Not Wasting Time

Leaders in Waste Collection Vehicles

Geesinknorba produces perhaps one of the most necessary products imaginable within society, waste collection vehicles. From household waste to construction waste and from Amsterdam to Quito, Geesinknorba’s vehicles can be found worldwide. With eight locations throughout Europe, it is one of the largest suppliers of waste collection vehicles.

In Emmeloord, where the headquarters are located, we speak with Stefan Snoek. The department where he works serves as the link between the various sales offices (referred to as branches) and the factory. Here, he is responsible for implementing the Merkato Software within Geesinknorba. Ever since Stefan Snoek started working at Geesinknorba, the acquisition of a configurator was discussed. In 2016, after thorough market research, the decision was made to become a Quootz customer.

The Geesinknorba Method

“Our eight locations are in England, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, where the Export branch is also located. It is important that every branch sells and communicates in a similar manner. This was different before we started this process. Each branch sold the same products but used its own sales method. This resulted in different price calculations, commercial texts, and more, while everyone basically did the same work,” says Stefan Snoek. “This was an important reason for us to purchase a configurator.”

In addition, each site has many translations within the process of selling a waste collection vehicle. With a large number of translations, the chance of errors logically increased, as Geesinknorba noted. In July 2016, the Merkato configurator was introduced within Geesinknorba to centralize the eight locations and to reduce translation.

Implementation Phase 1

The implementation started in the engineering department but was soon transferred to Stefan’s responsibility. Since the configurator is a strategic and functional sales tool, it was deemed better for the users themselves to implement it. Because people used to work from an Excel list, most of the information was already traceable, and the implementation of the product information was relatively easy and quick to complete. Due to the rapid success of this part of the implementation, Stefan soon faced another challenge:

“At the start of the implementation process, it turned out that there was a lot of work for us in organizing the workflows. To use one sales method within Geesinknorba, basic documents for the sale had to be set up first. After an analysis of the different translations per department, clear basic documents were drawn up. This enables us to communicate everything consistently to both the customer and internally.

Implementing all products that we can resulted in the delivery taking longer than we had hoped. This is the reason that we are not yet running entirely on Merkato. Two of the five products now go to the factory via the software, namely the GPM 4 and GPM Mini. With a view to new products in the future and the existing products, we therefore have to go a bit further before we are finished with full implementation. On the other hand, things will always keep changing and fortunately making adjustments to Merkato is easy. The configurator will therefore probably never be completely finished, but it will always be improved and adjusted accordingly.”

Implementation Phase 2

The second challenge for Stefan was to make all processes work according to the new working method.
“This changed working method, which came about with the introduction of the configurator, met some resistance from the users in the beginning. By listening carefully to the users and working together with them, they quickly adapted to the new method. That’s when they began to see the benefits, and fortunately, we often heard that the software saved them a lot of time compared to their former way of working. The branches became enthusiastic at those moments. They just had to overcome the initial resistance and leave the familiar behind.

We are not finished with this phase of implementation either. In the Benelux, for example, the field service already works completely with Merkato, but in Spain only the field service. This depends on the different preferences per country. We try to maintain consistency with some flexibility here and there. In the Netherlands, a seller can immediately print a quote for someone with no additional requirements, but in Spain, they prefer that their office staff checks every quote. These are the small adjustments in workflow per site, but in principle, the working method already aligns with each other.”

Customer service

“At the beginning of the Merkato implementation, I received training from Rinck. This went very well, but because our workflows are so complicated, I asked for a few extra days of support in setting them up. This allowed me to learn the intricacies of the process, which I found very helpful. Currently, I only occasionally send an email when I encounter an issue. When something doesn’t work or doesn’t yet exist in Merkato, there are always opportunities to further develop this software. I find this flexibility very helpful.”

Results

Despite not yet completing the implementation of Merkato within Geesinknorba, Stefan is very pleased with the results achieved so far. The working hours of the office staff have been significantly reduced, there are no more translations within the entire sales process, and the Geesinknorba working method has been uniformly introduced for everyone. Additionally, the production department now delivers an error-free order every time, and the customer always has the guarantee that the vehicle delivered is exactly what they ordered.

A treasure trove of information has been built up in Merkato’s database. The product managers can easily conduct their own analyses. This makes it clear which combinations of options are or are not offered/sold. With this wealth of information, the development of new products and processes can be concretely guided.

Vision

“The possibilities with Merkato are great, and I hope to achieve my ultimate goal through this: All our products in one tool, for all our sellers, each in their own language, both for the office and field staff, and around the world. And that tool is of course Merkato. This is already a reality for the first two products. We still have a ways to go, but the future is definitely in sight.”