Create a quote for plastic testing services in just minutes

Plastics are versatile and come in every conceivable shape, size, color, and function. Yet before plastic products can fulfill their desired function, they are subject to testing to confirm they comply with various standards. It takes testing labs hours, if not days, to create a quote for materials testing.

KIMW Prüf- und Analyse GmbH has built an online tool that incorporates these complex standards and specifications pertaining to product testing. This saves both the customers and the laboratory time. In this K-MAG interview, Jörg Günther explains how the tool works.

Mr. Günther, what problem does your new tool solve and how does it work?

Jörg Günther: Our tool is utilized when a plastic product must be tested for various quality aspects. For example, when Daimler develops a new car model, every one of its parts must undergo testing – even the radio button. If a subcontractor is to manufacture the radio button, he/she must also ensure these tests are carried out by an accredited testing laboratory such as ours. Standards and regulations define what must be tested – and they are very detailed and complex. It’s not uncommon to have 80 different line items.

The subcontractor requests a quote for lab testing services and includes these costs in the product costs. We ask various follow-up questions to identify the tests that must be performed. That’s why it can take a few hours and even up to several days to prepare a quote for the testing services.

This is where our new tool comes in: We converted the texts of the standards into a digital format, created a database, and integrated it into our online store via an online configurator. Customers can now answer the questions that we would normally ask themselves and can request a quote at any time – and all it takes is a few minutes.

What are the benefits of the tool for both you and your customers?

Günther: Our customers can create their own quote and save a lot of time in the process. If a salesperson of a subcontractor is in negotiations with Daimler, he/she can give an initial estimate within minutes to approximate the cost of the radio button in our example.

This is also beneficial for our company: our associates spend twenty to thirty percent of their time working on creating quotes. Now they can also use our tool for support. They still need to write a formal quote, so this doesn’t entirely eliminate the respective paperwork. However, our long-term goal is to create almost eighty percent of our quotes for testing services online. Saving time and effort with our tool also allows us to adjust our price calculation for services accordingly – which in turn benefits our customers.

Another advantage is that we can adapt the tool easily, allowing for internationalization. That means, our tool can then be easily discovered via a search engine by other countries, such as China’s market, for example. It enables us to enter new, foreign markets.

What were the challenges in creating the tool?

Günther: Initially, we had to overcome an in-house challenge. We had to persuade our colleagues that the basic concept can work. At first, many objected, stating, "This is far too complex and will probably never work!" That’s because the tool hardly ever entails simple yes or no answers, since it is a complex three-dimensional system involving many interdependent factors. We were able to overcome these technical hurdles with the help of the startup Foxbase, the combination with our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and systematic questions that guide the customer through the quotation process.

At the same time, system flexibility has always been our sub-requirement. Unfortunately, some standards we must comply with are updated annually, which means it must be relatively easy for us to enter and reflect changes. After all, it makes no sense for us to save time with the tool on the one hand if we end up losing time on the other hand because we spend it on system maintenance.

What is coming up next for your tool?

Günther: We plan to connect the tool to our ERP system in the near future. Ideally, when the subcontractor creates the quote, he or she should only have to press a button to export the product testing request to our system automatically.

In the long run – and when the tool pays off –, we will increase the system use, since this will enable us to implement automated and continuous improvements. When our staff members use the tool daily, they will find optimization potential and ways to improve customer service.

We augment our products and services continuously to include more regulations and languages. In the future, it might be possible to combine this structure with new, digital supply chains, similar to the Catena-X project, which is an extensible ecosystem of the automotive industry.