Prior to partnering with Orbweaver, an automation solutions provider based in Bethlehem, Pa., KEMET Electronics Corp. faced a distinct set of challenges experienced by electronics component manufacturers and distributors alike: namely, they had no organizational intake process in place to manage the numerous requests for quotations (RFQs) that arrived from different sources in various formats. Manually consolidating RFQs into a universal format and work queue drained company resources, taking time and money away from higher level tasks. The process also detracted from their goal of data transparency across the organization.
After joining forces with Orbweaver, KEMET has realized significant growth in efficiency, boasting the ability to process 50 quotes and thousands of lines of data valued at roughly $5MM in just 30 minutes.
Using Orbweaver’s Advance technology, KEMET is able to execute the end-to-end processing of an RFQ—from the minute it touches the system to the received response time by the customer. This transformation made possible through automated data integration has generated a 1000-fold increase in efficiency from KEMET’s original processes.
Traditionally, organizations solved common RFQ problems with manpower, but in today’s market, standard industry response time has become too slow. The speed of the buying cycle accelerates each year, and as buying technologies through services like Amazon have significantly improved, consumer expectations have risen sharply. Simply put, companies lose business by responding too slowly. Orbweaver offered KEMET a unique solution to this all-too-common and adverse constraint: Advance RFQ.
Orbweaver Connect
Along with the Advance solution, KEMET also utilized Connect, Orbweaver’s data integration platform. JetStream, KEMET’s branded global quoting platform built on Advance, and Connect seamlessly integrate all backend systems. Product attribute data, manufacturing data, ERP pricing, and data warehouses have been consolidated to provide intelligent pricing guidance, cross-referencing, part scrubbing, data sheets, and physical part specifications for use in outbound RFQ responses.
Orbweaver also provided insightful data analytics through their Analyze platform to bolster business intelligence and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for RFQ scrubbing, pricing, and problem identification.
“Our partnership with Orbweaver has allowed us to use their leading products and collaborate with their best in class people to develop JetStream, KEMET’s new quoting platform that enables us to be faster, smarter and more collaborative to respond to the thousands of lines we quote globally every day.”
VP Marketing & Digital Engagement
KEMET Electronics Corporation
Orbweaver Advance automated the following three aspects of KEMET’s RFQ processing to seamlessly integrate with their current systems cohesively:
STEP 1: Digitize RFQ Intake & Response
- Eliminate manual processing
- Receive inbound RFQs via a wide range of sources including API, EDI, spreadsheets, and email
STEP 2: Automate RFQ Processing
- Validate and scrub inbound part numbers
- Find related parts to meet customer needs by cross-referencing data
- Integrate and organize pricing data and historical quote data to rapidly assemble the quote response
STEP 3: Centralize Data & Create a Smarter Business Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Drive better business analytics and calculate win/loss ratios
- Understand what parts of a business are most profitable Improve accuracy and waste less time on paperwork and emails
- Drastically reduce response time
- Track progress with real-time quote information
Who is Orbweaver?
Orbweaver is the world’s leading provider of data automation and digital platform solutions designed for the electronics industry. With proficiency in both the electronics manufacturing and software engineering industries, Orbweaver is focused on automating historically manual processes, including data syndication, inbound quote management, sales order validation and the procurement cycle.
According to Milton Friedman, the primary purpose of business is to maximize profits. This objective can be accomplished by increasing revenue, or decreasing expenditures. Orbweaver can help your organization do both immediately. While transitioning to a fully digital platform may sound daunting, we are here to inspire organizations to meet the industry’s most pressing demands.
Together, let’s make the electronics industry more agile, more efficient, and more relevant today. And let’s sell more parts.
