Fri-Jado
From the very beginning I have been a fervent ‘Sofon User’
Richard Bruggink
Substitute head of commercial back office
5 questions for a Sofon User
1 When did you become a Sofon User?
“From the very beginning I have been a fervent ‘Sofon User’. Sofon Guided Selling was implemented at Fri-Jado in 2000 and I’ve been working with it on a daily basis since February of 2001. We regularly adjust the model, particularly when we have a new release with new features. This keeps us up-to-date. I think I can say I know Sofon inside-out by now.”
2 How exactly do you use Sofon Guided Selling?
“Fri-Jado is a contractor for refrigeration technology solutions for supermarkets, among others. In Sofon we configure cooling equip-ment, cells and installations based on our customers’ unique specifications. These specifications are then included in a quote with addi-tional data such as the delivery date, delivery conditions etc. As soon as a quote is approved, an order goes out to our supplier who then actually produces the cooling equipment. Finally, we look after the whole installation process for the customer in question. Using Sofon, we organize the process of configurating the equipment, calculation and quotation. When an order is placed, the logistic and financial information is sent on to an ERP package for implementation.”
3 How many people besides you use Sofon Guided Selling?
“A total of six people at Fri-Jado work with Sofon Guided Selling. Five produce quotes with Sofon and a colleague from the production department configures the showcases ordered with Sofon. Our boss uses Sofon for following-up pre-production and subsequent cost-ing. This affords him an excellent insight into our cost price build-up and margins, among other things.”
4 What are the advantages of Sofon in your opinion?
“Sofon mainly brings speed and accuracy. We now do the same job with fewer people. Where we used to need almost two days to pro-duce a quote, we can now do the same job within one day. That’s a huge time saving. Another great advantage is Sofon’s enormous flexibility. Almost all models can be built in Sofon Studio. Actually, we use Sofon as a commercial logistic package with a wide applica-tion. We even produce our own installation calculations using Sofon. Sofon also generates a bill of materials and routing that is then read by our ERP system.”
5 What will the future bring for Fri-Jado and Sofon Guided Selling?
“Sofon Guided Selling has many applications, but we are making limited use of these at the moment. It is our intention to make wider use of Sofon in the rest of the organization. We now have a new ERP package. The link to Sofon is being made.”