concrete steps. On the new portal, everyone will soon have a clear view of which steps have already been completed for the artwork per order.”
“Thanks to this structure, it is now much easier for everyone to engage at any point in the process. We are currently in the third phase of the implementation, where customers will effectively have access to the platform.”
EXPANDING THE GOING ROAD
The reactions from customers are currently varied. “Some are very enthusiastic about the new system and see its benefits. Of course, there are still those who cling to the older way of working. The transition will definitely take time. But it will happen, and our own employees are certainly in favour of the new way of working,” says Bénédicte. There are already thoughts about expansions and new functionalities. But everything in its own time; the advantage of this software is that we can start small and gradually expand at our own pace,” adds Wim.
PROJECT WITH CREDIBILITY AND CAPACITY
The software is a combination of many different systems. The ERP package Dynamics AX, fully managed by the internal IT department of Soenen Golfkarton, remains the central axis. The custom software from Conics adds extra logic and serves as the framework for the new process. This is combined with Proofscope and Cloudflow from Hybrid Software for the management of the graphic files. The latter two software packages were also implemented by the team at Conics, ensuring that everything integrates seamlessly.
"This project is a unique collaboration between sales and IT, two important functions in a company."